📸 Preview

♟️ AI Chess Coach Platform

A full-stack chess platform where users can play chess against an AI engine, play with friends in real time, and analyze games with coaching insights.

This project is built as a learning project to understand real-world full-stack architecture, including authentication, game logic, AI integration, and real-time communication.

---

🚀 Features

Authentication

• User registration and login
• Secure authentication system
• User profiles and statistics

Chess Gameplay

• Interactive chessboard UI
• Legal move validation
• Play against Stockfish AI
• Game state management

Multiplayer (In Progress)

• Real-time chess with friends
• Room-based game system
• WebSocket communication

AI Coach (Planned)

• Move suggestions
• Mistake detection
• Game analysis

Game History

• Save matches
• Track performance
• View past games

---

🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• React
• react-chessboard
• chess.js
• Tailwind CSS
• Axios
• Socket.io Client

Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js
• Socket.io
• JWT Authentication
• Stockfish Engine

Database

• MongoDB Atlas
• Mongoose

Deployment

• Frontend: Vercel
• Backend: Render
• Database: MongoDB Atlas

---

📁 Project Structure

chess-ai-platform
│
├── frontend
│   ├── src
│   │   ├── components
│   │   │   └── ChessBoard.jsx
│   │   ├── pages
│   │   │   └── Game.jsx
│   │   ├── services
│   │   │   └── socket.js
│   │   └── App.jsx
│
├── backend
│   ├── controllers
│   ├── models
│   ├── routes
│   ├── sockets
│   └── server.js

---

⚙️ Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/chess-ai-platform.git

cd chess-ai-platform

---

2. Install backend dependencies

cd backend
npm install

Create a .env file:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_uri
JWT_SECRET=your_secret_key

Run backend server:

npm run dev

---

3. Install frontend dependencies

cd frontend
npm install

Run frontend:

npm run dev

---

🧠 How It Works

Play vs AI

1. Player makes a move
2. Board state (FEN) is sent to the backend
3. Backend runs Stockfish
4. Stockfish returns the best move
5. Move is applied on the board

---

Multiplayer System

1. Player creates or joins a room
2. Both players connect via Socket.io
3. Moves are broadcast in real time
4. Boards stay synchronized for both players

---

📚 What I Learned From This Project

• Full-stack application architecture
• Real-time communication using WebSockets
• Game state management with chess.js
• Integrating AI engines (Stockfish)
• Building scalable backend APIs
• Deploying production-ready web apps

---

📌 Future Improvements

• AI coaching system
• Game analysis with evaluation graph
• Rating system (ELO)
• Spectator mode
• Puzzle training
• Mobile optimization

---

👨‍💻 Author

Utkarsh Jeet Singh Yadav

B.Tech CSE student building full-stack and AI-powered applications.