Pawns

About

Pawns is a feature-rich chess application that lets you play against Stockfish engine, challenge friends in local or remote p2p play, create custom scenarios, and analyze games.

Game Modes:

• Human vs Human - Play with a friend on the same computer
• Human vs Engine - Challenge Stockfish at adjustable difficulty (0-20)
• Engine vs Engine (E2E) - Watch two chess engines battle it out
• Remote Play (P2P) - Play against a friend over the network with SSL encryption

Visual Customization:

• Multiple piece sets (Celtic, Fantasy, Eyes, Skulls, Spatial, and more)
• Board color themes (Classic, Wood, Green, Blue, Gray, Brown)
• Customizable background color behind the board
• Zoom with Ctrl+Mouse Wheel
• Toggle board markings (rank and file labels)

Time Controls:

• Customizable time controls (1-60 minutes)
• Increment options (0-30 seconds)
• Visual clock display with progress bars
• Time-out detection (flag falls)
• Clock synchronization in remote play

Tools:

• Scenario Builder - Create and save custom board positions
• Save and Load games in .chess format (full state with clocks and difficulty)
• PGN export for sharing games
• Move history with table view in the dock
• Game replay with media-style controls
• Console for engine output and UCI commands

Remote Play:

• SSL-encrypted P2P connection
• Contact list with IP/port storage
• In-game chat
• DTLS encrypted push-to-talk audio
• LAN peer discovery via UDP broadcast
• UPnP port forwarding support
• Resign, draw offer, and stop game functionality

Engine Support:

• Stockfish engine with Skill Level control (0-20)
• GNU Chess engine support (XBoard mode)
• Move validation and position analysis
• Checkmate, stalemate, and draw detection

Audio Feedback:

• Move sounds
• Check notification
• Checkmate sound
• Toggle sound on/off