Chess Nerd

A suite of web-based chess tools.

Core Tools

• PGN Info & Analytics: A client-side PGN parser that generates instant statistics, extracts player/event metadata, and validates file integrity without uploading data to an external server.
• ECO Code Browser: A hierarchical navigation tool for the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (Volume A-E), allowing users to explore opening lines and variations.
• Tournament Archive: A curated download center for historical tournament PGNs. Includes automatic calculation of average Elo and FIDE Tournament Categories based on player ratings.
• Engine Database: A searchable reference for chess engines, filtering by name, author, language, and release details.
• Chess.com API Reference: Documentation and reference tools for interacting with public chess data APIs.

UI/UX

• Theme Engine: Robust theming support with persistent dark/light mode toggles.
• Accent Customization: Users can select from multiple color palettes (Burlywood, Teal, Cornflower, etc.) to match their aesthetic preference.
• Responsive Design: Built with modern CSS Grid and Flexbox to work seamlessly across desktop and mobile devices.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3 (CSS Variables for theming), Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+).
• Data Format: JSON (for structured data like ECO codes and engines) and PGN (Portable Game Notation).
• Utilities: Python (used for data scraping, calculating average Elo, and generating cross-tables).

Project Structure

chessnerd/
├── css/                # Global styles and theme definitions
├── js/                 # Application logic (PGN parsing, UI interaction)
├── data/               # Static JSON databases (ECO codes, engines)
├── tournaments/        # PGN archives and Python maintenance scripts
│   ├── calc_avg_elo.py # Utility to calculate FIDE categories
│   └── ...
├── index.html          # Main dashboard
└── [tool].html         # Individual tool interfaces

Installation & Usage

Running the Web Interface

Because Chess Nerd is built as a static site, it requires no complex build process or package manager.

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/chess-nerd.git

2. Launch: Simply open index.html in any modern web browser.

   • Note: For strict CORS policies (loading JSON data), it is recommended to run a local server.

   # Python 3 example
   cd chessnerd
   python -m http.server 8000