SharpKnight

A chess engine library written in C# (.NET 9.0) that implements the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) protocol. Included are several example chess engines, including the engine I develop called Longsword.

Prerequisites

• .NET 9.0 SDK

Building

Build the entire solution

dotnet build SharpKnight.sln

Build in Release mode

dotnet build SharpKnight.sln -c Release

Build the Longsword engine executable

To compile the Longsword engine into a standalone executable:

dotnet publish SharpKnight.Longsword -c Release

The compiled engine will be available in SharpKnight.Longsword/bin/Release/net9.0/publish/ and can be used with any UCI-compatible chess GUI.

Run tests

dotnet test SharpKnight.Tests

Projects

• SharpKnight - Core chess engine framework and library
• SharpKnight.Longsword - UCI-compatible chess engine executable
• SharpKnight.Material - Material evaluation engine
• SharpKnight.Random - Random move engine
• SharpKnight.Tests - Unit tests

Using the Library

The SharpKnight library provides core classes for building chess engines:

Core Classes

• ChessBoard - Bitboard-based chess board representation with move generation, FEN parsing, and position evaluation
• ChessEngineBase - Abstract base class for implementing chess engines with search, time management, and UCI option handling
• IChessEngine - Interface defining the UCI protocol requirements for chess engines
• UciHandler - UCI protocol handler for communication with chess GUIs
• EnginePlayer - Wrapper that connects a chess engine to the UCI handler
• ChessClock - Time control management for chess games
• Moves - Move generation and validation utilities
• Zobrist - Zobrist hashing for position identification and transposition tables

Developing Your Own Engine

To create a custom chess engine using the SharpKnight library:

1. Create a class that inherits from ChessEngineBase
2. Implement the required abstract methods:
   • FindBestMove() - Your search algorithm
   • EvaluatePosition() - Your position evaluation function
3. Wrap your engine in an EnginePlayer and connect it to UciHandler.UciLoop()

For detailed instructions and examples, see HOWTO.md.