Chess Symbols
Copy and paste chess piece symbols for messages, profiles, documents, and apps
Chess symbols are Unicode text characters that show chess pieces, often used to represent the game of chess, piece roles, or chess-themed styling in plain text. This page includes chess keyboard text symbols to copy and paste, including both white and black chess pieces, and it excludes emojis. In writing, pieces like ♔ ♛ ♞ ♟ are commonly used to refer to a king, queen, knight, and pawn without needing images.
How to Copy and Paste Chess Symbols
Browse the chess symbol grid to choose a piece, then copy and paste it wherever you need it. These chess characters work in most places that support Unicode text, including messages, notes, documents, and many website fields.
What Are Chess Symbols?
A chess symbol is a Unicode character that displays a chess piece as text, such as a king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn. These symbols are typically used when you want chess pieces to appear in plain text without images, for example in puzzles, training notes, labels, and messages. Chess symbols are available in white and black sets, which are often used to indicate each side in a position.
Popular Chess Symbols
These chess symbols are frequently selected because they represent the main pieces used in notation, explanations, and chess-themed text.
| Symbol | Name |
|---|---|
| ♔ | White King Symbol |
| ♕ | White Queen Symbol |
| ♖ | White Rook Symbol |
| ♗ | White Bishop Symbol |
| ♘ | White Knight Symbol |
| ♙ | White Pawn Symbol |
| ♚ | Black King Symbol |
| ♛ | Black Queen Symbol |
| ♜ | Black Rook Symbol |
| ♝ | Black Bishop Symbol |
| ♞ | Black Knight Symbol |
| ♟ | Black Pawn Symbol |
Chess Symbol Categories
Chess symbols can be grouped by side (white or black) and by piece type. Choosing the right symbol helps keep diagrams and explanations readable when working with text-only content.
White Chess Piece Symbols
White chess piece symbols are commonly used to refer to White’s pieces in text-based positions, lessons, and annotations.
♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙
Black Chess Piece Symbols
Black chess piece symbols are typically used to represent Black’s pieces in the same text-based contexts.
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
Royal Pieces (King and Queen)
The king and queen symbols are often used when describing check, checkmate threats, king safety, or queen activity in written explanations.
♔ ♕ ♚ ♛
Major Pieces (Rooks)
Rook symbols are often used in notes about files, ranks, and endgame techniques, especially when writing positions in plain text.
♖ ♜
Minor Pieces (Bishops and Knights)
Bishop and knight symbols are commonly used in tactics, development discussions, and piece-trade explanations.
♗ ♘ ♝ ♞
Pawns
Pawn symbols are typically used to describe pawn structure, passed pawns, and promotions without switching to board images.
♙ ♟
Mixed-Side Position Snippets
Combining white and black symbols is often used for quick text-only snapshots of key material in a position.
♔ ♕ vs ♚ ♛; ♖♖ vs ♜; ♙♙ vs ♟♟
Chess Symbol Usage Examples
Chess symbols are useful when you want to communicate about pieces using plain text. Below are examples that show how chess piece symbols may appear in everyday writing.
Study Note
Trade queens (♕ for ♛) before entering the endgame.
Puzzle Hint
Look for a fork with ♘ that attacks ♚ and ♛.
Game Comment
The ♖ becomes active on the open file after the exchange.
Simple Material Summary
White: ♔ ♕ ♖ ♘ ♙♙♙ | Black: ♚ ♜ ♝ ♟♟
Message to a Friend
Nice tactic—your ♗ controlled the diagonal perfectly.
Using Chess Symbols on Social Media and Online Platforms
Chess piece symbols can be pasted into many online fields that support Unicode text. They are often used to add a chess theme to profiles or to make a short post about a game easier to scan. Because they are text characters, results can vary depending on the platform’s font support.
- Instagram bios with a chess-themed name line using ♔ or ♛
- Discord server names, channels, or roles for chess groups
- TikTok profiles and captions for chess clips or puzzles
- X (Twitter) posts discussing a game with piece symbols in the text
- WhatsApp and Telegram messages for quick analysis notes
- YouTube video titles or descriptions for chess lessons
- Gaming usernames or clan tags with a chess motif
Professional and Practical Uses for Chess Symbols
- Text-only chess lessons, worksheets, and training notes
- Annotating games in chats or collaborative documents
- Labeling diagrams or describing piece activity without images
- Chess-themed branding for clubs, events, and community pages
- Creating readable material summaries in plain text
How to Type Chess Symbols on Any Device
- Choose one or more chess symbols (such as ♔ ♕ ♞ ♟) from the symbol grid.
- Copy the selected symbols using the copy button or CTRL+C (Windows/Linux) or ⌘+C (Mac).
- Paste the symbols into your text field using CTRL+V (Windows/Linux) or ⌘+V (Mac).
Unicode Chess Symbols and Meanings
Chess symbols are standardized by Unicode, which assigns each piece a unique code point and official name so it can be represented as consistent text across many devices and applications. Display quality depends on the fonts available on the user’s system, but the underlying characters remain the same for copy-and-paste use.
Chess Symbols List and Meanings
Use this list to reference chess piece symbols by their common names and typical use in text. Select any symbol to copy it for analysis notation, study notes, or chess-themed formatting.