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.

In order to display or print these symbols, a device must have one or more fonts with good Unicode support installed, and the document (Web page, word processor document, etc.) it is displaying 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,^[2] including rotated pieces and neutral (neither white nor black) pieces.

Unicode characters

In Unicode, chess symbols are in two groups:

Regular chess symbols, the basic six pieces in black and white (as part of Unicode block Miscellaneous Symbols), and
Uncommon and fairy chess pieces, in a block named Chess Symbols.

The basic 12 chess pieces

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

Fancy chess pieces

Chess Symbols^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+1FA0x	🨀	🨁	🨂	🨃	🨄	🨅	🨆	🨇	🨈	🨉	🨊	🨋	🨌	🨍	🨎	🨏
U+1FA1x	🨐	🨑	🨒	🨓	🨔	🨕	🨖	🨗	🨘	🨙	🨚	🨛	🨜	🨝	🨞	🨟
U+1FA2x	🨠	🨡	🨢	🨣	🨤	🨥	🨦	🨧	🨨	🨩	🨪	🨫	🨬	🨭	🨮	🨯
U+1FA3x	🨰	🨱	🨲	🨳	🨴	🨵	🨶	🨷	🨸	🨹	🨺	🨻	🨼	🨽	🨾	🨿
U+1FA4x	🩀	🩁	🩂	🩃	🩄	🩅	🩆	🩇	🩈	🩉	🩊	🩋	🩌	🩍	🩎	🩏
U+1FA5x	🩐	🩑	🩒	🩓
U+1FA6x	🩠	🩡	🩢	🩣	🩤	🩥	🩦	🩧	🩨	🩩	🩪	🩫	🩬	🩭
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Chessboard using Unicode

8	♜	♞	♝	♛	♚	♝	♞	♜
7	♟︎	♟︎	♟︎	♟︎	♟︎	♟︎	♟︎	♟︎
6
5
4
3
2	♙	♙	♙	♙	♙	♙	♙	♙
1	♖	♘	♗	♕	♔	♗	♘	♖
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

References

External links

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.

[alanwoodTestForUnicodeSuportInBrowser-1] "Test for Unicode support in Web browsers".

[2] ttp://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1FA00.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

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