Inventory Chess

A fully-featured chess mod for Minecraft servers that brings competitive chess gameplay directly into your Minecraft world. Players can challenge each other, play against AI opponents, spectate games, and track detailed statistics through an intuitive inventory-based interface.

Features

Complete Chess Experience

• Full chess implementation with all standard rules including castling, en passant, and pawn promotion
• Inventory-based GUI that transforms your inventory into a chess board
• Real-time game updates with piece animations and move highlighting
• Support for multiple time controls (bullet, blitz, rapid, classical)

Player vs Player

• Challenge system with customizable settings
• Support for betting items on game outcomes
• Randomized side assignment or player preference
• Draw offers and resignation mechanics
• Real-time spectator mode for ongoing games

AI Opponents

• Integrated Stockfish chess engine for challenging bot games
• Configurable bot difficulty from 500-3000 ELO rating (WIP)
• Bot vs bot games that you can spectate
• Hint system powered by chess engine analysis

Statistics & Rankings

• Comprehensive ELO rating system using FIDE rules
• Detailed player statistics including win/loss records, accuracy, and streaks
• Leaderboards showing top players by rating
• Game history with move-by-move analysis
• Time control preferences and opponent statistics

Analysis Tools

• Post-game analysis with computer evaluation
• Practice board for setting up positions from FEN notation
• Move quality assessment (blunders, mistakes, brilliant moves)
• Game replay functionality

Commands

All chess functionality is accessed through the /chess command:

• /chess play <player> [timecontrol] - Challenge another player
• /chess challenge - Open challenge configuration GUI
• /chess bot [elo] - Play against AI opponent
• /chess bvb <whiteElo> <blackElo> - Watch bot vs bot game
• /chess spectate [player] - Spectate ongoing games
• /chess stats [player] - View player statistics
• /chess leaderboard - Show top players
• /chess analyze [match_number] - Review past games
• /chess board - Open practice board
• /chess fen [position] - Load/show FEN positions

How It Works

The mod transforms the player's inventory into a chess board interface. Each inventory slot represents a square on the chess board, with custom textured items representing pieces. The interface includes:

• 8x8 chess board taking up most of the inventory space
• Timer displays showing remaining time for each player
• Utility buttons for game actions (resign, draw offers, hints)
• Turn indicator showing whose move it is

Games are fully persistent - if a player disconnects, their game state is saved and can be resumed when they return.

Technical Notes

The mod uses the Stockfish chess engine for AI opponents and analysis. It automatically handles cross-platform compatibility (Windows, Linux, macOS) and downloads appropriate binaries as needed.

This mod was created for the 2025 Serverside Summer Modjam competition. All code is open source and available for review.