Here are some things that may help you improve your code. ## Don't `const` qualify POD return values The code includes this member function within `Board`: const int GetPiece(int index) const; The second `const` is useful and appropriate but the first one is not. It says that the return value may *not* be altered by the caller which is obviously not correct for plain old data (POD) such as `int` and is probably ignored by the compiler anyway. ## Use C++ limits The code includes `INT_MIN` which is defined in the old C `<limits.h>` file (which is not `#include`d). You could add that file, but better would be to use `std::numeric_limits<int>::min()` from `<limits>`. ## Beware of partially constructed objects The `Board` constructor is currently this: Board::Board(std::string& fenCode) { fen = std::make_unique<FEN>(board, fenCode); } However, the problem is that `board`, which is passed to the `fen` constructor, is uninitialized. A more subtle problem is this line: int heldPiece, heldSquare = -1; Due to C++ (and C) syntax, `heldPiece` does not get initialized. This is one of the major reasons that the guidelines say to always initalize every object (see [ES.20](https://isocpp.github.io/CppCoreGuidelines/CppCoreGuidelines#Res-always)). ## Don't pass objects needlessly The `Evaluate()` and `Minimax()` functions are both member functions of `Board` and so they already have access to data member `board` without explicitly passing it as an argument. ## Prefer `std::array` to plain arrays In pretty much every way, `std::array` is better than old-style plain C arrays. So I'd suggest `Board::board` should be `std::array<int, 64>`. See [SL.con.1](https://isocpp.github.io/CppCoreGuidelines/CppCoreGuidelines#Rsl-arrays) for details. ## Rethink the the use of pointers The `fen` object is currently owned by the `Board` object as a `std::unique_ptr`, but this isn't really necessary. Instead, I'd suggest that if you follow the suggestions above, you can make `fen` just a plain `FEN fen;` and the `Board` constructor could look like this: Board::Board(std::string& fenCode) : board{} , fen(board, fenCode) {} ## Remove spurious semicolons The semicolon at the end of both versions of `split` in `fen.cpp` can and should be omitted. ## Eliminate "magic numbers" This code is littered with "magic numbers," that is, unnamed constants such as 55, 62, 64, etc. Generally it's better to avoid that and give such constants meaningful names. That way, if anything ever needs to be changed, you won't have to go hunting through the code for all instances of "62" and then trying to determine if this *particular* 62 means that White can castle on the King's side or some other constant that happens to have the same value. ## Evaluate whether an `enum class` is better expressed as a `class` There are many places in the code where some operation is applied to a piece, but what exactly happens depends on whether it's a knight, bishop, queen, etc. For that reason, I'd suggest that a better approach may be to create a base `Piece` class and derive `Knight`, `Bishop`, etc. This would allow you to keep things better organized and reduce a great deal of repetition from the code. The board could contain pointers to `Piece` and then invoking actions on each would automatically route to the correct routine, whether for evaluating value or determining legal moves. ## Use appropriate data structures The `heldLegalMoves` is declared to be a `std::list<int>*` but I see no reason it couldn't instead be a much more efficient `std::vector<int>` without the pointer. ## Understand the API There is a fundamental problem in the way you're trying to draw the board. The problem is that you've already created a renderer, and then the code attempts to call `SDL_GetWindowSurface()`. Worse, the return value (which is `nullptr` on my machine) is never checked and it is later freed. You can *either* have a renderer *or* use `SDL_GetWindowSurface()` but not both. See https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL_GetWindowSurface If you do that, `Graphics::InitBoard()` gets simpler, and you can completely remove `boardTexture` and all references to it too: ``` void Graphics::InitBoard() { SDL_Rect r{SCREEN_X, SCREEN_Y, SQUARE_SIZE, SQUARE_SIZE}; constexpr std::array<std::array<std::uint8_t, 4>, 2> color{{ {0x61, 0x81, 0x87, 0xFF}, // dark color {0xAF, 0xC3, 0xC7, 0xFF} // light color }}; bool light{true}; for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) { for (int j = 0; j < 8; ++j) { SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(renderer.get(), color[light][0], color[light][1], color[light][2], color[light][3] ); SDL_RenderFillRect(renderer.get(), &r); r.x += SQUARE_SIZE; light = !light; } light = !light; r.y += SQUARE_SIZE; r.x = SCREEN_X; } SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(renderer.get(), 0, 0, 0, 255); } ``` ## Think of the user I was surprised to find out that I could manually move either the white or the black pieces. Maybe that's intentional? Being able to reverse or alter a move that my opponent just made might come in handy, but it's unexpected. Also, I understand this is a work in progress, but I was disappointed that castling (which you did mention) and pawn promotion (which you didn't) aren't yet implemented. Still, it was kind of fun!