[post] Hello Chess Friend

content/blog/2023/hello-chess-friend.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+---
+title: "Hello Chess Friend"
+description: I started building a chess engine in Rust. Here it is.
+date: 2023-12-29T08:29:00-08:00
+series: chess-friend
+categories: Tech
+tags: [Programming, Chess]
+---
+
+I started [playing a lot of chess][chess-post] recently. As often happens with
+me, it wasn't very long until I started wondering how I could Do Programming To
+It.
+
+I found the mostly excellent, occasionally vague and confusing [Chess
+Programming Wiki][cpwiki] and have been using that as a guide. It helpfully says
+this on it's [Getting Started][cpgs] page:
+
+> The **very first step** to writing a chess engine is to write a complete, bug
+> free board representation that knows every rule of chess.
+
+As a software engineer, the "bug free" bit cracks me up.
+
+My engine is called ChessFriend. It uses [bitboards][cpbb] for its board
+representation. As of this post, I've managed to write a board representation
+that allows me to place pieces of both colors on any square, and I'm hacking
+away at the move generator. I've also written a small command line "board
+explorer" utility that can interact with my board representation. Of course, it
+has a pile of unit tests, helping me inch ever-so-slowly toward that blissful
+bug-free state.
+
+It's written in Rust. I've [_mostly_][rust-bc-toot] avoided fighting with the
+borrow checker.
+
+[chess-post]: {{< ref "chess" >}}
+[cpwiki]: https://www.chessprogramming.org/Main_Page
+[cpgs]: https://www.chessprogramming.org/Getting_Started
+[cpbb]: https://www.chessprogramming.org/Bitboards
+[rust-bc-toot]: https://mastodon.social/@erynofwales/111637122773195611