improved pgn4web error handling

As of version 2.02 pgn4web implements an improved error handling.

Rather than displaying popup messages, errors alert messages are now logged, such as failure to load PGN data, incorrect PGN games or incorrect FEN strings. When an error is encountered, the top left chessboard square (A8 assuming White on bottom, H1 otherwise) will flash to signal the exception. The error alert log can be reviewed clicking on the same top left chessboard square.



The debugging feature can be used both while developing new HTML pages and when entering PGN data using any of the pgn4web tools, for instance when adding a chessboard to a wordpress based site using the embed-chessboard plugin.

pgn4web search tool

Latest addition to pgn4web is a search tool: clicking on square B5 invokes a search box to look for games. The board will automatically display the next game matching the search pattern, either in the header, moves or comments. Clicking on square C5 repeats the last search. Clicking on the square A5 repeats the last search backward.


You can search for a plain text or or for a regular expression. Examples of searches you can try with the miniatures above:

Alekhine = search for Alekhine's games

White\s*\"Euwe = search for games with Euwe as White

Date(?!\s*"1923") = search for games with date other than 1923

ECO\s*\"C5[0-9] = search for all games with the Italian opening (note ECO tag present in these PGN games)

For more information about the search tool, refer to the pgn4web search tool wiki page or click square E8 for help.

Have fun using pgn4web on your site!

pgn4web integration with popular web platforms

The recent improvements to pgn4web focused on the integration with popular web platforms.

The aim is to allow entering pgn4web chessboards in blog articles, forum posts and website articles in the easiest way, for example just entering the chess notation within a [pgn] ... [/pgn] tag pair, such as:

[pgn]

[Event "World championship"]
[Site "Moscow URS"]
[Date "1985.10.15"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Karpov"]
[Black "Kasparov"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 8.
Na3 d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. exd5 Nb4 11. Be2 Bc5 12. O-O O-O 13. Bf3 Bf5 14.
Bg5 Re8 15. Qd2 b5 16. Rad1 Nd3 17. Nab1 h6 18. Bh4 b4 19. Na4 Bd6 20. Bg3
Rc8 21. b3 g5 22. Bxd6 Qxd6 23. g3 Nd7 24. Bg2 Qf6 25. a3 a5 26. axb4 axb4
27. Qa2 Bg6 28. d6 g4 29. Qd2 Kg7 30. f3 Qxd6 31. fxg4 Qd4+ 32. Kh1 Nf6 33.
Rf4 Ne4 34. Qxd3 Nf2+ 35. Rxf2 Bxd3 36. Rfd2 Qe3 37. Rxd3 Rc1 38. Nb2 Qf2
39. Nd2 Rxd1+ 40. Nxd1 Re1+ 0-1

[/pgn]

Plugins are available for the joomla, mediawiki and wordpress.org portals.

Detailed guidelines for pgn4web integration are available for the blogger blog (like this one), for the drupal portal and for the phpBB, the simplemachines and the vbulletin forums.

The following link points to test sites for all those platforms.

All the details available at the pgn4web wiki.

The project wiki also includes a users' gallery; the wordpress.org platform appears to be very popular for personal sites while chessclubs and associations generally prefer joomla.

Have fun using pgn4web on your site!

how to use pgn4web in a blog: horizontal layout

Another enhancement to the pgn4web board generator tool: horizontal layout!
On users demand, now you can display the game text at the right side of the board. This is supposed to fit better in forum posts.



The headline for these games: my recent experiences against British chess champions!
Now the fine print... the first game is a draw against IM Robert Wade at the age of 86! The second game (click on the F3/C3 squares to switch games) is a win against a current British champion... the title holder for the under 11 section!

Have fun using pgn4web in your blog!

pgn4web live broadcasting of chess events

pgn4web can be used for live broadcasting of chess games.

http://pgn4web-live.casaschi.net will occasionally broadcast live major chess events.

See below an demo simulation of the live broadcasting functionality.
In this example the board is updated every 15 seconds and a random number of new moves (from 0 to 3) is added to each game at every update.
Please note the size of the live broadcast demo page is optimized for small displays as with smartphones, but be careful with wireless data usage due to the constant refresh of the PGN games.



These are the games from round two of the 1998 Tilburg Fontys tournament; I watched those games live in Tilburg, when Kramnik almost created a masterpiece!

Read the detailed instructions how to live broadcast chess games on your site as shown in the example above. Also read how the pgn4web board widget can be used for live games broadcasting.

how to use pgn4web in a blog: more puzzles

On the right you have few more puzzles, presented using the pgn4web board generator tool. The first and the last puzzle are from my own games! You can add a similar collection of puzzles to your website or your blog by saving your puzzles as a PGN file with your preferred chess software; then input the content of the PGN file into the pgn4web board generator tool and automatically generate the HTML code to cut and paste in your site. Just remember to use the HTML editor for your website or blog. Within the pgn4web board generator tool you can customize the board size, pieces, colors, the font size and color for the puzzle text and many other options. Remember, every chessboard square is an input button; just click the square G8 for more details. Have fun using pgn4web in your blog!

how to use pgn4web in a blog: the board generator tool

This is the opera game, a famous chess game played in 1858 between the American chess master Paul Morphy and two strong amateurs, the German noble Duke Karl of Brunswick and the French aristocrat Count Isouard, who consulted, playing together as partners against Morphy. The game is often used by chess teachers to demonstrate the importance of rapidly developing one's pieces, as well as other lessons. The chessboard widget showing the game on the left has been added using the same iframe technique as the previous post and the new addition to the the pgn4web family: the board generator tool. The board generator tool provides a web interface for interactively and easily adding chessboards to your blog. You just need to cut and paste in your blog an HTML statement automatically generated by the pgn4web board generator. There is no need to host files, pictures or script anywhere, the pgn4web board generator does everything for you! Also note that every chessboard square is now an input button; just click the square G8 for more details. Have fun using pgn4web in your blog!

