Mate in 262

In addition to the post about the usage of other board images I just wanted to show you this special board. It's a combination of all the standard board images currently available.

It also shows that when you want to create your own board image you are not obliged to create 2x2 squares and you can even design a complete board.

The position, by the way, is really a mate in 262 and the first move of the solution is 1.Kd6.

Chess hat

I'll hope this hat helps me to find the right moves

A new overview

An overview of Chess Publishing methods has been published before, but this overview didn't include the ChessFlash PGN viewer of one of the previous posts.
In addition some of the previously discussed Chess Publishing methods just disappeared, which emphasizes the importance of one of the original requirements that it should not be dependent on another site.

Now let's first concentrate on the ChessFlash PGN viewer.

• It offers a chess board that shows the position after each move
• The moves are also shown
• Clicking on a move shows the position on the board after this move
• It doesn't offer autoplay
• Variations in the moves are possible
• It can deal with comments, but the comment at the start of a variation seems to be shown as belonging at the end of the previous move
• There is a kind of puzzle mode, but this doesn't show the moves after the right answer is given
• It is based on entering PGN
• I think that it is not necessary to copy and paste all kind of code. The Quick Publisher can be seen as an additional nice tool. The original requirement "Without the need to copy and paste all kind of code" is probably met
• It seems to depend on another site, but it will also be possible to host the player on your own site and a site like Google sites will do. However it will not be possible to limit ourselves to the Blogspot/Picasa combination.
• It loads rather slow, especially when you publish more chess games on the same page like you may frequently do on a blog-site). This can partly be solved by means of a show/hide wrapper, but I don't like to hide the content of my posts
• A separate PGN viewer is loaded for each chess game.
• It doesn't really feel integrated and the moves are always shown at the right side or below the board, but not around the chess board.
• The height and width is configurable, but the scrollbar at the right side remains.

So I think that the ChessFlash PGN viewer is a nice addition and I consider it as being better than Chesspublisher and Chesspastebin and the Chess Viewer Applet, but I still prefer the LT-PGN Editor and Viewer and certainly our own Blogspot Game Viewer, that has become a lot easier to use without the need for adding the coded moves.

Of course there may be other requirements (like selecting another chess set or board image) and some of the requirements above may not be important for your site so the order of chess game viewers may be different for you. It's rather easy to test them for yourself. Please share your findings in the comments.

Chess Ring

I felt a bit creative today

ChessFlash PGN Viewer

I have tried the ChessFlash PGN Viewer as you can see in this post. I still have to write a post about my findings and compare this chess publishing method with the other alternatives.

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The original PGN with some formatting and color added for easier viewing:

[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2003.03.02"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kasparov Garry"]
[Black "Kramnik Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2847"]
[BlackElo "2807"]
[ECO "C88"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5

{The Ruy Lopez or Spanish opening}

3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6

{Morphy Defence}

5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O

( {Another frequently played alternative is} 7...d6 {most of the time followed by} 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 {like in the 2000 game Kasparov - Piket which continued with} 12...Bd7 ( {but most of the time} 12...cxd4 ( {or} 12...Nc6 13.d5 ) 13.cxd4 {is played} ) 13.Nf1 cxd4 14.cxd4 Rac8 15.Ne3 Nc6 16.d5 Nb4 17.Bb1 a5 18.a3 Na6 19.b4 Ra8 20.Bd2 Rfc8 21.Bd3 Qb7 22.g4 g6 23.Nf1 axb4 24.axb4 Bd8 25.Ng3 Nc7 26.Qe2 Rxa1 27.Rxa1 Ra8 28.Qe1 Nfe8 29.Qc1 Ng7 30.Rxa8 Qxa8 31.Bh6 Nce8 32.Qb2 Qa4 33.Kg2 Bb6 34.Bc2 Qa7 35.Bd3 Qa4 36.Ne2 Nc7 37.Nxe5 dxe5 38.Qxe5 Nce8 39.Bxg7 Qd1 40.Bh6 Qxd3 41.Qe7 Ng7 42.Ng3 Qc2 43.Qf6 Nf5 44.Qxb6 Nh4+ 45.Kh2 Nf3+ 46.Kg2 Nh4+ 47.Kh2 Nf3+ 48.Kg2 Nh4+ 49.Kh2 {1/2-1/2} )

8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Nb8 11.Nbd2 Nbd7 12.Nf1 Re8 13.Ba2 c6 14.Ng3 Bf8 15.Nf5 d5 16.d4 c5 17.dxc5 Nxc5 18.exd5 e4 19.N3d4 Bxd5 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.Bg5 Nfd7 22.Qg4 Ne5 23.Qg3 Ne6 24.Rad1 Nxg5 25.Qxg5 Qb7 26.Ng3 Nc4 27.Ndf5 Re6 28.b3 Nxa3 29.Rxe4 Rxe4 30.Nxe4 Qxe4 31.Nh6+ Kh8 32.Nxf7+ Kg8 33.Nh6+ Kh8 1/2-1/2

Chess players

A small group of people intently watch a chess game unfold on the streets of Beijing.
All sizes of this picture are available on the photostream of Image Zen under a Creative Commons license.

