Standard chess diagram

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

Standard chess diagram template is a result of discussions and votings which took place in WikiProject Chess on Meta-Wiki. It is based on the template "Chess position" widely used in English Wikipedia. Both the template and the images of pieces were modified.

Contents 1 Syntax 2 Examples 2.1 Standard diagram 2.2 Diagram without captions 2.3 Small diagram 2.4 Capablanca chess 2.5 Chaturanga 2.6 Chess Mutation 2.7 Omega Chess 2.8 Raumschach 3 Tools

[edit] Syntax

There are two standard chess diagram templates:

• Chess diagram (square size 26x26 px)
• Chess diagram small (square size 22x22 px)

and some templates for special purposes:

• Chess diagram 8x10 (chessboard with ten columns, 26x26 px)
• Chaturanga diagram (uncheckered chessboard, 26x26 px)
• Mutation Chess diagram (colored chessboard, 26x26 px)
• Omega Chess diagram (10x10 chessboard + 4 corners, 22x22 px)
• Raumschach diagram (5x5x5 chessboard, 22x22 px)

The syntax is similar for all of them.

{{Chess diagram|=
| <alignment>
| <header>
| <a8> | <b8> | <c8> | <d8> | <e8> | <f8> | <g8> | <h8>
| <a7> | <b7> | <c7> | <d7> | <e7> | <f7> | <g7> | <h7>
| <a6> | <b6> | <c6> | <d6> | <e6> | <f6> | <g6> | <h6>
| <a5> | <b5> | <c5> | <d5> | <e5> | <f5> | <g5> | <h5>
| <a4> | <b4> | <c4> | <d4> | <e4> | <f4> | <g4> | <h4>
| <a3> | <b3> | <c3> | <d3> | <e3> | <f3> | <g3> | <h3>
| <a2> | <b2> | <c2> | <d2> | <e2> | <f2> | <g2> | <h2>
| <a1> | <b1> | <c1> | <d1> | <e1> | <f1> | <g1> | <h1>
| <footer>
}}

Parameters:

• <alignment> - defines horizontal alignment of the whole image, must be "tright" or "tleft";
• <header> - the text which appears above the diagram, may be empty;
• <a8>, <b8>, ... <h1> - define corresponding squares of the chessboard, see below;
• <footer> - the text which appears beneath the diagram, may be empty.

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 = pawn

Also, several fairy chess pieces are present:

• a = Archbishop (Capablanca chess)/Marshall (Grand Chess) (bishop + knight)
• c = Chancellor (Capablanca)/Cardinal (Grand) (rook + knight)
• h = inverted knight (unicorn in Raumschach chess)
• w = Wizard (Omega Chess)
• z = Champion (Omega Chess)

These 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. You can also use "xx" for a cross, "xo" for a circle on an empty square, and "x1" through "x9" for a space marked with a number.

[edit] Examples

To see how it works, compare the diagrams below and the code which generates them. To use it - just copy the code, paste it into your article and change parameters.

In the following examples the rows and columns are numbered. Because any text between "|=" and the next "|" is ignored, numbers and letters can be added without affecting output.

Some practical hints:

• be careful not to change general schema, especially leave "|" and "=" characters just where they are,
• you cannot use "|" character in the captions (footers and headers),
• if you want to use "=" in the caption you have to enclose it in nowiki tags,
• you can use some formatting like bolds, italics.

[edit] Standard diagram

This 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.

More examples:

• Ruy Lopez
• Lucena position

{{Chess diagram|=
| tright
| 
|= 

 8 |rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd|=
 7 |pd|pd|pd|  |  |pd|pd|pd|=
 6 |  |  |  |  |pd|  |  |  |=
 5 |  |  |  |pd|  |  |  |  |=
 4 |  |  |pl|pl|  |  |  |  |=
 3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 2 |pl|pl|  |  |  |  |pl|pl|=
 1 |rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl|=
    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h

| The Queen's Gambit Declined
}}

[edit] Diagram without captions

See the corresponding code below. If you don't want the captions, just remove them, but don't delete "|" character.

The diagram floats to the left to illustrate the use of the first parameter.

