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+# BitChess Engine
+## A Pure Algorithmic Chess Engine
+
+### Chess Engine Overview
+
+BitChess is a high-performance chess engine developed as a hobby project to explore low-level optimization techniques and algorithmic game theory. The engine uses traditional, non-AI approaches to chess programming, focusing on efficient data structures, multithreaded search, and careful optimization of critical paths.
+
+This project demonstrates how far a pure algorithmic approach to chess can go without relying on neural networks or machine learning techniques that dominate modern engines like Stockfish, Leela Chess Zero, or AlphaZero.
+
+### Motivation
+
+The primary goals of this project are:
+- Deepen understanding of bitboard representations and bit manipulation
+- Master low-level optimization techniques in C
+- Explore multithreaded search algorithms
+- Build an efficient, pure algorithmic chess engine from scratch
+- Benchmark algorithmic approaches against more modern techniques
+
+### Key Features
+- Bitboard-based representation for maximum performance
+- Alpha-beta pruning with move ordering for efficient search
+- Multithreaded search to utilize multi-core processors
+- Position evaluation using piece-square tables and material value
+- Clean terminal interface that updates in real-time
+- Standard Algebraic Notation (SAN) support for move representation
+
+### Technical Approach
+
+#### Board Representation
+
+The engine uses bitboards (64-bit unsigned integers) to represent the chess position, where each bit corresponds to a square on the board. This approach allows for extremely fast position updates and move generation using bitwise operations.
+
+Bitboard for White Pawns (P): `0x000000000000FF00`
+
+        ----------------
+    8 | . . . . . . . . |
+    7 | . . . . . . . . |
+    6 | . . . . . . . . |
+    5 | . . . . . . . . |
+    4 | . . . . . . . . |
+    3 | . . . . . . . . |
+    2 | P P P P P P P P |
+    1 | . . . . . . . . |
+        ----------------
+        a b c d e f g h
+
+#### Search Algorithm
+
+BitChess employs a classic Minimax algorithm with Alpha-Beta pruning to search the game tree efficiently. The engine implements:
+- Move ordering to maximize alpha-beta cutoffs
+- Multithreaded search at the root node to parallelize evaluation
+- Iterative deepening to find good moves quickly
+- MVV-LVA (Most Valuable Victim - Least Valuable Aggressor) for capture ordering
+
+#### Evaluation Function
+
+The evaluation combines several components:
+- **Material balance** - basic piece values (pawn=100, knight=320, etc.)
+- **Piece-square tables** - bonuses/penalties for piece positioning
+- **Mobility** - counting legal moves as a proxy for piece activity
+- **King safety** - evaluating the king's defensive structure
+
+#### Move Generation
+
+The engine generates moves using precomputed attack tables:
+- **Sliding pieces** (bishops, rooks, queens) - using ray attacks
+- **Knights and kings** - using precomputed attack patterns
+- **Pawns** - handling special moves like promotions, en passant, and double pushes
+
+### Implementation Details
+
+BitChess is written in C and designed with modularity in mind:
+- **Bitboard module** - manages attack tables and bit manipulation
+- **Board module** - handles game state and move application
+- **Movegen module** - generates legal moves
+- **Evaluation module** - assesses positions
+- **Search module** - finds the best move
+- **Notation module** - converts between internal move representation and SAN
+
+### Performance Considerations
+
+Several optimizations are implemented:
+- **Precomputed attack tables** - eliminate expensive calculations during search
+- **Move ordering** - dramatically improves alpha-beta pruning efficiency
+- **Multithreading** - utilizes all available CPU cores
+- **Bit manipulation** - uses built-in popcount and bit-scan operations
+- **Structure organization** - designed to maximize cache efficiency
+
+### Current Capabilities
+
+The engine currently:
+- Implements all chess rules correctly, including castling, en passant, and promotions
+- Searches at configurable depths with reasonable performance
+- Uses multiple threads to speed up search
+- Displays evaluation in centipawns
+- Provides a clean terminal interface
+
+### Future Improvements
+
+Planned enhancements include:
+- Transposition tables to avoid re-searching identical positions
+- Quiescence search to resolve tactical sequences
+- Opening book for stronger play in the early game
+- Endgame tablebases for perfect play in simplified positions
+- UCI protocol support for compatibility with chess GUIs
+- Performance profiling and further optimization
+
+### Building and Running
+
+
+#### Clone the repository
+```bash
+git clone https://git.srtk.in/sarthak/bitchess.git
+cd bitchess
+```
+
+#### Build the project
+```bash
+make
+```
+
+#### Run the engine
+```bash
+./build/bin/chess_engine
+```
+
+### Requirements
+
+- GCC or Clang compiler with C99 support
+- POSIX-compliant operating system (Linux, macOS, or Windows with WSL)
+- pthread library