Chess symbols in Unicode

Chess symbols are part of Unicode. Instead of using images, one can represent chess pieces by symbols that are defined in the Unicode character set. This makes it possible to:

  • Use figurine algebraic notation, which replaces the letter that stands for a piece by its symbol, e.g. ♘c6 instead of Nc6. This enables the moves to be read independent of language (the letter abbreviations of pieces in algebraic notation vary from language to language).
  • Produce the symbols using a text editor or word processor rather than a graphics editor.
Font depictions of Unicode chess symbols (in the same order as the table). Top: Arial Unicode MS font. Bottom: Tahoma font.
GNU Chess using Unicode chess characters to display a chess board in the terminal.

In order to display or print these symbols, one has to have one or more fonts with good Unicode support installed on the computer, and the document (Web page, word processor document, etc.) must use one of these fonts.[1]

Unicode version 12.0 has allocated a whole character block at 0x1FA00 for inclusion of extra chess piece representations. This standard points to several new characters being created in this block, including rotated pieces and neutral (neither white nor black) pieces.

Unicode code points and HTML

Traditional chess symbols are part of the Miscellaneous Symbols block. Alternate symbols to support, for example, fairy chess are defined in the Chess Symbols block.

Chess Symbols
Unicode.org chart (PDF)
NameSymbolCode pointHTML (decimal)HTML (hex)
white chess king♔U+2654♔♔
white chess queen♕U+2655♕♕
white chess rook♖U+2656♖♖
white chess bishop♗U+2657♗♗
white chess knight♘U+2658♘♘
white chess pawn♙U+2659♙♙
black chess king♚U+265A♚♚
black chess queen♛U+265B♛♛
black chess rook♜U+265C♜♜
black chess bishop♝U+265D♝♝
black chess knight♞U+265E♞♞
black chess pawn♟︎U+265F♟♟

Chessboard using Unicode symbols
8 ♜ ♞ ♝ ♛ ♚ ♝ ♞ ♜
7 ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟
6
5
4
3
2 ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙ ♙
1 ♖ ♘ ♗ ♕ ♔ ♗ ♘ ♖
a b c d e f g h
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gollark: Hmm... that's actually an interesting idea...

References
  1. "Test for Unicode support in Web browsers".
  • http://js1k.com/2010-first/demo/750 Playable chess in 1024 bytes of javascript. Entry in JS1k competition by Óscar Toledo G. Usage of Unicode Chess symbols enables a playable design and keep the code less than 1024 bytes.
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