Other chess pieces

It is rather easy to use another set of chess pieces with this JavaScript Chess Game Viewer. In the next diagram I have used the Linares set, but you can use each of the Palview Chess sets, by just directing the pdir variable to the right location.
The easiest way to do this for the linares set is by adding the following line

pdir=vdir+'linares/';

but instead of linares you can also use: kingdom, alpha, boldlinares, leipzig, tilburg or merida.

If you want to use the same chess set all the time just add this line to your template. If you want to use it for a single board in a post then add it to the post.
Currently it isn't possible to use different chess sets for re-playable games on a single page, but it will be rather easy to implement this functionality if there is a real need for this. For static boards (by means of the FEN Viewer) each board already can use it's own chess set.

Linares on a blue chess board

Some other combinations can be found on the ViewChessGame site.

Chess sculpture

Chess by Sanctu, cc

Using another board image

It is possible to use another board image, by just assigning the location of this image to the brdimg variable.



This is demonstrated in the following example game between Alexander Mc Donnell and Louis Charles Mahe de la Bourdonnais, that has been played in 1834.

In the example above I have used brdimg=pcsdir+'wood29.jpg';

instead of wood29.jpg you may prefer to use another board image like:

• blue29.jpg
• borderline29.gif
• cowderoy29.jpg
• gray29.jpg
• graystone29.jpg
• green29.jpg
• ivorygreen29.jpg
• lightestgray29.jpg
• lightgray29.jpg
• marblebrown29.jpg
• rob29.jpg
• sepia29.jpg
• slatebrown29.jpg
• wood29.jpg

but it is rather easy to create you own background image and just point brdimg to this url.

Two more attention points:

1. If you always want to use another board image then add this javascript statement to your template.
2. If you only want to use it for one board then don't forget to set it back at the end of the javascript code in the post

Luxembourg, October 2009

Luxembourg Chess, October 2009
by gwenael.piaser
All sizes of this photo are available for download on Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

NAG symbols

New functionality



From now on it will be possible to use NAG symbols (Numeric Annotation Glyphs) like $1 and $15 in the chess game viewer, because these symbols have recently been added. Below you can find an example.

Please note the text that becomes visible when you place your mouse above one of the less trivial symbols.







The code used above is:

<script language='JavaScript'>Game('','',''1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 c6 {The Philidor Counterattack of the Bishop\'s Opening} 3.Qe2 d6 4.c3 f5 5.d3 Nf6 6.exf5 Bxf5 7.d4 $6 {<br />}( {I just have to show some NAG symbols and I think that} 7.Nf3 $1 {is a far better move.} ) {<br />} 7...e4 $1 $15 8.Bg5 d5 9.Bb3 Bd6 10.Nd2 Nbd7 11.h3 $6 h6 12.Be3 Qe7 13.f4 h5 14.c4 a6 $6 15.cxd5 $6 cxd5 16.Qf2 O-O 17.Ne2 b5 18.O-O Nb6 19.Ng3 g6 $10 20.Rac1 Nc4 21.Nxf5 gxf5 22.Qg3+ Qg7 23.Qxg7+ Kxg7 24.Bxc4 bxc4 $154 {A NAG symbol related to the bishops} 25.g3 Rab8 26.b3 Ba3 27.Rc2 cxb3 28.axb3 Rfc8 29.Rxc8 Rxc8 30.Ra1 Bb4 31.Rxa6 Rc3 32.Kf2 Rd3 33.Ra2 Bxd2 34.Rxd2 Rxb3 35.Rc2 h4 36.Rc7+ Kg6 37.gxh4 $158 {Have a look at the pawn structure} 37...Nh5 38.Rd7 Nxf4 39.Bxf4 Rf3+ 40.Kg2 Rxf4 41.Rxd5 Rf3 42.Rd8 Rd3 43.d5 f4 44.d6 Rd2+ 45.Kf1 Kf7 $15 46.h5 e3 47.h6 $4 $19 f3 $3 0-1',1,4);</script>