ChessFlash

Update April 17, 2009 : New and simplified publishing option is now available. Just paste your PGN data into the form, click preview and copy-n-paste the output into blogger or your web page. You no longer need to have an account at the ChessFlash website, you don't need to login, and there is no need to upload your PGN file. Just paste-n-go! This publishing option is new, please let us know if you run into any problems. I have tested it lightly from Windows Vista-64 for Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 beta, FireFox 3.08, FireFox 3.1 beta 3, Chrome 1.0.154 Opera 9.64 and Safari 4 beta and from Windows XP-32 with Internet Explorer 7 and FireFox 3.08.

Try it at http://chessflash.com/chessflash.html.

Update April 13, 2009 : Version 2.06 just released adds the pgndata parameter which allows you to embed the pgn data within your post eliminating the need to have a pgn file on some server somewhere. It is not yet supported in the publishing options but if you are comfortable viewing the source for an html page and can learn from what you see take a look at
YAT (Yet Another Test). This has always been on my todo list and is intended to prevent potential future issues like this.

Update February 24, 2009 : Version 2.03 just released corrects a long standing but rare bug that affects games with captures on a1, h1, a8 or h8 (related to castling rights). It also displays more useful information if it is unable to parse the PGN file.

A new version of ChessFlash is now live. Please let me know if you see any unusual behavior. There should be no change except for the text / links back to the ChessFlash.com web site and one new feature described below which should be transparent to existing users.

The new feature allows web masters to install ChessFlash on their web site and store the games to be displayed on their web site removing their dependence on this web site. This feature is new experimental, but if you have a web site and want to try it, download the ChessFlash.download from http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.download, place it on your web server and rename it to ChessFlash.swf. It should be able to display pgn files from the server it is on (and only that server) by specifying the full url to the pgn file in the pgnfile FlashVars parameter. See the HTML Options for additional information. For an example take a look at This is a test -- examine the page source for an example of how to embed it.

If you have questions or issues you can contact me at Glenn.Wilson [at] gmail [dot] com.

This release of the Viewer is covered by the Free Software Foundation GNU General Public License v 3 (GPLv3). The source code is under version control using Subversion and is available at: https://chessflash.springloops.com/source/openchessflash/ (username and password are anonymous).

I have decided that I will make the ChessFlash Viewer source code available via some form of open source licensing. I have yet to work out the details but I do not currently have the time to do all of the things that I or some users would like to see. I have had some customization requests from a couple of web sites and I think the best way to handle those and the best interest of the ChessFlash Viewer itself is to make the source available to everyone.

I have not done it yet so I may change my mind as I research different open source licenses but I expect to move fairly quickly on this. Any thoughts or suggestions along these lines?

Update 4/17/2009: Before trying the instructions below, try our new simplified standalone publisher at http://chessflash.com/chessflash.html. It has the power of the previous publishing methods but is easier to use.

This topic describes how to use the new Basic Publishing Dialog and how to publish your chess games here or to your Blogger site or to an external web site using the ChessFlash PGN Viewer.

To get started you will need two things:

1. An account here, and,
2. A chess game stored on your computer as a PGN file.

The PGN file should have just one game in it. It is a very good idea to name your PGN files with names that are meaningful for both you and your readers. If you do not know what PGN is please see the FAQ.

The process we will follow to publish our first game with the ChessFlash Viewer is:

Did you find a bug? Want something added? Just have a question or need some help? This is the place.

Also feel free to email me with questions, suggestions or bugs at glenn.wilson [at] gmail [dot] com.