Chess symbols in Unicode
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Chess_symbols.svg/300px-Chess_symbols.svg.png)
Unicode has text representations of chess pieces. These allow to produce the symbols using plain text without the need of a graphics interface. It enables the use of figurine algebraic notation, which replaces the letter that stands for a piece by its symbol, e.g. ♘c6 instead of Nc6.
Unicode blocks
[edit]Unicode 15.1 specifies a total of 110 spread across two blocks. The standard set of chess pieces were included in the block Miscellaneous Symbols. In Unicode 12.0, the Chess Symbols block (U+1FA00–U+1FA6F) was allocated for inclusion of extra chess piece representations. This includes rotated pieces, neutral (neither white nor black) pieces, knighted pieces, equihoppers, and xiangqi pieces.[1]
In 2024, four shatranj pieces have been provisionally assigned for a future version in the range U+1FA54–U+1FA58.[2][3]
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
U+265x | ♔ | ♕ | ♖ | ♗ | ♘ | ♙ | ♚ | ♛ | ♜ | ♝ | ♞ | ♟ | ||||
U+1FA0x | 🨀 | 🨁 | 🨂 | 🨃 | 🨄 | 🨅 | 🨆 | 🨇 | 🨈 | 🨉 | 🨊 | 🨋 | 🨌 | 🨍 | 🨎 | 🨏 |
U+1FA1x | 🨐 | 🨑 | 🨒 | 🨓 | 🨔 | 🨕 | 🨖 | 🨗 | 🨘 | 🨙 | 🨚 | 🨛 | 🨜 | 🨝 | 🨞 | 🨟 |
U+1FA2x | 🨠 | 🨡 | 🨢 | 🨣 | 🨤 | 🨥 | 🨦 | 🨧 | 🨨 | 🨩 | 🨪 | 🨫 | 🨬 | 🨭 | 🨮 | 🨯 |
U+1FA3x | 🨰 | 🨱 | 🨲 | 🨳 | 🨴 | 🨵 | 🨶 | 🨷 | 🨸 | 🨹 | 🨺 | 🨻 | 🨼 | 🨽 | 🨾 | 🨿 |
U+1FA4x | 🩀 | 🩁 | 🩂 | 🩃 | 🩄 | 🩅 | 🩆 | 🩇 | 🩈 | 🩉 | 🩊 | 🩋 | 🩌 | 🩍 | 🩎 | 🩏 |
U+1FA5x | 🩐 | 🩑 | 🩒 | 🩓 | ||||||||||||
U+1FA6x | 🩠 | 🩡 | 🩢 | 🩣 | 🩤 | 🩥 | 🩦 | 🩧 | 🩨 | 🩩 | 🩪 | 🩫 | 🩬 | 🩭 | ||
Notes |
Emoji
[edit]In Unicode 11.0, an emojified representation of the character U+265F ♟ BLACK CHESS PAWN was added.[4] As of Unicode 15.1, only this character has a emoji version. In 2024, a proposal was submitted to include emoji versions of the other standard chess symbols.[5]
U+ | 265F |
default presentation | text |
base code point | ♟ |
base+VS15 (text) | ♟︎ |
base+VS16 (emoji) | ♟️ |
References
[edit]- ^ "Chess Symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
- ^ Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (22 December 2023). "Unicode request for shatranj symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
- ^ Unicode. "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". unicode.org. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
- ^ Abdu, Juber Moulvi (2017-10-04). "Chess Emoji Submission" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
- ^ Daniel, Jeniffer (2024-04-15). "Emoji Standard & Research Working Group Report for UTC #179 (2024Q2)" (URL). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2024-08-12.