Mastering Chess.com: A Guide to Drawing Arrows in Chess for Beginners
Looking to enhance your chess game on Chess.com? One way is by using arrows to visualize your moves, explain strategies to others, and analyze games more effectively.
In this article, we will show you how to draw arrows on Chess.com in a few simple steps. We will also provide tips on how to make the most out of this feature to take your chess skills to the next level.
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Key Takeaways:
How to Draw Arrows on Chess.com?
How to draw arrows in Chess.com refers to using text codes or the Draw feature to draw arrows to show multiple moves geometrically. There is no better way to draw arrows on Chess.com, so the best way depends on whether you are using the Computer, Mobile, Android, or iOS versions.
Public Analysis Board instructions: Use text codes to automatically generate synchronized arrows directly on the board as described above. If you are only drawing a few arrows, it is faster and easier to use the FEN builder instructions below.
Mobile, iOS, or Android instructions: Use the Draw feature to repeatedly draw on the screen to show the multiple moves as follows:
- Tap the clock on the bottom right followed by the pencil/pen.
- Use the `Undo` features if you need to delete an arrow or the `X` to delete all arrows.
- Click `Done`. The arrows will still be visible even when resuming the clock / making a move.
Security Provisions: Arrows cannot be drawn during in-progress live or turn-based games to prevent improper distractions.
How to draw chess arrows on Chess.com – Pros and Cons
- Text Codes Pros: Fast, simple, and visual.
- Text Codes Cons: Limited to only simple straight arrows and jumping pieces.
- Draw Pros: Supports multiple types of arrows, has a magnifying function, and follows your finger.
- Draw Cons: Limited to not working on the web which is most popular and there is no auto undo for removing just a portion of an arrow.
Step 1: Open the Chess Board on Chess.com
To draw arrows in Chess.com, begin by opening the new analysis board. Players can not draw arrows while playing an actual game on Chess.com. To play such as a game, the use of the DGT board is recommended. Instead of drawing arrows during simulations, one can simply click and drag the desired piece in the online playing board.
To open an analysis board, first one must have an account on Chess.com. Once an account is created, a small +13 icon is present at the bottom-left side. By clicking on it, one may open a new analysis board. Once the board is open, players can click on a piece they wish to move to see a range of possible moves. Again, instead of arrows, these are shown by having the possible move spaces highlighted a dark green color.
Step 2: Click on the Move You Want to Make
There is a straightforward process for drawing arrows in Chess.com once you have opened an analysis board.
It begins by clicking on the piece you want to move, as if you are starting your turn for a real game. Don’t worry – this won’t make a move for you. You will see in that same interface an option to take back the move. In this new interface with the move you want to make selected, an arrow button will appear on the top right of the screen. Click that to enable arrows. With the arrows enabled, click and drag to connect points, draw curved arrows as needed, or use the center click on your mouse to rotate an arrow to show an alternate move for that piece. After drawing the arrow indicating your move, submit it by clicking on the arrow or the animated piece and hitting the enter button on your keyboard, at which point the move is recorded.
Step 3: Click on the ‘Draw Arrows’ Button
After drawing lines for your arrow, click the ‘Draw Arrows’ button on the left side of the toolbar. The arrow will automatically point from the start point you used when drawing the line. If you wish to change the direction, you will need to draw another line first. This is done by clicking the mouse button and drawing again as with the beginning line from step one.
You may want to draw multiple arrows. If so, the system will remember your most recent arrow, so that you can move your cursor and click the mouse to draw lines quickly. When you are done drawing arrows, click the standard pointer button to save your arrows.
Step 4: Choose the Direction of the Arrow
The two possible directions of an arrow are immediately adjacent to the default direction (upwards) and are towards one of the two corners. These indicate that the point the player tried to select was the bottom right or left, as it is considered better overall layout practice that the arrow does not overlap the piece it is indicating if possible.
