Write a Chess Book for my students • page 1/1 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

Hello, I am interested in writing a small chess book with tactics for my students. Are there any chess book templates that exist? (DOCX) I will insert my own chess diagrams and solutions.

swimmerBill

#2

Use Latex with a chess package. If you don't know Latex, use a front end / editor like overleaf or Lyx, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_TeX_editors. Google "chess and Latex" and you'll find examples.

Bill

Use Latex with a chess package. If you don't know Latex, use a front end / editor like overleaf or Lyx, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_TeX_editors. Google "chess and Latex" and you'll find examples. Bill

Tamyrys

#3

@swimmerBill said in #2:

"chess and Latex"

Thanks Bill.
People who will print it accepts books in Latex?

@swimmerBill said in #2: > "chess and Latex" Thanks Bill. People who will print it accepts books in Latex?

swimmerBill

#4

@Tamyrys said in #3:

Thanks Bill.
People who will print it accepts books in Latex?
Dont know- it must depend. Latex is standard for math and science and engineering books so it they publish those they must accept a Latex file. You can get a high quality PDF from it-maybe that is enough for many publishers. - Bill

@Tamyrys said in #3: > Thanks Bill. > People who will print it accepts books in Latex? Dont know- it must depend. Latex is standard for math and science and engineering books so it they publish those they must accept a Latex file. You can get a high quality PDF from it-maybe that is enough for many publishers. - Bill

bufferunderrun edited

#5

LaTeX (https://www.latex-project.org) is a typesetting system, often used in academics. You can generate PDFs that you can print.
See https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX . There are a bunch of LaTeX tutorials on YouTube as well.
https://ctan.org/topic/games for various game packages one can use with their documentation. MPchess from one of the Lichess users has fancy graphics.
https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Chess_notation (using xskak)
https://github.com/hopfmonoid/latex-chess has some examples (using chessboard, xskak)
Python scripts that generate TeX from PGN:
https://github.com/icannos/pgn2tex
https://github.com/hlotze/pgn2tex

LaTeX (https://www.latex-project.org) is a typesetting system, often used in academics. You can generate PDFs that you can print. See https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX . There are a bunch of LaTeX tutorials on YouTube as well. https://ctan.org/topic/games for various game packages one can use with their documentation. MPchess from one of the Lichess users has fancy graphics. https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Chess_notation (using xskak) https://github.com/hopfmonoid/latex-chess has some examples (using chessboard, xskak) Python scripts that generate TeX from PGN: https://github.com/icannos/pgn2tex https://github.com/hlotze/pgn2tex

kajalmaya

#6

My suggestion is also LaTeX. It will produce pdf output. If you are simply interested in printing, for example, 6 diagrams on a page, and then answers on the back side, I can give you a LaTeX template; send me a message. You can replace the FEN strings in it with your own FENs. But if you want to write a proper book, with index, annotated games, exercises, solutions, and so on, it will require a bit more work with the layout.

There will be a little bit of learning curve. One possibility is to create an account on overleaf.com, where you can import a template and start modifying it, and see how the output looks in pdf in half of the screen. Overleaf itself has a chess template, if I recall, which you can import to your project and start modifying.

Also, don' t underestimate chatGPT. It may even give you a template and instructions to use it. It will answer many of your questions, like, how can I make 3 columns instead of 2, or how can I increase the vertical spacing between diagrams, etc.

My suggestion is also LaTeX. It will produce pdf output. If you are simply interested in printing, for example, 6 diagrams on a page, and then answers on the back side, I can give you a LaTeX template; send me a message. You can replace the FEN strings in it with your own FENs. But if you want to write a proper book, with index, annotated games, exercises, solutions, and so on, it will require a bit more work with the layout. There will be a little bit of learning curve. One possibility is to create an account on overleaf.com, where you can import a template and start modifying it, and see how the output looks in pdf in half of the screen. Overleaf itself has a chess template, if I recall, which you can import to your project and start modifying. Also, don' t underestimate chatGPT. It may even give you a template and instructions to use it. It will answer many of your questions, like, how can I make 3 columns instead of 2, or how can I increase the vertical spacing between diagrams, etc.

swimmerBill

#7

@kajalmaya said in #6:

My suggestion is also LaTeX. It will produce pdf output. If you are simply interested in printing, for example, 6 diagrams on a page, and then answers on the back side, I can give you a LaTeX template; send me a message. ...

I'm sending you a message! I have close to 500 positions I made with postal chess stamps that I'd like to type in exactly this format! Thanks-- Bill

@kajalmaya said in #6: > My suggestion is also LaTeX. It will produce pdf output. If you are simply interested in printing, for example, 6 diagrams on a page, and then answers on the back side, I can give you a LaTeX template; send me a message. ... I'm sending you a message! I have close to 500 positions I made with postal chess stamps that I'd like to type in exactly this format! Thanks-- Bill