Project Description

This project is a React-based chess game that allows users to play chess online. It is part of the react-chess-tools package and is designed to be easy to use and customizable. It is built on top of the react-chessboard and chess.js packages, and provides a nice default configuration for the chess game, including:

• Sounds
• Move-by-click
• Square highlighting
• Keyboard controls

It is built using an approach similar to the one used in the radix-ui, where the ChessGame component is built using a ChessGameContext that you can use to customize and enhance the component game. It also provides a set of default components that you can use to build your next chess app.

Preview

Visit the demo to see the react-chess-game component in action.

Installation

To install the react-chess-game package, run the following command:

$ npm install @react-chess-tools/react-chess-game

Usage

To use the react-chess-game package, you can import the ChessGame component and use it as follows:

import { ChessGame } from "@react-chess-tools/react-chess-game";

const App = () => (
  <ChessGame.Root>
    <ChessGame.Board />
  </ChessGame.Root>
);

Documentation

The react-chess-game package provides a set of components that you can use to build your chess app. The following sections describe the components and their usage.

ChessGame.Root

The ChessGame.Root component is the root component of the react-chess-game package. It is used to provide the ChessGameContext to the rest of the components. It also provides a set of default values for the ChessGameContext that you can customize. It instantiates a Chess instance using the fen prop and provides it to the ChessGameContext.

Props

The ChessGame.Root component accepts the following props:

| Name | Type | Default | Description | | ----------- | ---------- | ------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | children | React.FC | | The children of the ChessGame.Root component. | | fen | string | | The initial FEN of the chess game. | | orientation | "w" | "b" | "w" | The orientation of the chess game. |

ChessGame.Board

The ChessGame.Board component is the main component of the react-chess-game package. It is used to render the chess board and the pieces. It uses the ChessGameContext to get the Chess instance and the orientation of the game.

This version targets react-chessboard v5 and exposes a single options prop instead of spreading all board props.

Props

Accepts a single prop:

| Name | Type | Description | | -------- | ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | options? | ChessboardOptions | Forwarded to react-chessboard v5 Chessboard({ options }). Your values merge with the defaults. |

Quick example (custom styles and event handlers):

<ChessGame.Root>
  <ChessGame.Board
    options={{
      squareStyles: { e4: { boxShadow: "inset 0 0 0 2px #4f46e5" } },
      onPieceDrop: ({ sourceSquare, targetSquare }) => {
        // return boolean to accept/reject drop
        return true;
      },
      showNotation: true,
      animationDurationInMs: 300,
    }}
  />

  {/* Other parts like <ChessGame.Sounds /> or <ChessGame.KeyboardControls /> */}
</ChessGame.Root>

ChessGame.Sounds

The ChessGame.Sounds component is used to provide the sounds for the chess game. By default, it uses built-in sounds, but you can provide your own sounds. Sounds must be provided as base 64 encoded strings.

Props

The ChessGame.Sounds component accepts the following props:

| Name | Type | Default | Description | | -------- | ------ | ------- | ------------------------------------------------- | | check | string | | The sound to play when a player is in check. | | move | string | | The sound to play when a player makes a move. | | capture | string | | The sound to play when a player captures a piece. | | gameOver | string | | The sound to play when the game is over. |

ChessGame.KeyboardControls

The ChessGame.KeyboardControls component is used to provide keyboard controls for navigating through the chess game. By default, it enables arrow key controls for moving through game history, but you can customize the key bindings.

Props

The ChessGame.KeyboardControls component accepts the following props:

| Name | Type | Default | Description | | -------- | ---------------- | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | controls | KeyboardControls | defaultKeyboardControls | Object mapping key names to handler functions. The default controls are: ArrowLeft (previous move), ArrowRight (next move), ArrowUp (go to start), ArrowDown (go to end) |

useChessGameContext

The useChessGameContext hook is used to get the ChessGameContext from the ChessGame.Root component. It can be used to customize the chess game.

Returns

The useChessGameContext hook returns the following values:

| Name | Type | Description | | ---------------- | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | game | Chess | The underlying Chess.js instance. | | orientation | "w" | "b" | The orientation of the chess game. | | currentFen | string | The current FEN string representing the board position. | | currentPosition | string | The current move in the game history. | | currentMoveIndex | number | The index of the current move in the game history. | | isLatestMove | boolean | Whether the current position is the latest move in the game. | | methods | Methods | The methods you can use to interact with the chess game. | | info | Info | The info of the chess game, calculated using the chess instance using chess.js methods |

Methods

The useChessGameContext hook also exposes these methods:

| Name | Type | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | makeMove | (move: string | { from: Square; to: Square; promotion?: "q" | "r" | "b" | "n" }) => boolean | Attempts a move at the latest position; returns true if applied. | | setPosition | (fen: string, orientation: "w" | "b") => void | Sets a new FEN and orientation, resets history navigation to latest. | | flipBoard | () => void | Flips the board orientation. | | goToMove | (moveIndex: number) => void | Jumps to a specific move index (-1 is the starting position). | | goToStart | () => void | Goes to the starting position. | | goToEnd | () => void | Goes to the latest move. | | goToPreviousMove | () => void | Goes to the previous move. | | goToNextMove | () => void | Goes to the next move. |

Info

The useChessGameContext hook returns the following info:

| Name | Type | Description | | ---------------------- | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | turn | "w" | "b" | The turn of the chess game | | isPlayerTurn | boolean | Whether it is the player's turn | | isOpponentTurn | boolean | Whether it is the opponent's turn | | moveNumber | number | The number of the current move | | lastMove | Move | The last move made in the chess game | | isCheck | boolean | Whether the player is in check | | isCheckmate | boolean | Whether the player is in checkmate | | isDraw | boolean | Whether the game is a draw | | isStalemate | boolean | Whether the game is a stalemate | | isThreefoldRepetition | boolean | Whether the game is a threefold repetition | | isInsufficientMaterial | boolean | Whether the game is a insufficient material | | isGameOver | boolean | Whether the game is over | | isDrawn | boolean | Whether the game is drawn | | hasPlayerWon | boolean | Whether the player (the side specified in the orientation prop) has won | | hasPlayerLost | boolean | Whether the player (the side specified in the orientation prop) has lost |

📝 License

This project is MIT licensed.

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