Icon Clearinghouse 1
This page, and the four parts that follow it, serve as a display of nearly every icon I could find on this site for use in chess variants, plus several that I created myself by one means or another. I've tended toward the Alfaerie set and icons derived from it, though a few others (such as Utrecht and XBoard) seemed to be sufficiently compatible to adapt (most often by resizing) and mix in.
This listing is somewhat dynamic; while few if any will be deleted, more may be added at any time.
All of these are .png files, just for the sake of consistency; that will allow users to pick any combination of icons from the directory. Most are displayed at a size of 35x35 pixels, though a few are smaller and several (especially those not originally intended to go with the Alfaerie set, but even some of those from the original set) are larger.
Pieces
Where a piece has a "standardized," common, recommended, or original move, the XBetza notation for that move is given. (That doesn't mean that you're obligated to use it as-is.)
With each pair of pieces is the identifier for that pair. The actual filenames add w or b to the beginning, and .png to the end.
These tables include not only the original and expanded Alfaerie sets, but also selected pieces from the Utrecht and XBoard sets, and those created by Jean-Louis Cazaux, Fergus Duniho (from Armando Marroquin's Chess Motif font), and myself, as well as other sources.
Also, you may notice that some icons appear on more than one table; this is mainly for organizational purposes.
Orthodox Pieces
The six orthodox pieces (King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn) have many variations. You might even find reason to use one set for the actual orthodox pieces, and select others for variant pieces.
| King (K) | Queen (Q) | Bishop (B) | Knight (N) | Rook (R) |
Pawn |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfaerie |
king |
queen |
bishop |
knight |
rook |
pawn |
| Cazaux |
kingc |
queenc |
bishopc |
knightc |
rookc |
pawnc |
| Motif |
kingd |
queend |
bishopd |
knightd |
rookd |
pawnd |
| Utrecht |
kingu |
queenu |
bishopu |
knightu |
rooku |
pawnu |
| Xboard |
|
queenx |
|
knightx |
rookx |
pawnx |
|
|
King | Queen | Bishop | Knight | Rook | Pawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfaerie |
kinginv |
queeninv |
bishopinv |
knightinv |
rookinv |
pawninv |
| Motif |
downking |
downqueen |
downbishop |
downknight |
downrook |
downpawn |
Atom Pieces
The four basic "atoms" for chess pieces are Ferz, Wazir, Alfil, and Dabbabah, all of which have histories going back centuries.
|
|
Ferz (F) | Wazir (W) | Alfil (A) | Dabbabah (D) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfaerie |
ferz |
wazir |
elephant |
warmachine |
| Cazaux |
generalc |
governor |
elephant4 |
catapult |
| XBoard |
ferzx |
wazirx |
|
Beyond those four atoms are longer leapers (rarely seen outside of -- or even in -- fairy chess problems).
| Orthogonal | Threeleaper (H) | Fourleaper (WX) | Fiveleaper (DX) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
circlethreepd |
circlefourpd |
circlefivepd |
|
| Diagonal | Tripper (G) | Commuter (AY) | Traveler (GY) |
|
carpd |
transitpd |
airplanepd |
The Ferz and Wazir combine to make the King's move (see also "Non-Royal Kings" below), but the atoms can combine in other ways.
| Alfil | Dabbabah | |
|---|---|---|
| Ferz |
Modern |
Fortress (FD) |
|
elephantferz |
warmachineferz |
|
| Wazir |
see text |
War Machine |
|
elephantwazir |
warmachinewazir |
|
|
Alibaba (AD) |
||
|
elephantwarmachine |
||
The Fortress is also the Kirin; the Wazir-Alfil may be called the Phoenix, the Waffle, or (on occasion) Caliph. See the Kirin and Phoenix below.
| Ferz | Wazir | Alfil | Dabbabah | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knight |
knightferz |
knightwazir |
knightdabbabah |
|
| Camel |
camelferz |
camelwazir |
elephantcamel |
camelwarmachine |
| Zebra |
zebraferz |
zebrawazir |
Common Compounds
These are compounds of two (or more) of any of the above pieces (except Pawns) that are immediately familiar to chess variant fans.
| Cardinal (BN) | Chancellor (RN) | Amazon (QN) | Amazonrider (QNN) | Centaur (KN) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfaerie |
cardinal |
chancellor
champion |
amazon |
amazonrider |
general |
| Cazaux |
cardinalc |
marshalc |
amazonc |
nightamazo |
|
| Motif |
knightbishopd |
knightrookd |
knightqueend |
knightkingd |
|
| Xboard |
cardinalx
|
chancellorx
marshallx |
|||
| Others |
paladin
princess
knightbishopu |
|
angel |
queenknight2 |
centauru |
| General (BDD) | Dragon Horse (BW) | Dragon King (RF) | Wizard (FC) | Sorcerer (WZ) | Kirin (FD) | Phoenix (WA) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfaerie |
general |
promotedbishop |
promotedrook |
moon |
mooninv |
warmachineferz
dragon |
elephantwazir |
|
mage |
|||||||
| Others |
bishopwarmachinerider |
crownedbishopu |
admiral
crownedrooku |
wizardc
wizardx
wizardhatpd |
sorcererhatpd |
firebird
phoenixc |
|
| High Priestess (FAN) | Minister/Duke (WDN) | Champion (WAD) | Fad (FAD) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfaerie |
highpriestess |
minister |
duke |
champion |
|
| Others |
highpriestessg
highpriest |
minister2
minister3 |
dukec |
championx |
|
|
|
Cardinal | Chancellor |
|---|---|---|
| Alfaerie |
cardinalinv |
chancellorinv |
| Motif |
downknightbishop |
downknightrook |
Some alternate names:
- Cardinal: Archbishop, Princess, Paladin
- Chancellor: Champion, Empress, Marshal, Nobleman, Elephant
- Amazon: Angel, Commander, Wyvern, Superqueen, Dragon
- Amazonrider: Queen of the Night, Terror, Centauride
- Centaur: Page, Crowned Knight, Counselor, Judge
- Dragon Horse: Crowned Bishop, Missionary
- Dragon King: Crowned Rook, Sailor, Admiral
Non-Royal Kings
The Man is also known by such names as Commoner, Guard, Prince, Fool, or Sage, as well as the alternate (German) spelling Mann. (I sometimes like to mix linguistics, and call them Manns. But then all my German-speaking friends complain.)
| Man | Fool | Guard | Prince |
|---|---|---|---|
|
man
manx |
fool |
guard
guard2 |
prince
prince2
princec |
Rules
Anyone using this site may feel free to use these graphics for Interactive Diagrams, Game Courier, or other purposes. Just set the graphics directory to /membergraphics/MSiconclearinghouse/.
Notes
The pieces that are my "original" work fall into three categories: compounds (splicing two pieces, superimposing one over another, or combining them in some other way), modifications (removing and/or adding parts), and originals (created from scratch). They're roughly evenly divided that way, taking all parts of this library into account.
As for everything else, I do take requests; if you know of an icon or set of icons that I haven't added yet and would like to see soon, please just let me know in the Comments. (That also goes for seeing anything out of place here!)
This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.
By Bob Greenwade.
Last revised by Bob Greenwade.
Web page created: 2023-10-22. Web page last updated: 2024-01-21