Unicode has text representations of chess pieces. These allow to produce the symbols using plain text without the need of a graphics interface. The inclusion of the chess symbols 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. This also allows the play of chess games in text-only environments, such as the terminal.
Unicode blocks
Unicode 15.1 specifies a total of 110 spread across two blocks. The standard set of chess pieces—king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn, with white and black variants—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 fairy chess pieces, such as rotated pieces, neutral (neither white nor black) pieces, knighted pieces, equihoppers, as well as xiangqi pieces.1
In 2024, four shatranj pieces have been provisionally assigned for a future version in the range U+1FA54–U+1FA57.23
Miscellaneous symbols
Chess SymbolsUnicode.org chart (PDF)| Name | Symbol | Code point | HTML (decimal) | HTML (hex) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| white chess king | ♔ | U+2654 | ♔ | ♔ |
| white chess queen | ♕ | U+2655 | ♕ | ♕ |
| white chess rook | ♖ | U+2656 | ♖ | ♖ |
| white chess bishop | ♗ | U+2657 | ♗ | ♗ |
| white chess knight | ♘ | U+2658 | ♘ | ♘ |
| white chess pawn | ♙ | U+2659 | ♙ | ♙ |
| black chess king | ♚ | U+265A | ♚ | ♚ |
| black chess queen | ♛ | U+265B | ♛ | ♛ |
| black chess rook | ♜ | U+265C | ♜ | ♜ |
| black chess bishop | ♝ | U+265D | ♝ | ♝ |
| black chess knight | ♞ | U+265E | ♞ | ♞ |
| black chess pawn | ♟ | U+265F | ♟ | ♟ |
Chess symbols
| ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 🩠 | 🩡 | 🩢 | 🩣 | 🩤 | 🩥 | 🩦 | 🩧 | 🩨 | 🩩 | 🩪 | 🩫 | 🩬 | 🩭 | ||
| Notes1.^ As of Unicode version 15.12.^ Grey areas indicate non-chess symbols or non-assigned code points | ||||||||||||||||
Emoji
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 an emoji version. In 2024, a proposal was submitted to include emoji versions of the other standard chess symbols.5
Emoji variation sequences| U+ | 265F |
| default presentation | text |
| base code point | ♟ |
| base+VS15 (text) | ♟︎ |
| base+VS16 (emoji) | ♟️ |
References
"Chess Symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 21 August 2023. http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1FA00.pdf ↩
Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (22 December 2023). "Unicode request for shatranj symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 4 February 2024. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24020-shatranj-symbols.pdf ↩
Unicode. "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". unicode.org. Retrieved 4 February 2024. https://unicode.org/alloc/Pipeline.html ↩
Abdu, Juber Moulvi (2017-10-04). "Chess Emoji Submission" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2024-08-12. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2018/18018-chess-emoji.pdf ↩
Daniel, Jeniffer (2024-04-15). "Emoji Standard & Research Working Group Report for UTC #179 (2024Q2)" (URL). unicode.org. Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 2024-08-12. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24066-esr-report-q2-2024.pdf ↩