ChessPiece.java

//I just kind of threw all this together but these things would be in separate files.

public enum Color {
    WHITE("w"),
    BLACK("b")
    
    private Color(final String pAbbr) {
      abbr = pAbbr
    }
    
    public String getAbbr() {
      return abbr;
    }
    
    public String toString() {
      return abbr;
    }
    
    private String abbr;
}


public enum EType {
    PAWN("Pawn", "P", 1),
    KNIGHT("Knight", "Ne", 3),
    BISHOP("Bishop", "B", 3),
    ROOK("Rook", "R", 5),
    QUEEN("Queen", "Q", 9),
    KING("King", "K", -1);

    private EType(final String pName, final String pAbbr, final int pValue) {
        mName = pName;
        mAbbr = pAbbr;
        mValue = pValue;
    }

   
    public String getName() {
        return mName;
    }

    public String getAbbr() {
        return mAbbr;
    }

    public int getValue() {
        return mValue;
    }

    private final String mName;

    private final String mAbbr;

    private final int mValue;
}

public interface IPiece {
    
    public EType getType();

    public Color getColor();

    public String getLocation();

    public String setLocation();

    /**
     * I think you probably want to just give the whole board to the piece when you attempt to find out if a move is possible or not, youll need to most likely walk 
     * path and such to find out if something is in your way etc..
     *
     * Would return true or false based on if that move were possible or not.
    **/ 
    public boolean attemptMove(final String pLocation, final Board pBoard);

    // Might not be needed but it would be easy to track and could be useful if ever tried to implement special move i.e. Castling
    public int getMoveCount();
}

/////////////////////

static final int aCode = (int)'a';

   // remember that your board array is zero based but the rank is 1 based
   static final int OneCode = (int)'1';

   //Assuming the location is in 2 letter format one char and one number for rank and file e.g. a3
   //this will return java.awt.Point which has an x and a y member
   public Point convertLocation(final String pLocation) {

      Point ret = null;

      if (pLocation == null || pLocation.length() != 2) {
         //This isnt a valid location
         System.err.println("Invalid point provided...");
      }  else {
        // I made this case insensitive here so like either a3 or A3 would both work but I dont think that was a requirement of your project.
        int rank = (int) pLocation.toLowerCase().charAt(0) - aCode;
        int file = (int) pLocation.charAt(1) - OneCode;

        if (isWithinBoard(rank) && isWithinBoard(file)) {
          ret = new Point(rank, file);
        }
      }
      return ret;
   }

   public boolean isWithinBoard(final int p) {
      if (p > 7 || p < 0) {
         return false;
      }
      return true;
   }