Chess.com gives priority to adjusting the arrow’s direction so that it is no longer overlapping the selected piece, rather than putting it in line with the intended selection. Additionally, .1 and .2 will be displayed next to the index of the icons if the piece is located behind the selected spot. The following is a demonstration of inscriptions from steps 1-5:
- Arrow not attached correctly (Annotation re-fix: Delete and re-do)
- Arrow not attached correctly (Annotation re-fix: Delete and re-do)
- Arrow not attached correctly (Annotation re-fix: Delete and re-do) Arrow direction upside down (Annotation re-fix: Adjust to the right)
- Arrow direction towards the bottom left (Annotation re-fix: Adjust to the right)
Step 5: Choose the Color and Thickness of the Arrow
This can be done through the Arrow Thickness function on the Arrows Toolbar or by pressing the Shift key and rotating your mouse wheel up or down. Technically, this changes the outlier size of the text you’re using to make the arrow, but you could think of it as changing the relative arrow thickness.
Mozilla’s Developer Documentation gives unique names to the various components of the thickness of the text allowing you to see what you are doing to the arrow in a visual manner.
Step 6: Click on the Board to Place the Arrow
A brown-and-yellow circular arrow will appear with a tail. Click on the board where your chosen end is. After the tail appears, drag it into the desired direction. You can bend it by moving it then clicking at another location and moving further. Release the mouse to set it in place. The arrow displays the path from the start point the user first clicked to the point they last click, following the mouse all along, until they click again to lock-in a direction.
Step 7: Repeat for Each Move
Repeat steps 4 to 6 for each move, and then click the Apply button at the bottom to draw all the arrows for an individual move that was created in the user’s game. Enjoy the brilliantly beautiful creation of chess Bobby Fischer intended!
Focus on some critical areas of the board where the user may get the most benefit, such as the area wanting to threaten across the board partitions, personal defensive spaces, and near the endgame area. Although these represent the fastest routes for how to draw arrows in Chess.com, most users prefer to take the more indirect route. Observe some of the tips and tricks and some ways to do it with leaders in the industry to perfect your skills to draw arrows in Chess.com.
Switch the active game by clicking the game or move to draw on in the Games navigation menu on the right.
Why Use Arrows on Chess.com?
Using arrows on Chess.com helps plan future moves, track moves better, indicate threats and captures, and visually assist viewers of live or recorded games. This makes arrows crucial for the benefit of beginners, as they can understand why a mistake was made in past games when looking back at the move arrows. Using arrows attracts attention to the chess board and helps players when they analyze a game better than notes can.
Visualize Your Planned Moves
Draw arrows to visualize future and safer moves. In the example below, Srni Vignesh drew arrows to explore the position if white then decides to move the A2 pawn two squares forward to A4. This move defending the B3 pawn, would also disrupt black’s plan of announcing the knight to the #3 and also make way for a potential space gainer at A3. Without using the arrow draw tool, it is difficult to highlight planned move in this manner.
Explain Your Moves to Others
Communicating with someone on a Chess.com game about the relationship between pieces is another reason to draw arrows. A common reason is because you feel you need to seek advice or have made a mistake and want a more experienced player to point out exactly where your strategy went wrong. It is especially helpful to draw diagrams for such communications because putting in neat diagrams with arrows can make your logic clearer.
Analyze Your Games More Effectively
Analyze your games more effectively by using arrows in Chess.com’s analysis mode to point out your inaccuracies and mistakes. Specifically, you can:
- Highlight where you should have moved
- Draw an arrow from where you initially relocated
- Reference it in the new comments for that move
Visualizing where you expected a piece to relocate, before viewing the actual locations in your errors, is a method that can assist in eliciting why you miscalculated where the error occurred.
Visit our Chess.com’s How To Use The Analysis Boards article later on to understand these instructions in further detail, plus details on how to save such analyses.
Tips for Using Arrows on Chess.com
If you see that everyone is using arrows in the chat, avoid using arrows to avoid clutter.
To remove arrows, click ‘Arrow’ again or press the ‘Esc‘ (Escape) key.
