FEN to image: a free chess diagram generator
Paste a FEN and get a clean chess diagram to download, or to put on your blog, course or worksheet. Free, with no account.
An example
Each diagram has its own page, with its FEN, links to analyse it on Lichess or Chess.com, and the code to embed it. The embedded diagram links to that page, so your readers can analyse the position in a click.
What is a FEN?
Forsyth–Edwards Notation writes a position in one line. The board comes first, rank by rank from the 8th to the 1st, with a letter for each piece (capitals for White, small letters for Black, N for the knight) and a digit for each run of empty squares. Then come the side to move (w or b), the castling rights, the en passant square, and two move counters.
Every chess site and program reads and writes FEN, so it is the easiest way to move a position between them: Lichess and Chess.com show it under their analysis boards.
No FEN? Take it from a picture
If the position is in a book, a screenshot or a paused video, GreyChess reads it for you and asks only about the squares it is unsure of. In a PDF or ePub chess book, it reads every diagram into a live board beside the page.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Making, downloading and embedding diagrams is free, with no account and no limit.
Can I use the diagrams in my book, course or worksheet?
Yes, in print or online. The pieces are Colin M.L. Burnett’s, under the BSD licence, which lets anyone use them; the diagram’s file names him.
What if I have a picture, not a FEN?
GreyChess reads the position from a screenshot, a photo or a diagram in your chess book, and gives you its FEN.
Why SVG?
An SVG stays sharp at any size, on screen and in print, and is small. Every browser, blog and word processor shows it.
Found the position in a book?
GreyChess reads the diagrams in your PDF and ePub chess books into live boards beside the page, with the book’s own lines on them. Start free.