Eschecs
Overview
Eschecs is a simple graphical interface to play chess against UCI engines.
Usage
Eschecs is shipped with an engine (Cheng). If you wish to use another one, start Eschecs with the engine path as parameter.
./eschecs /home/robert/uciengines/CT800_V1.42
You can find here a collection of UCI engines that you could use with Eschecs.
Screenshot
You can see more screenshots on this page.
Command line options
The behaviour and the appearance of Eschecs can be set using the following command line parameters.
| Parameter name | Parameter value |
|---|---|
-p <v>, --position=<v> |
The position to be loaded, in FEN format. |
-a <v>, --autoplay=<v> |
The computer will be the second player. |
-t <v>, --time=<v> |
Time allowed for the computer move, in milliseconds. |
-u <v>, --upsidedown=<v> |
Draw the chessboard upside down. |
-c <v>, --chessboard=<v> |
Appearance of the chessboard. |
-m <v>, --marblecolors=<v> |
Marble colors. |
-f <v>, --font=<v> |
Piece set. See below possible values. |
-l <v>, --language=<v> |
Language. See below possible values. |
-s <v>, --size=<v> |
Size of the square. See below possible values. |
-w <v>, --white=<v> |
Color of white squares. |
-b <v>, --black=<v> |
Color of black squares, same format. |
-g <v>, --green=<v> |
Color for legal target squares. |
-r <v>, --red=<v> |
Color for the square of a king being in check. |
See start.sh for more precise information about parameters possible values.
Available fonts and sizes
Alpha 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Condal 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Line 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Lucena 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Magnetic 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Mark 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Montreal 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Usual 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
Wood 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80
Available languages
- Czech
- Dutch
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish
Thanks to the translators:
- Martin Sedlak (Czech)
- Jean-Luc Gofflot (Dutch)
- Users of the German Lazarus forum (German)
- Marcello Basso (Italian)
- Ñuño Martínez (Spanish)
Keyboard Controls
↑ Go to the last position
↓ Go back to the first position
← Go back to the previous position
→ Go to the next position
ESC Close the application
Technical informations
Eschecs is a Pascal program. If you wish to compile it yourself, you need the Free Pascal compiler.
If Free Pascal is installed, you can download and build Eschecs as follows:
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/rchastain/eschecs.git
cd eschecs/source
make
Please notice that the Makefile included in this repository has been made for Linux. It you try to compile on another OS, you could have to retouch it.
You can also create a Lazarus or an MSEide project, or even write a simple script. In that case you can look into source/extrafpc.cfg to see which directories you need to add to your project options.
Authors
Eschecs is a program written by Roland Chastain, with contributions by Johann Elsass and Fred van Stappen.
Credits
Graphics
The application icon is the white king of the Chess Montreal font.
The wood chessboard and its pieces are the work of Daniela Di Lena.
The other pieces set has been made from TrueType chess fonts:
- Chess Alpha by Eric Bentzen
- Chess Condal, Chess Line, Chess Mark by Armando Marroquin
- Chess Montreal by Gary Katch
Sounds
The sound effects come from Lichess, the well-known chess server by Thibault Duplessis, and from The Essential Retro Video Game Sound Effects Collection by Juhani Junkala.
Libraries
Eschecs uses the following libraries.