Excel VBA Chess Challenge #1

Welcome to the Spreadsheet Skunkworks! Can we create a chess computer in an Excel spreadsheet using Excel VBA? Download the file used in this video here: https://tinyurl.com/yyagohwk Spreadsheet Skunkworks playlist here: https://tinyurl.com/y8ufaodr Welcome to the Spreadsheet Skunkworks! In this video series, Chris tests the boundaries of what is possible in Excel. You will not find the usual step-by-step tuition here; the focus is on experimentation and creativity. Expect plenty of coding challenges, and some nice surprises about what is possible in Excel... We will seek to use Excel's functions and Excel VBA to create the functions of a chess computer. We do not know to what extent this is possible but, ultimately, we would like to challenge somebody to a game on Chess.com using our spreadsheet-based system. Along the way, we aim to learn lots about Excel VBA and its capabilities. Some key questions: - How can we represent a chess board and chess pieces in Excel? - Can we make Excel understand where the pieces can move? - Can we 'teach' Excel some simple chess principles (capture the other pieces, move your pieces to good squares), and get Excel to recommend a move to make? In this video, the challenge is to create a visual 'chessboard' effect in Excel. Chris first looks at how to do this 'manually' and presents some time-saving tips. Then, we explore how to use Excel VBA to speed up what could be a time-consuming task. Chris first records some code to format a cell and employs a 'loop within a loop' to colour the 64 squares of the chessboard. Some VBA techniques on show include 'do - until' loops and conditional statements. Enjoy! What do you think about the Spreadsheet Skunkworks series? Do you have any ideas for Chris? Don't forget to leave a comment. Get in touch with Tiger using the platforms below! For regular spreadsheet hints and tips and more on the #ExcelRevolution: https://www.facebook.com/TigerSpreadsheetSolutions https://twitter.com/TigSpreadsheets http://tigerspreadsheetsolutions.co.uk