These templates shows a chess diagram, a graphic representation of a position in a chess game, using standardised symbols resembling the pieces of the standard Staunton chess set. The default template for a standard chess board is {{Chess diagram}}. This documentation covers all related templates.
There are several standard chess diagram templates:
There are also templates for chess variants:
The syntax is basically the same for all chess diagram templates.
.svg/1280px-Test_Template_Info-Icon_-_Version_(2).svg.png){kind=icon}
{{Chess diagram| <alignment> (param #1)| <header> (#2) | size =| numbers =| letters =| <a8> | <b8> | ... | <h8> (#3 to ...| <a7> | <b7> | ... | <h7>...| <a1> | <b1> | ... | <h1> ( ... #66)| <footer> (#67)| reverse = }}Parameters:
<alignment> – defines horizontal alignment (floating) of the whole table, must be tright or tleft (or nothing)<header> – the text which appears above the diagram, may be empty;size - specifies the size of each square in pixels, the default is 26.numbers - specifies whether the rows are numbered. Options are: left, right, both (default) or neither.letters - specifies whether the columns are lettered. Options are: top, bottom, both (default) or neither.<a8>, <b8>, ... <h1> – define corresponding squares of the chessboard, see below;<footer> – the text which appears beneath the diagram, may be empty; optional – can be left out (currently not in the other templates)A square is defined by the name of piece or empty parameter. The names of the pieces are those given in algebraic notation:
k = king
q = queen
r = rook
b = bishop
n = knight
p = pawnThese letters are combined with either "l" for Light=White, or "d" for Dark=Black. So "kl" is White's king, and "nd" is Black's knight.
An empty square is written either using underscores, spaces, or nothing at all. Two spaces are recommended.
<space> = empty squareThere are also some fairy chess pieces available. In general, there is no convention for which inverted piece to use, but in general one should use something similar to how the fairy piece moves (e.g. a camel should use an inverted knight icon).
a = archbishop (princess)
c = chancellor (empress)
f = inverted king
g = inverted queen (grasshopper)
m = inverted rook
B = inverted bishop
N = inverted knight (nightrider)
h = inverted pawn
e = elephant.png/1280px-Mann_white_on_light_(an_icon_of_the_chess_piece).png){kind=icon}
.png/1280px-Mann_white_on_dark_(an_icon_of_the_chess_piece).png){kind=icon}
.png/1280px-Mann_black_on_light_(an_icon_of_the_chess_piece).png){kind=icon}
.png/1280px-Mann_black_on_dark_(an_icon_of_the_chess_piece).png){kind=icon}
M = mann (alternate symbol)
C = centaur or amazon
F = ferz (alternate symbol)Omega Chess pieces:
z = champion
w = wizard
t = fool (for Omega Chess Advanced)Other suitable images include:
You can also use "xx" for a black cross, "ox" for a white cross, "xo" for a black circle on an empty square or "oo" for a white one.
xx = black cross/x
ox = white cross/x
xo = black circle
oo = white circleWhen showing movement directions on the board, arrows are available
ul = up & left
ua = up
ur = up & right
la = left
lr = left & right
ud = up & down
ra = right
dl = down & left
db = diagonal as black
da = down
dr = down & right
dw = diagonal as whiteNumbers can also be added to squares by using "x0" for 0, "x1" for 1, "x2" for 2, ..., "x9" for 9.
x0
x1
x2
x3
x4
x5
x6
x7
x8
x9This diagram is recommended for common use as a main diagram in the articles on chess openings, endings, games, positions etc. See the corresponding code below.
{{Chess diagram| tright| |rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd|pd|pd|pd|pd| |pd|pd|pd| | | | | | | | | | | | |pd| | | | | | | |pl|pl| | | | | | | | | | |pl|pl|pl|pl| | |pl|pl|rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl| The King's Gambit}}{{Chess diagram| tright| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Empty board}}It may be convenient to use this in the articles on chess problems. Please note that in the header and footer you can use bolds or italics. You can also use <br> to break the lines.
{{Chess diagram| tright| '''W. Langstaff''', ''Chess Amateur'' 1922| | | | |kd| | |rd| | | | | | | | | | | | | |bl| |pl| | | |rl| |kl|pd|pl| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | '''Mate in 2''' {{pb}}This problem uses ''partial retrograde analysis'' method.}}See the corresponding code below. If you don't want the captions, just remove them, but don't delete the second "|" pipe character for the caption above; it is possible to delete the last pipe for the longer caption below.
