♟ ChessView

An interactive chess board plugin for Obsidian. Render games from PGN, display positions from FEN, solve puzzles, draw arrows and circles, navigate moves with keyboard shortcuts, and analyze on Lichess or Chess.com — all inside your notes.

Features

• PGN Games — Paste any PGN and get a fully navigable game viewer
• FEN Positions — Display static or interactive positions from FEN strings
• Puzzle Mode — Create solvable puzzles with hints and solution reveal
• Move Annotations — NAG symbols (!, ?, !!, ??, !?, ?!) with colored overlays like Chess.com/Lichess
• Arrows & Circles — Draw annotations on the board using markers or PGN comments
• Comments — Display inline PGN comments with move highlighting
• Branching — Explore alternative lines in editable mode
• Themes — 7 built-in board themes + custom colors
• Piece Sets — 20 piece set options
• Keyboard Navigation — Arrow keys, Home/End, Space for autoplay
• Analysis Links — One-click export to Lichess and Chess.com
• Mobile Friendly — Responsive layout that adapts to any screen size
• Dark Mode — Full support for Obsidian's dark theme

Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins (Recommended)

1. Open Settings → Community Plugins → Browse
2. Search for ChessView
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder .obsidian/plugins/chessview/ in your vault
3. Copy the three files into that folder
4. Restart Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

Usage

Create a fenced code block with the language chessview:

Display a PGN Game

```chessview
[Event "World Championship"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5
2. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Bb7 10. a3 e5 11. O-O-O Qe7
3. Kb1 a6 13. Nc1 O-O-O 14. Nb3 exd4 15. Rxd4 c5 16. Rd1 Nb6
4. g3 Kb8 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Bh3 d5 20. Qf4+ Ka7 21. Rhe1 d4
5. Nd5 Nbxd5 23. exd5 Qd6 24. Rxd4 cxd4 25. Re7+ Kb6
6. Qxd4+ Kxa5 27. b4+ Ka4 28. Qc3 Qxd5 29. Ra7 Bb7
7. Rxb7 Qc4 31. Qxf6 Kxa3 32. Qxa6+ Kxb4 33. c3+ Kxc3
8. Qa1+ Kd2 35. Qb2+ Kd1 36. Bf1 Rd2 37. Rd7 Rxd7
9. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Qxh8 Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4+ Ke1
10. f4 f5 43. Kc1 Rd2 44. Qa7 1-0
```

Display a FEN Position

```chessview
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1
```

Create a Puzzle

```chessview
[puzzle]
[rating: 1500]
[title: Scholar's Mate]
---

[FEN "r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p2Q/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR w KQkq - 4 4"]

1. Qxf7#
```

Board Orientation

```chessview
[black]
[Event "My Game"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
```

Available markers:

• [white] — White at bottom (default)
• [black] or [flip] — Black at bottom

Static Board (No Interaction)

```chessview
[static]
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1
```

Arrows and Circles

Using markers before the PGN/FEN:

```chessview
[arrow: e2e4 green]
[arrow: d2d4 blue]
[circle: f3 red]

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
```

Using standard PGN comment annotations:

```chessview
[Event "Arrow Demo"]

1. e4 {[%cal Ge2e4,Rd7d5] [%csl Gd4,Re5]} e5 2. Nf3
```

Arrow/circle color codes: G = green, R = red, B = blue, Y = yellow, O = orange, P = purple

Move Annotations (NAGs)

Inline annotations:

```chessview

1. e4! e5 2. Nf3!! Nc6? 3. Bb5?! a6!? 4. Ba4 Nf6??
```

PGN standard NAGs:

```chessview

1. e4 $1 e5 $2 2. Nf3 $3 Nc6 $4 3. Bb5 $5 a6 $6
```

Symbol	NAG	Meaning
!	$1	Good move
?	$2	Mistake
!!	$3	Brilliant move
??	$4	Blunder
!?	$5	Interesting move
?!	$6	Dubious move

Comments

```chessview
1. e4 {The King's Pawn opening} e5 {A solid response}
2. Nf3 {Developing the knight toward the center} Nc6
```

Start at a Specific Move

```chessview
[move: 15]
[Event "My Game"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 ...
```

Puzzle with Hints and Themes

```chessview
[puzzle]
[rating: 2100]
[title: Find the winning combination]
[themes: sacrifice, fork]

---

[FEN "r2qr1k1/ppp2ppp/2np1n2/2b1p1B1/2B1P1b1/2NP1N2/PPP2PPP/R2QR1K1 w - - 0 1"]

1. Bxf7+ Kh8 2. Ng5
```

Marker Reference

Marker	Description
[white]	White at bottom
[black] or [flip]	Black at bottom
[static]	No interaction, view only
[noeditable]	Can navigate but not make moves
[move: N]	Start at move N
[arrow: e2e4 color]	Draw arrow (color optional)
[circle: e4 color]	Draw circle (color optional)
[highlight: e4 color]	Highlight square (color optional)
[puzzle]	Enable puzzle mode
[rating: N]	Puzzle rating
[title: text]	Puzzle title
[themes: a, b, c]	Puzzle themes

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
←	Previous move
→	Next move
Home	First move
End	Last move
Space	Play / Pause autoplay
F	Flip board

Click on the board first to focus it for keyboard shortcuts.

Settings

Access via Settings → Community Plugins → ChessView → ⚙️

• Board Theme — Brown, Blue, Green, Purple, Gray, Wood, Marble, or Custom
• Board Size — Small (280px), Medium (360px), Large (480px), or Auto
• Piece Set — 20 options including Cburnett (default), Merida, Alpha, California, and more
• Notation Style — Figurine (♞f3) or Letter (Nf3)
• Coordinates — Show/hide rank and file labels
• Colors — Customize last move highlight, check highlight, arrows, circles
• Animation Speed — 0–500ms
• Autoplay Speed — 200–3000ms
• Move List Position — Right of board or below
• Analysis Links — Show/hide Lichess and Chess.com links
• Default Orientation — White, Black, or Auto (based on side to move)
• Puzzle Hints — Enable/disable hint button in puzzle mode

Compatibility

• Obsidian — v1.0.0 and above
• Platforms — Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux) and Mobile (iOS, Android)
• Themes — Works with both light and dark themes

Credits

• Chessground — Chess board UI by Lichess
• chess.js — Chess logic library

License

MIT