Cisco Object-Oriented Design: Customizable Chessboard

You are asked to design a flexible, object-oriented chessboard system that supports customizable initial piece placement and standard chess gameplay. The board should be configurable (8x8 by default but extensible to other dimensions), support n white and n black pieces placed by user input or configuration, and enforce move validation according to chess rules including special moves where required.

Start by modeling core domain objects: Board and Square (or Cell) as value objects, a Piece base class with concrete subclasses (Pawn, Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King), and a Game or Match controller that tracks turn order, piece positions, and game state (check/checkmate/stalemate). Use Factory Method for creating piece instances from configuration and Strategy Pattern to encapsulate movement rules for each piece so you can add new piece types or variants easily.

In interviews you’ll typically walk through: high-level design and class diagram, initialization flow for configurable placement, move validation logic (bounds checking, collision, captures, and special rules like castling/en passant), and how state changes (moves, captures) are applied. Be ready to discuss performance and scalability—efficient board lookups, sparse representations for large boards, and how you’d persist or transmit game state for multiplayer.

Skill signals you should demonstrate: solid OO design principles (encapsulation, polymorphism), appropriate use of design patterns (Strategy, Factory), correctness in move-validation logic, testability (unit tests for movement rules), and considerations for extensibility and runtime performance.