The diagram floats to the left to illustrate the use of the first parameter.
{{Chess diagram| tleft| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |xx|xo|xx| | | | | | |pl| | | | | | | | | | |xo| | | | | | |xx|xo|xx| | | | | | |pl| | | | | | | | | | }}This can be used to show how pieces move.
{{Chess diagram | tleft| | | |ua| | | | | | | |ua| | | | | |la|la|rd|ra|ra|ra|ra|ra| | |da| | | | | | | |da| |ul|ua|ur| | | |da| |la|kl|ra| | | |da| |dl|da|dr| | | |da| | | | | |Example showing how white king can move any direction, but only one square, while black rook can move any number of squares but only up and down, and right and left.}}{{Chess diagram| tright| | |ul| |ua| |ur| | | | |ul|ua|ur| | | |la|la|la|ql|ra|ra|ra|ra| | |dl|da|dr| | | | |dl| |da| |dr| | |dl| | |da| | |dr| | | | |da| | | |dr| | | |da| | | | }}In the board on the right, it is shown that the white queen can go any distance in any of these directions.
Another method for the rook example:
{{Chess diagram| tleft| | | | | | | | | | | |ud| | | | | | |lr|rd|lr| | | | | | |ud| | | | | | | | | |ul|ua|ur| | | | | |la|kl|ra| | | | | |dl|da|dr| | | | | | | | | }}This one may be useful in articles with many diagrams. It uses another template named {{Chess diagram small}}.
The small diagrams can have header, too.
{{Chess diagram small| tright| [[The Game of the Century (chess)|The Game of the Century]]|rd| | |qd| |rd|kd| |pd|pd| | |pd|pd|bd|pd| |nd|pd| | |nd|pd| | | |ql| | | |bl| | | | |pl|pl| |bd| | | |nl| | |nl| | |pl|pl| | | |pl|pl|pl| | | |rl|kl|bl| |rl| Position after 11.Bg5}}Chess boards of non-standard dimensions need special templates. There are templates for the following boards:
{{Chess diagram|fen=rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR|align=tleft}}It is possible to populate the board using Forsyth–Edwards Notation, instead of positional parameters.
To do this, the "fen" parameter is used. For instance, this is the opening board of a chess game, defined using the "fen" parameter "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR":
{{Chess diagram|fen=rnbqkbnr/acfghzwt/8/8/8/8/ACFGHZWT/RNBQKBNR|align=tleft}}It is also possible to show "fairy" pieces using the FEN notation. However, because the FEN notation uses uppercase and lowercase to denote the color of the piece, it is not possible to display the inverted knight fairy piece (denoted by "N") using the fen parameter. Here is a board where the pawns are replaced by fairy pieces:
While the "fen" parameter was first developed and tested with 8x8 boards, support for other sized boards is available. For example, here is the Grand Chess starting positiong represented with an FEN board:
{{Chess diagram 10x10 |align=tleft |fen=r8r/1nbqkcabn1/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/1NBQKCABN1/R8R |footer=[[Grand Chess]] starting position}}{{Chess diagram|fen=rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR|align=tleft|reverse=true}}The "reverse=true" parameter causes the board to be shown from Black's point of view, that is, with the h8 square at lower-left corner, and a1 at the upper-right. This works for all sizes of the normal chessboard template, but not for the Alice, Bughouse, Omega, or Raumschach templates. Here, the same FEN notation as in the previous example produces a board with Black's starting position at the bottom.
{{Chess diagram|pgn=1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Ne2 0-0 7.Nec3 Nh5 8.Bg5 Bf6 9.Bxf6 exf6 10.Qd2 f5 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.g4 Re8+ 13.Kd1 Bxb1 14.Rxb1 Qf6 15.gxh5 Qxf3+ 16.Kc2 Qxh1 17.Qf2!|align=tleft}}It is possible to populate the board using Portable Game Notation (PGN), instead of positional parameters or FEN. Internally, the PGN is converted to an FEN using Module:Pgn. The other parameters (align, reverse, etc) are also applicable when using PGN.