for Delphi 2-7 and C++ Builder

The Chessboard component v3.03 for Delphi 2-7 and C++ Builder (or v 2.11 for C++ Builder only), is now available. The ChessBoard component provides a 2-Dimensional chessboard with a drag and drop interface that can keep track of a game and allows full customization of the bitmaps for the pieces, squares and border. Optionally the board is resizable at runtime. All common chess events are implemented (OnLegalMove, OnIllegalMove, OnCapture, OnCheck, OnMate, OnStaleMate, OnDraw etc.)
 

Now the component includes the engine of Tom's Simple Chess Program and calculates using its own thread. Optionally it allows you to use your own custom engine instead as well. Just drop a Chessbrd component on a form and you are very close to a complete multithreaded chess application. A Delphi example project has been included to demonstrate the common features.

The Chessboard Component may be freely used by anyone.

The software contains source code extracted from Tom Kerrigan's Tom's Simple Chess Program which is an interesting approach to a chess engine because of  its romantic style of play and the little code it pertains.

Click here to visit Tom Kerrigan's page

Version history

What was new in v 3.00

• Now the engine of Tom's Simple Chess Program  has been translated into pascal and added to the component so it now also plays chess. New  properties and methods have been added accordingly.
• A new function has been added that allows  animation of a move with an adjustable delay.
• Added an example that should help where the text file fails.
• Moved resources from the source into a RES file and added some new sets of pieces
• Replaced event OnOnlyTwoKingsLeft by OnNoMatingMaterial. Added OnDraw  and OnPaint event.
• Completely revised the source and made many small changes.

What was new in v 3.01

• All piece sets have been removed from the RES file as well as the StandardSize property. This will give some compatibility problems for users of previous versions but prevents  that EXE files built with this component become unnecessarily big.
• Added a function StringToSquare (requested by many people).
• Fixed a bug that would prevent a C++ Builder project to compile properly.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the OnCheck event handler from being called in the case a promotion was made too.

What was new in v 3.02

• Now custom pieceset is properly initialized at runtime too
• Added CustomEngine property which allows the use of a custom chess engine.
• Added OnCalculate move and OnCalculationFailed event handlers
• Function MoveIsLegal has been made public
• Fixed endless loop bug when setting SearchDepth to high value
• Added new pieceset bitmaps
  

What's new in v3.03

• Delpih5 compatibility

Download

Latest version: 3.03. 

Click here to download the Chessboard component including source code (437489 bytes)