Answers.Body: <p>Well, the minimum recognizable size could be 3x3 for each figurine (+1 as field separator if you are spendable) thus you could even fit it in the classical 32x32 icon format. (The pics at the bottom are actually 30x30 sized figurines!) Recognizable, though, without the incessant aliasing:
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/JRUOf.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/JRUOf.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
  As the German says: As you see, you don't see anything.</p>
  <p>Figurine design is critical: in your example, I would immediate cry out &quot;King and Queen are placed wrong&quot;! Here is my design:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/M8han.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/M8han.png" alt="Mini without" /></a> <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/vCRh4.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vCRh4.png" alt="Mini with here" /></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-08-10T23:51:54.737Z
Answers.Text: Sounds like my design is good - the king and queen actually *are* placed wrongly, oops. :)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Steve Bennett
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-08-10T10:03:42.403Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-08-10T10:03:42.403Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hauke Reddmann
Answers.Body: <p>I don't think anything specific like Sparklines has been developed but using <a href="https://martin-thoma.com/typeset-chess-games/#skak_1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Latex</a> you have a lot of flexibility.</p>
  <p>For example using the Skak package for Latex you <a href="https://mirror.ox.ac.uk/sites/ctan.org/fonts/chess/skak/doc/skakdoc.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">can remove/add notation</a> from the board and Latex allows you to <a href="https://latexref.xyz/_005cresizebox.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">control the size of the diagram</a>.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-08-09T01:13:07.800Z
Answers.Text: Thanks, I'm really looking to find out whether anyone has specifically designed a set of pieces for legibility at tiny scales though.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Steve Bennett
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-08-09T13:33:54.703Z
Answers.Text: @SteveBennett Tiny number of pixels (albeit big pixels) or tiny diagrams? Please remember that not everyone has eyesight keen enough to identify the figurines on tiny diagrams -- or would be willing to strain their eyes trying.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Rosie F
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-08-09T23:14:45.450Z
Answers.Text: I guess I mean, tiny in `px` units. A good solution would scale up well if the user had applied a larger text size setting, but any image will scale in some way.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Steve Bennett
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-08-08T11:12:32.667Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-08-08T11:12:32.667Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Koenig Lear
Body: <p>Has anyone developed a graphic design format for representing boards within a very tiny amount of space? I'm thinking along the lines of how <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkline" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sparklines</a> were developed to allow a line chart to be embedded within a paragraph.</p>
  <p>Is there some kind of equivalent for chess, that would allow a full board to be read at very low scales? This might be useful for analysis discussion, instead of requiring the reader to read sequences of moves in algebraic format and picture the resulting position.</p>
  <p>As an example, here is something I have come up with (just an example work in progress).</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/a0rIm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/a0rIm.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <p>Is there something better out there?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-08-08T08:32:10.213Z
Comments.Text: First thing that comes to my mind is FEN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsyth%E2%80%93Edwards_Notation
  But maybe I'm reading your question wrong.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Christian
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-08-08T11:11:12.643Z
Comments.Text: I'm looking for a graphical format, not text. Added example to clarify.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Steve Bennett
Tags: <analysis><books><websites><chessboards><recommendations>
Title: Tiniest readable board and pieces design
ThreadText: # Tiniest readable board and pieces design
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-08)
  
  Has anyone developed a graphic design format for representing boards within a very tiny amount of space? I'm thinking along the lines of how [sparklines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkline) were developed to allow a line chart to be embedded within a paragraph.
  
  Is there some kind of equivalent for chess, that would allow a full board to be read at very low scales? This might be useful for analysis discussion, instead of requiring the reader to read sequences of moves in algebraic format and picture the resulting position.
  
  As an example, here is something I have come up with (just an example work in progress).
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/a0rIm.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/a0rIm.png)
  
  Is there something better out there?
  
  **Tags:** analysis, books, websites, chessboards, recommendations
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: First thing that comes to my mind is FEN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsyth%E2%80%93Edwards_Notation But maybe I'm reading your question wrong.  
  > **username_0**: I'm looking for a graphical format, not text. Added example to clarify.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2021-08-10. Score: 5
  
  Well, the minimum recognizable size could be 3x3 for each figurine (+1 as field separator if you are spendable) thus you could even fit it in the classical 32x32 icon format. (The pics at the bottom are actually 30x30 sized figurines!) Recognizable, though, without the incessant aliasing:
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/JRUOf.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/JRUOf.png)
  As the German says: As you see, you don't see anything.
  
  Figurine design is critical: in your example, I would immediate cry out "King and Queen are placed wrong"! Here is my design:
  
  [![Mini without](https://i.sstatic.net/M8han.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/M8han.png) [![Mini with here](https://i.sstatic.net/vCRh4.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/vCRh4.png)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Sounds like my design is good - the king and queen actually *are* placed wrongly, oops. :)  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2021-08-08. Score: 2
  
  I don't think anything specific like Sparklines has been developed but using [Latex](https://martin-thoma.com/typeset-chess-games/#skak_1) you have a lot of flexibility.
  
  For example using the Skak package for Latex you [can remove/add notation](https://mirror.ox.ac.uk/sites/ctan.org/fonts/chess/skak/doc/skakdoc.pdf) from the board and Latex allows you to [control the size of the diagram](https://latexref.xyz/_005cresizebox.html).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks, I'm really looking to find out whether anyone has specifically designed a set of pieces for legibility at tiny scales though.  
  > **username_4**: @SteveBennett Tiny number of pixels (albeit big pixels) or tiny diagrams? Please remember that not everyone has eyesight keen enough to identify the figurines on tiny diagrams -- or would be willing to strain their eyes trying.  
  > **username_0**: I guess I mean, tiny in `px` units. A good solution would scale up well if the user had applied a larger text size setting, but any image will scale in some way.  
  
  ---
  
  