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SharpChess is a free computer application that enables you to play chess against the computer. It plays a challenging, tactical and, I'm told, "fun" game of chess.

The application has been wholly developed using C# (C Sharp) and the Microsoft DotNet Framework 2.0, and runs on any version of Microsoft Windows that has the DotNet v2 framework installed.

I am very interested in hearing any feedback you may have about SharpChess: queries, bugs, enhancement ideas, or savegame files of any games you have played. Please contact me at info@sharpchess.com, or use the forums.

Version 2.52 released 2-Aug-2006

Game features

• Play the against computer opponent.
• 16 preset difficultly levels, or specify custom settings using combinations of Move Time, Maximum Search Depth, and Pondering.
• Graphical chess board.
• Helpful high-lighting of legal chess moves, when clicking on a piece.
• Real-time chess clocks.
• Move history displayed.
• Undo/Redo moves.
• Load/Save chess games during play.
• Replay your saved games.
• Paste FEN positions from the clipboard.
• See real-time computer thinking.
• See post-analysis tree of all moves considered by computer.
• Stalemate and three-move-repetition detection.
• Flip board to play from black or white's perspective.

Chess engine features

• WinBoard compatible.
• Alpha-Beta search with Pricipal-variation (PVS).
• Quiescience Search.
• Iterative Deepening.
• Hashtable (transition table) using Zobrist Keys. (Separate King-Pawn & In-Check hashtables).
• Adaptive Null-Nove Forward Pruning.
• 0x88 board representation.
• Move ordering using Hash table, MVV/LVA, SEE, 2-slot Killer-Move, History Heuristic.
• Search Extensions (Check Evasion, Single response, Pawn push to 7th rank, Re-capture of same-value piece).
• Quiescence Search (Re-Capture, Pawn-promotion, Enprise piece, pieces attacked by pieces of lower value).
• Pondering (thinking during opponent's time).
• "n moves in x minutes" Move time-allocation algorithm.
• Opening book containing over 1300 varied opening positions.

Programming features

• A well-designed, and hopefully easy-to-understand, object-model that will enable other developers to quickly get involved in the project.

SharpChess is an open source project that is being managed at SourceForge.net under the GNU GPL Licence.

If you would like to help further the development of SharpChess, then please visit our forums.

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