How to use pgn4web in a blog: inline chessboard

This shows how to use the pgn4web tool in a blog, using the iframe tag to embed the chess page.

Below is a well known Spassky-Fischer game from the 1972 world championship.



This is the (very long) link to add this chessboard to your web page using an iframe (make sure you have everything on the same line):

<iframe 
height=406 width=406 frameborder=0 scrolling=no marginheight=0 marginwidth=0
src="http://pgn4web-board.casaschi.net/?
pieceFont=uscf&
pieceSize=40&
squareSize=50&
autoplayMode=game&
delay=999&
lightColorHex=e5e1c6&
darkColorHex=cccbac&
highlightMode=none&
buttonsDisplay=hidden&
pgnText=1. e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 Bg7 
7. Nbd2 O-O 8. h3 a5 9. a4 dxe5 10. dxe5 Na6 11. O-O Nc5 12. Qe2 Qe8 
13. Ne4 Nbxa4 14. Bxa4 Nxa4 15. Re1 Nb6 16. Bd2 a4 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bh4 Bf5 
19. g4 Be6 20. Nd4 Bc4 21. Qd2 Qd7 22. Rad1 Rfe8 23. f4 Bd5 24. Nc5 Qc8 
25. Qc3 e6 26. Kh2 Nd7 27. Nd3 c5 28. Nb5 Qc6 29. Nd6 Qxd6 30. exd6 Bxc3 
31. bxc3 f6 32. g5 hxg5 33. fxg5 f5 34. Bg3 Kf7 35. Ne5+ Nxe5 36. Bxe5 b5 
37. Rf1 Rh8 38. Bf6 a3 39. Rf4 a2 40. c4 Bxc4 41. d7 Bd5 42. Kg3 Ra3+ 
43. c3 Rha8 44. Rh4 e5 45. Rh7+ Ke6 46. Re7+ Kd6 47. Rxe5 Rxc3+ 48. Kf2 Rc2+ 
49. Ke1 Kxd7 50. Rexd5+ Kc6 51. Rd6+ Kb7 52. Rd7+ Ka6 53. R7d2 Rxd2 
54. Kxd2 b4 55. h4 Kb5 56. h5 c4 57. Ra1 gxh5 58. g6 h4 59. g7 h3 60. Be7 Rg8 
61. Bf8 h2 62. Kc2 Kc6 63. Rd1 b3+ 64. Kc3 h1Q 65. Rxh1 Kd5 66. Kb2 f4 
67. Rd1+ Ke4 68. Rc1 Kd3 69. Rd1+ Ke2 70. Rc1 f3 71. Bc5 Rxg7 72. Rxc4 Rd7 
73. Re4+ Kf1 74. Bd4 f2 0-1">
</iframe>

Have fun using pgn4web in your blog!

How to use pgn4web in a blog: browse custom PGN games

This shows how to use the pgn4web tool in a blog, using the iframe tag to embed the chess page.

Use the form below to browse custom PGN data.

You can for example cut and paste the following two games, then you press the show button and finally you can use the left and right buttons to view the game.

[Event "WC candidates final"]
[Site "Moscow USSR"]
[Date "1974.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Kortschnoj, Viktor"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8.
Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. h4 Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. O-O-O Nc4 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14.
h5 Nxh5 15. g4 Nf6 16. Nde2 Qa5 17. Bh6 Bxh6 18. Qxh6 Rfc8 19. Rd3 R4c5 20.
g5 Rxg5 21. Rd5 Rxd5 22. Nxd5 Re8 23. Nef4 Bc6 24. e5 Bxd5 25. exf6 exf6
26. Qxh7+ Kf8 27. Qh8+ 1-0

[Event "WC candidates final"]
[Site "Moscow USSR"]
[Date "1974.??.??"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Kortschnoj, Viktor"]
[Black "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. c4 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Qc2 c5 8.
d5 exd5 9. Ng5 Nc6 10. Nxd5 g6 11. Qd2 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 Rb8 13. Nxh7 Re8 14.
Qh6 Ne5 15. Ng5 Bxg5 16. Bxg5 Qxg5 17. Qxg5 Bxd5 18. O-O Bxc4 19. f4 1-0

Have fun using pgn4web in your blog!

How to use pgn4web in a blog: tactical puzzles

This shows how to use the pgn4web tool in a blog, using the iframe tag to embed the chess page.

Below is a set of chess tactical puzzles for you to solve. There are more than 900 puzzles, mostly from top players' games (the puzzle collection is from the scid project). The next puzzle button selects a random new challenge. The show solution button displays and navigates through the solution's main line.



Have fun using pgn4web in your blog!

How to use pgn4web in a blog: game collection

This shows how to use the pgn4web tool in a blog, using the iframe tag to embed the chess page.

These are some fantastic games form the Karpov/Kasparov world championship matches.


Have fun using pgn4web in your blog!