python-chess: a pure Python chess library

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Introduction

python-chess is a pure Python chess library with move generation and validation and handling of common formats. This is the scholars mate in python-chess:

>>> import chess

>>> board = chess.Board()

>>> board.legal_moves  
<LegalMoveGenerator at ... (Nh3, Nf3, Nc3, Na3, h3, g3, f3, e3, d3, c3, ...)>
>>> chess.Move.from_uci("a8a1") in board.legal_moves
False

>>> board.push_san("e4")
Move.from_uci('e2e4')
>>> board.push_san("e5")
Move.from_uci('e7e5')
>>> board.push_san("Qh5")
Move.from_uci('d1h5')
>>> board.push_san("Nc6")
Move.from_uci('b8c6')
>>> board.push_san("Bc4")
Move.from_uci('f1c4')
>>> board.push_san("Nf6")
Move.from_uci('g8f6')
>>> board.push_san("Qxf7")
Move.from_uci('h5f7')

>>> board.is_checkmate()
True

>>> board
Board('r1bqkb1r/pppp1Qpp/2n2n2/4p3/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR b KQkq - 0 4')

Features

  • Supports Python 2.6+, Python 3.3+ and PyPy.

  • IPython notebook integration. SVG rendering docs.

    >>> board  
    
    https://backscattering.de/web-boardimage/board.png?fen=r1bqkb1r/pppp1Qpp/2n2n2/4p3/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR&lastmove=h5f7&check=e8
  • Chess variants: Standard, Chess960, Suicide, Giveaway, Atomic, King of the Hill, Racing Kings, Horde, Three-check, Crazyhouse. Variant docs.

  • Make and unmake moves.

    >>> Nf3 = chess.Move.from_uci("g1f3")
    >>> board.push(Nf3)  # Make the move
    
    >>> board.pop()  # Unmake the last move
    Move.from_uci('g1f3')
    
  • Show a simple ASCII board.

    >>> board = chess.Board("r1bqkb1r/pppp1Qpp/2n2n2/4p3/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR b KQkq - 0 4")
    >>> print(board)
    r . b q k b . r
    p p p p . Q p p
    . . n . . n . .
    . . . . p . . .
    . . B . P . . .
    . . . . . . . .
    P P P P . P P P
    R N B . K . N R
    
  • Detects checkmates, stalemates and draws by insufficient material.

    >>> board.is_stalemate()
    False
    >>> board.is_insufficient_material()
    False
    >>> board.is_game_over()
    True
    
  • Detects repetitions. Has a half move clock.

    >>> board.can_claim_threefold_repetition()
    False
    >>> board.halfmove_clock
    0
    >>> board.can_claim_fifty_moves()
    False
    >>> board.can_claim_draw()
    False
    

    With the new rules from July 2014 a game ends drawn (even without a claim) once a fivefold repetition occurs or if there are 75 moves without a pawn push or capture. Other ways of ending a game take precedence.

    >>> board.is_fivefold_repetition()
    False
    >>> board.is_seventyfive_moves()
    False
    
  • Detects checks and attacks.

    >>> board.is_check()
    True
    >>> board.is_attacked_by(chess.WHITE, chess.E8)
    True
    
    >>> attackers = board.attackers(chess.WHITE, chess.F3)
    >>> attackers
    SquareSet(0b0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000100000001000000)
    >>> chess.G2 in attackers
    True
    >>> print(attackers)
    . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . . .
    . . . . . . 1 .
    . . . . . . 1 .
    
  • Parses and creates SAN representation of moves.

    >>> board = chess.Board()
    >>> board.san(chess.Move(chess.E2, chess.E4))
    'e4'
    >>> board.parse_san('Nf3')
    Move.from_uci('g1f3')
    >>> board.variation_san([chess.Move.from_uci(m) for m in ["e2e4", "e7e5", "g1f3"]])
    '1. e4 e5 2. Nf3'
    
  • Parses and creates FENs, extended FENs and Shredder FENs.

    >>> board.fen()
    'rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1'
    >>> board.shredder_fen()
    'rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w HAha - 0 1'
    >>> board = chess.Board("8/8/8/2k5/4K3/8/8/8 w - - 4 45")
    >>> board.piece_at(chess.C5)
    Piece.from_symbol('k')
    
  • Parses and creates EPDs.

