fen2board for chess players

2026-01-26 07:40

A Python script to convert chess positions (FEN notation) and games (PGN format) into beautiful chessboard diagrams.

Available on codeberg

Supports multiple output formats:

Terminal display with Unicode chess pieces and ANSI colors
ASCII text with monochrome or color modes
RTF documents with Chess Cases font or ASCII characters

Perfect for creating printable chess study materials, generating game annotations, or displaying positions in the terminal.

Features

FEN to diagram: Convert any chess position to a visual board
PGN to diagrams: Generate diagrams for every move in a game
Multiple display modes:
- Unicode with ANSI colors (default terminal display)
- ASCII monochrome (-am/--ascii-monochrome)
- ASCII with colors (-ac/--ascii-color)
- Chess Cases font for professional RTF output
RTF export: Generate professional documents with the Chess Cases font or ASCII art
Board orientation: View from White's or Black's perspective (--black)
Move filtering: Display specific move ranges (--start, --end)
Multi-game support: Process PGN files with multiple games (hide variants)

Requirements

Python 3.10 or higher
For RTF output with Chess Cases: Chess Cases font installed
For ASCII RTF output: Microsoft Consolas font (optional)

Installation

# Clone or download the script
git clone https://codeberg.org/adele/fen2board.git
cd fen2board

# Make it executable (optional)
chmod +x fen2board.py

Usage

Display a position in the terminal

Unicode display (default)

python fen2board.py "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"

Terminal Unicode display

ASCII monochrome

python fen2board.py "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" -am
  +----------------+
8 |r n b q k b n r |
7 |p p p p p p p p |
6 |  =   =   =   = |
5 |=   =   =   =   |
4 |  =   =   =   = |
3 |=   =   =   =   |
2 |P P P P P P P P |
1 |R N B Q K B N R |
  +----------------+
   a b c d e f g h

ASCII with colors

python fen2board.py "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" -ac

ASCII color

View from Black's perspective

python fen2board.py "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" --black

Process a PGN game

# Display all moves in terminal
python fen2board.py --pgn "1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6"

# Display moves 5-10 only
python fen2board.py --pgn "..." --start 5 --end 10

# Read PGN from stdin
cat mygame.pgn | python fen2board.py --pgn

Generate RTF documents

Chess Cases font font (default)

python fen2board.py "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" -r output.rtf

RTF with Chess Cases font

ASCII monochrome RTF

python fen2board.py "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" -am -r output.rtf

RTF ASCII Mono

ASCII color RTF

python fen2board.py "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" -ac -r output.rtf

RTF ASCII Color

PGN game to RTF with Chess Cases font

python fen2board.py --pgn mygame.pgn -r analysis.rtf

PGN game to ASCII color RTF

cat mygame.pgn | python fen2board.py --pgn -ac -r analysis.rtf

Command-line Options

Option	Short	Description
`--black`	`-b`	Display board from Black's perspective
`--pgn [FILE]`	`-p [FILE]`	Process PGN game (use `-` or omit for stdin)
`--start N`	`-s N`	Starting move number (PGN only)
`--end N`	`-e N`	Ending move number (PGN only)
`--format-rtf FILE`	`-r FILE`	Generate RTF file
`--ascii-monochrome`	`-am`	Use ASCII characters (monochrome)
`--ascii-color`	`-ac`	Use ASCII characters with ANSI colors

Display Modes

Unicode Mode (Default)

Uses Unicode chess pieces (♔♕♖♗♘♙) with ANSI colors for terminal display. Best for modern terminals with Unicode support.

ASCII Monochrome (`-am`)

Uses standard ASCII characters:

Pieces: K Q R B N P (uppercase) and k q r b n p (lowercase)
Empty squares: space (light) and = (dark)
Portable, works in any terminal or text editor

ASCII Color (`-ac`)

Uses ASCII characters with ANSI color codes:

Pieces: K Q R B N (uppercase), o (pawns)
Color distinguishes White (white text) from Black (black text)
Background colors: gold (light squares), brown (dark squares)
Same colors in console and RTF output

Chess Cases Font (RTF)

Optimal output using the Chess Cases font. Requires the font to be installed. Generates publication-quality diagrams.

RTF Output Details

Font sizes: 14pt titles, 11pt text, 11pt Chess Cases boards, 10pt ASCII boards
Pagination: PGN meta data and starting position on page 1, then 2 complete moves (4 boards) per page
Headers: Game information (Event, Players, Date, etc.) on first page
Move labels: Include move numbers and piece icons (Chess Cases mode)
Comments: PGN comments are included in italic

Examples

Tactic puzzle in terminal

python fen2board.py "r3r1k1/ppp2ppp/2n5/3p2N1/N2P2n1/2P4P/PP1Bb1Pq/R3Q1K1 w - - 1 22"

Game analysis to RTF

# Create a professional game booklet
python fen2board.py --pgn mygame.pgn -r analysis.rtf

Study material in ASCII

# Generate printable ASCII diagrams (compact, good for emails)
python fen2board.py --pgn study.pgn -am -r study.rtf

Color diagrams for presentation

# Beautiful colored ASCII diagrams
python fen2board.py --pgn game.pgn -ac -r presentation.rtf

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

By Adële - adele.pages.casa

Credits

Chess Cases font by Matthieu Leschemelle - https://www.dafont.com/chess-cases.font
ANSI 256-color palette for terminal display
Consolas font by Microsoft (used as fallback for ASCII RTF output)

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the chess community for the PGN and FEN standards that make chess software interoperable.