Chess PGN Viewer

Chess PGN Viewer

Chess PGN Viewer is an Obsidian plugin that renders interactive chess games inside ```chess code blocks. It turns PGN into a clickable board, supports move navigation, and displays comments, variations, board annotations, and move glyphs.

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

Screenshots

Features

• Interactive chess board with previous, next, and reset navigation
• PGN parsing with mainline moves and nested variations
• Support for PGN comments and board annotations:
  • %csl square highlights
  • %cal arrows
• Move annotation glyphs from PGN NAGs:
  • !, ?, !!, ??, !?, ?!
• Compact study-style notation layout with clickable moves
• Board geometry that stays aligned on resize

Installation

1. Open Obsidian Settings.
2. Go to Community plugins.
3. Search for Chess PGN Viewer.
4. Install the plugin.
5. Activate the plugin from Community Plugins.

Usage

Create a fenced code block with the chess language:

orientation: white
showMoves: true
showComments: true
showVariations: true

[Event "Training Game"]
[White "Kasparov"]
[Black "Karpov"]

1. e4 {King pawn opening [%csl Ge4][%cal Ge2e4]}
   e5
2. Nf3 (2. Bc4 {Italian-style line}) Nc6
3. Bb5 a6

Supported block options

• orientation: white | black
• showMoves: true | false
• showComments: true | false
• showVariations: true | false

If a block option is omitted, the plugin uses its default value.

Development

npm install
npm run dev
npm test
npm run build

• npm run dev builds in watch mode.
• npm test runs the Vitest suite.
• npm run build creates the production main.js bundle.
• After npm run build, refresh the installed vault copy before manual testing:

cp main.js .obsidian/plugins/chess-pgn-viewer/main.js
cp styles.css .obsidian/plugins/chess-pgn-viewer/styles.css

• To verify the installed copy is current, compare the files directly:

git diff --no-index -- main.js .obsidian/plugins/chess-pgn-viewer/main.js
git diff --no-index -- styles.css .obsidian/plugins/chess-pgn-viewer/styles.css

No output means the local Obsidian plugin copy is in sync.

Project Structure

• src/main.ts - Obsidian plugin entry point
• src/chess/block.ts - PGN parsing and game-state model
• src/chess/viewer.ts - board rendering, navigation, and notation UI
• tests/ - Vitest coverage for parsing and viewer behavior
• docs/assets/ - screenshot assets used in this README
• styles.css - plugin styles
• main.js - built plugin bundle

Testing

Tests use vitest with jsdom. The most important coverage is around PGN parsing, notation layout, navigation, geometry, and annotation rendering. Run the full suite before publishing changes.

When fixing notation layout bugs, add a focused regression in tests/chess-viewer.test.ts first and cover both the CSS contract and the rendered DOM behavior.

Notes

• The plugin targets Obsidian desktop and does not require a separate backend.
• Chess piece artwork is based on the Chessground cburnett assets from chessground.cburnett.css.
• main.js is generated; do not edit it by hand.
• The local development copy in .obsidian/plugins/chess-pgn-viewer/ is for testing only and is not part of the Git repository.
• Manual Obsidian checks should include long SAN labels, black-move prefixes like 1..., and variation rows in a narrow notation panel to ensure text wraps instead of clipping.