Chinese chess

English | 中文

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Overview

Obsidian Chinese Chess Plugin is a Chinese chess rendering engine built for Obsidian. It displays chess positions and games in FEN and PGN formats, supports move exploration and variation management. Features include Pikafish analysis links, voice narration, and more.

PGN File Support

Open .pgn files directly in Obsidian — the plugin registers a dedicated .pgn file view with an interactive board interface.

• Manual Save: Any changes (moves, variations, comments, annotations) are saved back to the file when clicking Save button
• Variation Tree: Interactive tree graph showing all branches — click nodes to navigate
• Comments & Annotations: Supports branch diagram and board annotation symbols, comments
• Mode Toggle: Switch between icon mode and text mode in branch diagram
• Jump to AI: Package the current branch to Pikafish web version for analysis
• Quick Create: New PGN files from the ribbon button
• Custom File Types: Set specific file types as PGN files
• Context Menu: Right-click PGN files to switch between PGN view and Markdown view

Note

: .pgn files only support single games. For multi-game PGN files, use AI to add code block markers and convert to Markdown format:

```xiangqi
[Event "Game 1"]
1. H2-E2 H9-G7 2. H0-G2 I9-H9 1-0
```

```xiangqi
[Event "Game 2"]
1. B0-E2 B9-C7 2. G0-F8 H9-G7 1/2-1/2
```

Code Blocks

Three code block types — all code block names are customizable.

---

xiangqi: Display and explore Chinese chess games in Markdown

```xiangqi
1. H2-E2 H9-G7
2. H0-G2 I9-H9
3. I0-H0 B9-C7
```

---

xq: Visual board editor — generates a xiangqi block with FEN

```xq

```

---

tree: Branch diagram — display game variations as a tree graph

```tree
1. H2-E2 H9-G7
2. H0-G2 I9-H9
```

---

Mobile Usage

For the best experience on mobile devices, it's recommended to install the Full Screen Toggle plugin (donkeypacific/obsidian-full-screen-cross-platform-plugin) or similar fullscreen plugins and adjust the top/bottom margins in Settings > Chess > Board Margins to optimize the board display area.

Settings

Board Appearance

• Theme: Wood, Parchment, Green Felt, Marble, Classic Light, Classic Dark
• Cell Size: Adjustable board cell size (15–100 px)
• Layout: Toolbar position — right / bottom
• Coordinate Labels: Show/hide board coordinates

Game Hints

• Last Move Highlight: Highlight the last move on the board
• Legal Moves: Show legal move destinations
• Turn Border: Highlight the current player's turn
• Move Narration: Optional speech synthesis for moves (desktop only)

Move List

• Show Move List: Toggle move list visibility
• Show Move Text: Toggle text notation in move list
• Font Size: Adjustable move text size (10–25 px)
• Auto Jump: Jump to latest position — never / always / auto

Board Margins

• Top Margin: Adjustable top margin (0–100 px)
• Bottom Margin: Adjustable bottom margin (0–100 px)

Code Block Names

Customize code block aliases in Settings > Chess > Code Block Names:

• List mode (xiangqi): Default xiangqi, add custom aliases separated by commas
• FEN generation mode (xq): Default xq, add custom aliases
• Branch diagram mode (tree): Default tree, add custom aliases
• FEN save type: Choose which code block type to save as (List mode / Branch diagram mode)

Note

: Changes require restarting the plugin or Obsidian to take effect.

PGN File View

Enable/disable PGN file view and customize file extensions:

• Enable PGN file view: Toggle to register/unregister PGN view
• PGN file extensions: Default pgn, add custom extensions separated by commas

Note

: Changes require restarting the plugin or Obsidian to take effect.

Features

• Board Rendering: High-quality chessboard via xiangqiground with drag-and-drop moves
• Custom Opening:
  • Visual editor
  • Clear/Fill board
  • Set first player
  • Save as FEN
• PGN Saving:
  • Save move history as PGN format
  • Button colors: gray (empty), green (saved), orange (modified)
  • Confirmation dialog before saving
• i18n: Supports English and Chinese UI
• Board Markers: Draw arrows and highlights on the board
• Jump to AI: Package move list to Pikafish web version for analysis
• Mobile Friendly: Adjust board size for small screens

Usage

xq Code Block

1. Add the xq code block tag to start the editor
2. Drag pieces or click piece buttons to set up the position
3. Use clear/fill/turn buttons as needed
4. Click Save to generate a xiangqi code block with the FEN

xiangqi Code Block

1. Write your game inside a xiangqi code block (optionally with FEN and ICCS moves)
2. FEN is optional — defaults to the standard starting position. Supports parsing Pikafish web links.
3. Controls:
   • When no manual moves are made, the move list shows the original PGN
   • After making moves, the list shows your modified sequence
   • Click Reset to revert to before manual edits
   • Click Reset again to return to initial state
4. Click Save to overwrite the original PGN

tree Code Block

1. Write your game inside a tree code block (same format as xiangqi)
2. The variation tree displays all branches graphically
3. Click any node to navigate to that position
4. Switch between icon mode and text mode for node labels
5. Click the fold button (triangle) on a node with multiple children to collapse/expand its variations

Optional Parameters

Name	Value	Description
fen	valid FEN	Custom starting position; empty = default
protected / p	true / false	When true, Save button is disabled; default false
rotated / r	true / false	When true, board is flipped (Red on bottom)

Example

```xiangqi
r:true
p:true
2bk1a3/5n3/3Pb4/R7p/2p6/C3p2N1/PR2c3P/1nr1B1C2/4A4/1rB1KA3 w
1. G2-G9 F9-E8
2. D7-D8 D9-E9
3. D8-E8 E9-E8
4. A6-A8 E8-E9
```

• Colons can be Chinese or English; r and p are case-insensitive
• FEN value works with or without quotes
• PGN moves can be numbered together, not numbered, or written one by one

Installation

This plugin is available on the official Obsidian plugin marketplace. Search for "Chinese chess" or "xiangqi" to install.

1. Open Obsidian
2. Go to Settings
3. Click Community plugins
4. Ensure Restricted mode is off
5. Click Browse
6. Search for "Chinese chess" or "xiangqi"
7. Find this plugin and click Install
8. Click Enable

Build

1. Clone this repository and its dependencies xiangqiground and xiangqi.js into the same parent directory:

   git clone https://github.com/west-shell/xiangqiground.git
   git clone https://github.com/west-shell/xiangqi.js.git
   git clone https://github.com/west-shell/obsidian-xiangqi.git
   

2. Build xiangqiground first:

   cd xiangqiground
   npm install
   npm run dist
   

3. Build xiangqi.js:

   cd ../xiangqi.js
   npm install
   npm run dist
   

4. Then build the plugin:

   cd ../obsidian-xiangqi
   npm install
   npm run build        # Dev build (unminified, with sourcemaps)
   npm run build:min    # Minified build (for release)
   

Donation

If you like this plugin, feel free to support me!