Position

Position models a complete chess position as an immutable TypeScript object. It holds the board, turn, castling rights (which sides can still castle), en passant square (the target square behind a pawn that just advanced two ranks), halfmove clock (half-moves since the last pawn advance or capture), and fullmove number. Other @echecs packages build on it.

Installation

npm install @echecs/position

Quick Start

import { Position, STARTING_POSITION } from '@echecs/position';

// Starting position
const pos = new Position({ board: STARTING_POSITION });

console.log(pos.turn); // 'white'
console.log(pos.fullmoveNumber); // 1
console.log(pos.isCheck); // false

// Query the board
const piece = pos.at('e1'); // { color: 'white', type: 'king' }
const whites = pos.pieces('white'); // Map<Square, Piece> of all white pieces

// Board queries
const knightMoves = pos.reach('g1', { color: 'white', type: 'knight' }); // ['f3', 'h3']

// Derive a new position
const next = pos.derive({
  changes: [
    ['e2', undefined],
    ['e4', { color: 'white', type: 'pawn' }],
  ],
  turn: 'black',
  enPassantSquare: 'e3',
});

API

Full API reference is available at https://position.echecs.dev/

Constructor

new Position()
new Position(data: PositionData)

The no-argument form creates an empty position with default options. Pass { board: STARTING_POSITION } to place all 32 pieces in their opening squares. Pass any PositionData object to construct an arbitrary position.

// From a FEN string (with @echecs/fen)
const pos = new Position(parse(fen));

Properties

Property	Type	Description
castlingRights	CastlingRights	Which castling moves remain available
enPassantSquare	EnPassantSquare | undefined	En passant target square (rank 3 or 6), if any
fullmoveNumber	number	Game turn counter — increments after each black move
halfmoveClock	number	Half-moves since last pawn advance or capture (fifty-move rule)
turn	Color	Side to move ('white' or 'black')

Getters

Getter	Type	Description
hash	string	Zobrist hash (a fixed-size integer fingerprint) for position identity
isCheck	boolean	Whether the side to move is in check
isInsufficientMaterial	boolean	Whether the position is a FIDE draw by insufficient material
isValid	boolean	Whether the position is legally reachable

Methods

derive(changes?): Position

Returns a new Position with the given changes applied. The original stays unchanged. Fields not provided copy forward from the source.

// move e2 pawn to e4
const next = pos.derive({
  changes: [
    ['e2', undefined],
    ['e4', { color: 'white', type: 'pawn' }],
  ],
  turn: 'black',
  enPassantSquare: 'e3',
});

// clone
const clone = pos.derive();

reach(square, piece): Square[]

Returns all squares the given piece can reach from square on the current board. Filters out same-color pieces.

For sliding pieces (bishops, rooks, queens — pieces that move any number of squares in a line), stops before friendlies and includes enemy pieces as capture targets. For pawns, includes single and double pushes from the starting rank (blocked by any piece), diagonal captures of enemy pieces, and en passant captures.

pos.reach('g1', { color: 'white', type: 'knight' }); // ['f3', 'h3']
pos.reach('e4', { color: 'white', type: 'rook' }); // all rank/file squares until blocked
pos.reach('e2', { color: 'white', type: 'pawn' }); // ['e3', 'e4'] (pushes on empty board)

at(square): Piece | undefined

Returns the piece on square, or undefined if the square is empty.

pos.at('e1'); // { color: 'white', type: 'king' }
pos.at('e5'); // undefined (empty in starting position)

pieces(color?): Map<Square, Piece>

Returns a map of all pieces, optionally filtered by color.

pos.pieces(); // all 32 pieces in starting position
pos.pieces('white'); // 16 white pieces

Constants

import { STARTING_POSITION } from '@echecs/position';

STARTING_POSITION is a Map<Square, Piece> with all 32 pieces on their opening squares. Pass it to the Position constructor:

const pos = new Position({ board: STARTING_POSITION });

Types

All types export for use in consuming code and companion packages.

import type {
  CastlingRights, // { black: SideCastlingRights; white: SideCastlingRights }
  Color, // 'black' | 'white'
  DeriveOptions, // options accepted by Position.derive()
  EnPassantSquare, // en passant target square (rank 3 or 6 only)
  File, // 'a' | 'b' | ... | 'h'
  Move, // { from: Square; promotion?: PromotionPieceType; to: Square }
  Piece, // { color: Color; type: PieceType }
  PieceType, // 'bishop' | 'king' | 'knight' | 'pawn' | 'queen' | 'rook'
  PositionData, // data accepted by the Position constructor
  PromotionPieceType, // 'bishop' | 'knight' | 'queen' | 'rook'
  Rank, // '1' | '2' | ... | '8'
  SideCastlingRights, // { king: boolean; queen: boolean }
  Square, // 'a1' | 'a2' | ... | 'h8'
} from '@echecs/position';