A fully functional, interactive chess game built with modern web technologies, featuring a beautiful UI, sound effects, and responsive design. This project demonstrates complete chess logic implementation with all standard rules, piece-specific movement validation, and an engaging user experience enhanced by professional audio integration and smooth animations.
Key Features
Complete Chess Implementation
- All standard chess pieces with proper movement rules
- Pawn special moves (initial double move, diagonal capture)
- Piece-specific validation (Knight L-shape, Bishop diagonal, etc.)
- Path collision detection for long-range pieces
- Win condition detection with king capture mechanics
Interactive Gameplay
- Click-to-select and move pieces with visual feedback
- Selected pieces highlighted with yellow indicator
- Possible move indicators with green highlighting
- Turn-based gameplay with automatic player switching
- Game state management with reset functionality
Audio Features
- Dynamic sound effects with synthesized tones for moves
- Capture sounds using membrane synthesis
- Game over sound sequence with FM synthesis
- Lazy audio loading initialized on first user interaction
- Graceful fallback when audio fails with error handling
Modern UI/UX Design
- Warm orange/amber color scheme with gradient backgrounds
- Hover effects with scaling and smooth transitions
- Retro-gaming aesthetic with modern touches
- Unicode chess symbols (♔♕♖♗♘♙) for visual appeal
- Responsive design with mobile-first approach
Architecture & Implementation
Gameplay UI Preview
This preview showcases the in-game board styling, piece set, and move indicators at a glance. It highlights the readable contrast between light/dark squares and the elevated tiles used for selection and legal moves.
Technologies & Libraries
Frontend Technologies
- HTML5: Semantic markup with proper meta tags and accessibility
- CSS3: Advanced styling with Grid, Flexbox, animations, and custom properties
- Vanilla JavaScript: Pure JavaScript ES6+ implementation without frameworks
- Web Audio API: Integrated via Tone.js library for professional sound effects
External Libraries & APIs
- Tone.js (v14.7.77): Professional audio synthesis library for game sounds
- Google Fonts: Typography (Press Start 2P, Google Sans)
- Font Awesome 6.0: Icon library for social media links
- Material Icons: Google's icon system for UI elements
Security & Performance
Security Features
Content Security Policy (CSP), security headers, XSS protection, and subresource integrity for CDN resources
Performance
Efficient DOM manipulation, smooth 60fps animations, optimized event handling, and minimal reflows
Accessibility
Semantic HTML, ARIA-compliant structure, keyboard navigation support, and screen reader friendly design
Technical Highlights
Game Mechanics
- Complete chess logic with all standard rules
- Piece-specific movement validation system
- Path collision detection for sliding pieces
- Turn-based gameplay with state management
- Win condition detection and game over handling
Audio Architecture
- Web Audio API integration with Tone.js
- Multiple synthesizer types for different sounds
- Contextual sound selection based on game events
- Performance-optimized audio playback
- Lazy loading with graceful error handling
Portfolio Highlights
Technical Skills Demonstrated
- Game Development: Logic implementation, state management
- Audio Programming: Web Audio API, sound synthesis
- Frontend Development: Modern HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript ES6+
- Responsive Design: Mobile-first, cross-device compatibility
- Performance Optimization: Efficient algorithms, smooth animations
Best Practices Showcased
- Clean Architecture: Maintainable code structure
- Security-First: CSP implementation, security headers
- Accessibility: ARIA compliance, keyboard navigation
- Progressive Enhancement: Graceful degradation
- Cross-Browser: Modern web standards compatibility
Conclusion
The chess project demonstrates robust game logic wrapped in a friendly UI with polished interactions and audio cues, delivering a complete and engaging gameplay experience on the web.
Beyond the feature set, this build was a deep dive into designing clear interaction feedback, balancing accessibility with visual flair, and structuring vanilla JavaScript for maintainability. Careful attention to motion, color contrast, and sound design helps players stay oriented as they plan moves and evaluate the board.
What's Next
- Advanced rules: check, checkmate, stalemate, threefold repetition, and 50‑move rule
- Special moves: castling, en passant, and flexible pawn promotion UI
- Move history with undo/redo, PGN export, and FEN import for saved positions
- Drag‑and‑drop piece movement with snap‑to‑square and illegal‑move prevention
- Time controls and timers (bullet, blitz, rapid) with pause/resume support
- AI opponent using minimax with alpha‑beta pruning and adjustable difficulty
- Multiplayer mode with real‑time sync via WebSockets and simple matchmaking
- PWA enhancements for offline play and faster asset loading