Goal

We are going to adapt קיפודנחש (aka kipod)'s PGN Chess Viewer into a WP:Gadget.

If the gadget is enabled the user will be able to step through the chess game move by move. If the gadget is disabled something simple will be shown instead, likely a static image or animated GIF of the board. In any case, it is important that the full list of moves be spelled out explicitly in the article text.

Proposal

PGN is a standard format to record chess games. The proposal is to use a Javascript viewer so the user can view the chess game one move at a time, moving forwards and backwards by pressing buttons. (The current options are to include an animated GIF, a static image, or a movie, but nothing in Wikipedia right now allows the user to control the chess game interactively.) This is already working on the Hebrew Wikipedia but needs consensus to be brought over to English Wikipedia.

This will be a Gadget, not a change to MediaWiki:Common.js. This means:

Only users who explicitly choose to install the Gadget will be able to view the animation.
The complete move list must appear in the text of the article, since not everyone will be able to view the animation.
For users who choose not to install the gadget, a static image of the chessboard will be shown instead.

Original Proposal

The original proposal from קיפודנחש (aka kipod):

There is a standard, called Portable Game Notation to describe chess games. This is the dominant standard to store and present chess games on computers, and is also used in many books and newspapers. There are numerous databases containing tens of thousands of chess games, all using this notation.

There are many chess web sites that can display chess animation based on this format, e.g., http://chesstempo.com/pgn-viewer.html (just an example - i listed it just because it was the first google hit for "pgn viewer").

There is a mediawiki extension called Extension:EmbedChessboard which displays chess games using PGN notation. This extension has it cons and pros. However, i do not believe it is likely that this extension will be accepted for any wikimedia site.

i developed a pgn animation script+template which is now deployed in hewiki (demo page: he:משתמש:קיפודנחש/ארגח 1, example of one of the articles using the template: he:עמוס ברן.

The script is a roughly 720 lines of easy to read JS. in order to use it on enwiki it will have to be included from common.js. it can be viewed here: he:Mediawiki:common.js/pgn.js. discussions in chessclub here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject_Chess#PGN_viewer. discussion in WP:VPT here: Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 104#Display chess games from PGN data.

Proposal: Add the pgn script, optionally with required modification to common.js, and Create a template to display chess games using PGN format.

Prototype

View the Prototype

Scope

Use wikidata? (being discussed)

Current Limitations

Doesn't work on the Wikipedia mobile site.

Previous Discussions

Current Discussion:

WP:Village_pump_(technical)#Display_Chess_games_.28with_animation.29_using_PGN_data

Archives:
WP:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_97#Display_Chess_games_.28with_animation.29_using_PGN_data
WP:Village_pump_(technical)/Archive_104#Display_chess_games_from_PGN_data