docs: add en passant design spec for NCS-9

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-03-29 14:48:09 +02:00
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+# En Passant — Design Spec
+
+**Date:** 2026-03-29
+**Ticket:** NCS-9
+**Status:** Approved
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+Implement en passant capture for the NowChessSystems chess engine. The data structures (`MoveType.EnPassant`, `GameState.enPassantTarget`) and FEN serialization are already in place. This spec covers the three missing pieces: target derivation, move generation, and board mutation.
+
+---
+
+## Architecture
+
+### New component: `EnPassantCalculator`
+
+**File:** `modules/core/src/main/scala/de/nowchess/chess/logic/EnPassantCalculator.scala`
+
+Mirrors `CastlingRightsCalculator` in structure. Three methods:
+
+```scala
+object EnPassantCalculator:
+
+  /** Returns the en passant target square if the last move was a double pawn push.
+   *  e.g. last move e2→e4 yields target e3. */
+  def enPassantTarget(board: Board, history: GameHistory): Option[Square]
+
+  /** True if moving from→to is a legal en passant capture. */
+  def isEnPassant(board: Board, history: GameHistory, from: Square, to: Square): Boolean
+
+  /** Given the destination square and the moving color, returns the square
+   *  of the pawn to remove from the board. */
+  def capturedPawnSquare(to: Square, color: Color): Square
+```
+
+**`enPassantTarget` logic:** inspect the last `HistoryMove` in `GameHistory`; if the piece now at `to` is a pawn that moved exactly 2 ranks, the target is the square at `(to.file, midRank)` between `from` and `to`.
+
+**`isEnPassant` logic:** moving piece is a pawn, `to` equals `enPassantTarget(board, history)`, and the move is diagonal (file changes by 1).
+
+**`capturedPawnSquare` logic:** same file as `to`, one rank toward the moving pawn (White captures to rank 6 → captured pawn on rank 5; Black captures to rank 3 → captured pawn on rank 4).
+
+---
+
+### Change: `MoveValidator.pawnTargets`
+
+Add an overload accepting `GameHistory`:
+
+```scala
+private def pawnTargets(board: Board, history: GameHistory, from: Square, color: Color): Set[Square]
+```
+
+This calls the existing geometry-only `pawnTargets(board, from, color)` and appends the en passant diagonal target when applicable:
+
+```scala
+val epTarget = EnPassantCalculator.enPassantTarget(board, history)
+val epCapture: Set[Square] =
+  epTarget.filter: target =>
+    val fi  = from.file.ordinal
+    val ri  = from.rank.ordinal
+    val dir = if color == Color.White then 1 else -1
+    squareAt(fi - 1, ri + dir).contains(target) || squareAt(fi + 1, ri + dir).contains(target)
+  .toSet
+existing ++ epCapture
+```
+
+The context-aware `legalTargets(board, history, from)` calls this overload for pawns.
+
+---
+
+### Change: `GameController.processMove`
+
+After legality is confirmed, detect en passant and apply the correct board mutation:
+
+```scala
+val isEP = EnPassantCalculator.isEnPassant(board, history, from, to)
+
+val newBoard =
+  if isCastling then board.withCastle(turn, side)
+  else
+    val (b, _) = board.withMove(from, to)
+    if isEP then b.removed(EnPassantCalculator.capturedPawnSquare(to, turn))
+    else b
+```
+
+`board.removed(sq)` already exists on `Board`. History entry is unchanged — en passant is recorded as `addMove(from, to)` with no castle side.
+
+---
+
+## Data Flow
+
+```
+User input: "e5d6"
+  → Parser.parseMove → (e5, d6)
+  → MoveValidator.isLegal(board, history, e5, d6)
+      → pawnTargets(board, history, e5, White)
+          → enPassantTarget(board, history) → Some(d6)
+          → d6 is diagonal from e5 → included in targets
+      → d6 ∈ legalTargets → legal
+  → EnPassantCalculator.isEnPassant(board, history, e5, d6) → true
+  → board.withMove(e5, d6) → pawn moves to d6
+  → board.removed(d5)      → captured pawn removed
+  → history.addMove(e5, d6)
+  → GameRules.gameStatus(newBoard, newHistory, Black)
+```
+
+---
+
+## Error Handling
+
+No new error cases. En passant is only reachable via `legalTargets` — if `enPassantTarget` is `None` or the pawn is not adjacent, the square is simply not included in legal moves. Illegal en passant attempts are rejected by the existing legality check before `processMove` applies any mutation.
+
+---
+
+## Testing
+
+### `EnPassantCalculatorTest` (unit)
+- `enPassantTarget` returns `None` for non-pawn last moves, non-double-push, and empty history
+- `enPassantTarget` returns correct square after White double push (e2→e4 → target e3) and Black (e7→e5 → target e6)
+- `isEnPassant` returns true for a valid en passant capture, false for normal captures, wrong piece, no ep target
+- `capturedPawnSquare` returns correct square for White and Black
+
+### `MoveValidatorTest` (unit)
+- En passant target square appears in legal pawn targets after opponent double push
+- En passant target square does not appear without a preceding double push
+- En passant target disappears after a non-capturing move (history no longer shows double push)
+
+### `GameRulesTest` (integration)
+- Full scenario: double push → en passant capture → captured pawn absent from board
+- En passant capture that exposes own king is correctly filtered as illegal
+
+### Coverage
+100% line / branch / method via scoverage, verified with `jacoco-reporter/scoverage_coverage_gaps.py`.