{{Chess diagram|=
| tleft
| 
|= 

 8 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 7 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 6 |  |xx|xo|xx|  |  |  |  |=
 5 |  |  |pl|  |  |  |  |  |=
 4 |  |  |  |  |  |xo|  |  |=
 3 |  |  |  |  |xx|xo|xx|  |=
 2 |  |  |  |  |  |pl|  |  |=
 1 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  

| 
}}

[edit] Small diagram

This one may be useful in articles with many diagrams. It uses another template named "Chess diagram small".

{{Chess diagram small|=
| tright
| 
|= 

 8 |rd|  |  |qd|  |rd|kd|  |=
 7 |pd|pd|  |  |pd|pd|bd|pd|=
 6 |  |nd|pd|  |  |nd|pd|  |=
 5 |  |  |ql|  |  |  |bl|  |=
 4 |  |  |  |pl|pl|  |bd|  |=
 3 |  |  |nl|  |  |nl|  |  |=
 2 |pl|pl|  |  |  |pl|pl|pl|=
 1 |  |  |  |rl|kl|bl|  |rl|=
    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  

| The position after 11. Bg5.
}}

[edit] Capablanca chess

Chessboards of nonstandard dimensions need special templates.

{{Chess diagram 8x10|=
| tright
| 
|= 

 8 |rd|nd|ad|bd|qd|kd|bd|cd|nd|rd|=
 7 |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|=
 6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 5 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 4 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 2 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|=
 1 |rl|nl|al|bl|ql|kl|bl|cl|nl|rl|=
    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j

| Capablanca chess
}}

[edit] Chaturanga

Chaturanga template may be used in any games played on 8x8 board.

More examples:

• Shatranj
• Chaturaji

{{Chaturanga diagram|=
| tright
| 
|= 

 8 |rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd|=
 7 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 6 |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|=
 5 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 4 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 3 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|=
 2 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 1 |rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl|=
    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h

| '''Makruk''' - start position
}}

[edit] Chess Mutation

{{Chess Mutation diagram|=
| tright
| 
|= 

 8 |pd|pd|pd|pd|kd|pd|pd|pd|=
 7 |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|=
 6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 5 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 4 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
 2 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|=
 1 |pl|pl|pl|pl|kl|pl|pl|pl|=
    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h

| Start position
}}

[edit] Omega Chess

Omega Chess template on a 10x10 board with 4 extra corners.

{{Omega Chess diagram|=
| tright
| 
|=  
  w4                                   w3
   |wd|=                            |wd|=
    9 |zd|rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd|zd|=
    8 |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|=
    7 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
    6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
    5 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
    4 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
    3 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
    2 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |=
    1 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|=
    0 |zl|rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl|zl|=
   |wl|=                            |wl|=
  w1   a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j    w2

| '''Omega Chess''' - start position
}}

[edit] Raumschach

Raumschach template on a 5x5x5 board.

{{Raumschach diagram|=
| tright
|
|=
5 |rd|nd|kd|nd|rd|=
4 |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|=
3 |  |  |  |  |  |=
2 |  |  |  |  |  |=
1 |  |  |  |  |  |=
   Ea Eb Ec Ed Ee

5 |bd|hd|qd|bd|hd|=
4 |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|=
3 |  |  |  |  |  |=
2 |  |  |  |  |  |=
1 |  |  |  |  |  |=
   Da Db Dc Dd De

5 |  |  |  |  |  |=
4 |  |  |  |  |  |=
3 |  |  |  |  |  |=
2 |  |  |  |  |  |=
1 |  |  |  |  |  |=
   Ca Cb Cc Cd Ce

5 |  |  |  |  |  |=
4 |  |  |  |  |  |=
3 |  |  |  |  |  |=
2 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|=
1 |bl|hl|ql|bl|hl|=
   Ba Bb Bc Bd Be

5 |  |  |  |  |  |=
4 |  |  |  |  |  |=
3 |  |  |  |  |  |=
2 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|=
1 |rl|nl|kl|nl|rl|=
   Aa Ab Ac Ad Ae

| Raumschach
}}

[edit] Tools

• FEN2Wikipedia converts FEN to this chess diagram format.