    >>> board = chess.Board()
    >>> board.epd(bm=board.parse_uci("d2d4"))
    'rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - bm d4;'
    
    >>> ops = board.set_epd("1k1r4/pp1b1R2/3q2pp/4p3/2B5/4Q3/PPP2B2/2K5 b - - bm Qd1+; id \"BK.01\";")
    >>> ops == {'bm': [chess.Move.from_uci('d6d1')], 'id': 'BK.01'}
    True
    
  • Detects absolute pins and their directions.

  • Read Polyglot opening books. Docs.

    >>> import chess.polyglot
    
    >>> book = chess.polyglot.open_reader("data/polyglot/performance.bin")
    
    >>> board = chess.Board()
    >>> main_entry = book.find(board)
    >>> main_entry.move()
    Move.from_uci('e2e4')
    >>> main_entry.weight
    1
    >>> main_entry.learn
    0
    
    >>> book.close()
    
  • Read and write PGNs. Supports headers, comments, NAGs and a tree of variations. Docs.

    >>> import chess.pgn
    
    >>> pgn = open("data/pgn/molinari-bordais-1979.pgn")
    >>> first_game = chess.pgn.read_game(pgn)
    >>> pgn.close()
    
    >>> first_game.headers["White"]
    'Molinari'
    >>> first_game.headers["Black"]
    'Bordais'
    
    >>> # Get the mainline as a list of moves.
    >>> moves = first_game.main_line()
    >>> first_game.board().variation_san(moves)
    '1. e4 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Ne2 Nf6 4. Nbc3 Nb4 5. g3 Nd3#'
    
    >>> # Iterate through the mainline of this embarrasingly short game.
    >>> node = first_game
    >>> while not node.is_end():
    ...     next_node = node.variation(0)
    ...     print(node.board().san(next_node.move))
    ...     node = next_node
    e4
    c5
    c4
    Nc6
    Ne2
    Nf6
    Nbc3
    Nb4
    g3
    Nd3#
    
    >>> first_game.headers["Result"]
    '0-1'
    
  • Probe Gaviota endgame tablebases (DTM, WDL). Docs.

  • Probe Syzygy endgame tablebases (DTZ, WDL). Docs.

    >>> import chess.syzygy
    
    >>> tablebases = chess.syzygy.open_tablebases("data/syzygy/regular")
    
    >>> # Black to move is losing in 53 half moves (distance to zero) in this
    >>> # KNBvK endgame.
    >>> board = chess.Board("8/2K5/4B3/3N4/8/8/4k3/8 b - - 0 1")
    >>> tablebases.probe_dtz(board)
    -53
    
    >>> tablebases.close()
    
  • Communicate with an UCI engine. Docs.

    >>> import chess.uci
    
    >>> engine = chess.uci.popen_engine("stockfish")
    >>> engine.uci()
    >>> engine.author  
    'Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba and Joona Kiiski'
    
    >>> # Synchronous mode.
    >>> board = chess.Board("1k1r4/pp1b1R2/3q2pp/4p3/2B5/4Q3/PPP2B2/2K5 b - - 0 1")
    >>> engine.position(board)
    >>> engine.go(movetime=2000)  # Gets tuple of bestmove and ponder move.
    BestMove(bestmove=Move.from_uci('d6d1'), ponder=Move.from_uci('c1d1'))
    
    >>> # Asynchronous mode.
    >>> def callback(command):
    ...    bestmove, ponder = command.result()
    ...    assert bestmove == chess.Move.from_uci('d6d1')
    ...
    >>> command = engine.go(movetime=2000, async_callback=callback)
    >>> command.done()
    False
    >>> command.result()
    BestMove(bestmove=Move.from_uci('d6d1'), ponder=Move.from_uci('c1d1'))
    >>> command.done()
    True
    
    >>> # Quit.
    >>> engine.quit()
    0
    

Installing

Download and install the latest release:

pip install python-chess[uci,gaviota]

Selected use cases

If you like, let me know if you are creating something intresting with python-chess, for example:

License

python-chess is licensed under the GPL3. See the LICENSE file for the full copyright and license information.

Thanks to the Stockfish authors. Thanks to Sam Tannous for publishing his approach to avoid rotated bitboards with direct lookup (pdf) alongside his GPL2+ engine Shatranj. Some move generation ideas are taken from these sources.

Thanks to Ronald de Man for his Syzygy endgame tablebases (https://github.com/syzygy1/tb). The probing code in python-chess is very directly ported from his C probing code.

Thanks to Miguel A. Ballicora for his Gaviota tablebases (https://github.com/michiguel/Gaviota-Tablebases).

Indices and tables