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, 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.
Chessboard using Unicode symbols
| 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.
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