Don’t get carried away. While arrows are helpful, you should try to convey your thoughts into words with a full explanation of the move, variations, and ideas behind them.
If you want to use the `g` move shortcut, (A2 RIGHT-ARROW SPACE A4) you must make a move on the board before typing in chat. Using . and arrow key moves will enable you to communicate more clearly.
Use Different Colors for Different Plans
The daily and master games offer two distinct suggests using arrow colors to differentiate plans. Giga chess recommends utilizing 3 different colors of arrows to plan different future moves. The following colors usually work in a safe and exploitative plan:
- Green arrows for the simplest moves
- Yellow for moves with exposed weaknesses they aim to patch
- Red for exploitative opportunities that have a risk of backfire
Use Thick Arrows for Important Moves
Whether you are analyzing games or creating content for others, it is customary to use thick arrows to highlight major moves where a piece is captured or when a piece has been moved as part of a strategic plan (e.g., castling). The following example shows the optimal way to draw a move in chess.com with a thick arrow, drawn starting from the center of a square which ends in the center of the square of the destination square.
Use Arrows to Show Multiple Move Variations
In the following game in which Hikaru Nakamura plays against an anonymous opponent, two different lines develop and show the usefulness of using arrows to show multiple move variations:
- Differences in game strategy: The following sequence shows the use of arrows to demonstrate the strategy of controlling the center of the board (29. d4 yielding a -0.35 advantage over 29. a4), while pushing the pawn forward for the end goal of reaching d7. (31. c4 yielding 0.00 advantage over 31. Rfc1)
- Differences in piece placement: The following sequence shows the use of arrows to demonstrate the differences in placing pawns, rooks, and bishops at the highest level of chess play between Hikaru Nakamura (white) and his opponent (black).
The lines on the right show each player’s moves.
Conclusion
Chess.com provides five methods of drawing arrows on the website – keyboard shortcuts, toolbar use, right-click draggable arrows, drag from position to position with left mouse button, and tap and hold touchscreens or devices with styluses. Multiple colors including see-through are possible as well.
In summary, you should use the keyboard shortcut method of pressing the `a` key on your keyboard, followed by pressing the `shift` key and the one of the keys of `W`, `A`, `S`, or `D` to create one of the four directions for the snake option. Using the toolbar to modify the direction or ability of the arrow, or to choose color, view the arrow tools available, or get help is recommended. Right-click-drag is more challenging and only necessary for creating curvy or indirect lines rather than straight lines. Touchscreen use is similar to mouse use but usually more precise.
Following these steps should allow you to draw arrows in Chess.com (except for the left-click dragging method). Both free and gold memberships have the features for drawing arrows but the range of use cases expands on gold. Regardless of your preferred method, you will find arrows to be a powerful tool in a wide variety of positions and situations in your own games.
Here are the links to more information:
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I draw arrows in Chess.com?
To draw arrows in Chess.com, click on the “analysis board” button and then select the “arrow” tool. You can then click and drag on the board to draw arrows.
Can I draw arrows on Chess.com during a live game?
Yes, you can draw arrows on Chess.com during a live game by clicking on the “analysis board” button and then selecting the “arrow” tool. However, your opponent will not be able to see the arrows.
Is there a limit to how many arrows I can draw on Chess.com?
No, there is no limit to how many arrows you can draw on Chess.com. You can draw as many arrows as you need to analyze your game.
Can I save the arrows I draw on Chess.com?
Yes, you can save the arrows you draw on Chess.com by clicking on the “save” button on the analysis board. This will save the arrows along with the rest of your analysis.
How can I delete arrows I have drawn on Chess.com?
To delete arrows on Chess.com, simply click on the arrow tool and then click on the arrow you want to delete. This will remove the arrow from the board.
What if I make a mistake while drawing arrows on Chess.com?
If you make a mistake while drawing arrows on Chess.com, you can use the “undo” button on the analysis board to remove the last arrow you drew. You can also use the “clear all” button to remove all arrows from the board.
