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The two crowned pieces, told apart by one detail at the top.
Look at the finial. A cross above the crown is the king; a ring of short points and no cross is the queen. On a small board diagram this is the only difference between them.
The king's crown carries a cross; the queen's carries a ring of points. On a small board diagram the two are the pieces most often mistaken for each other.
Drawn from the visual attributes recorded for each symbol. Only traits the two records disagree about are listed.
| Trait | Chess king symbol (♔) | Chess queen symbol (♕) |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | objects and crosses | objects and stars |
| Chess king symbol (♔) | Chess queen symbol (♕) | |
|---|---|---|
| Top of the piece | A small cross | A coronet of points, no cross |
| Letter in notation | K | Q |
| How it moves | One square in any direction, plus castling | Any distance along ranks, files and diagonals |
| Code point | U+2654 | U+2655 |
| If it is lost | The game is over | The game continues |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Chess queen symbol (♕) — The king's crown carries a cross; the queen's carries a ring of points. On a small board diagram the two are the pieces most often mistaken for each other. | Commonly confused with Chess king symbol (♔) — Look at the top: a cross means king, a ring of points means queen. |
FIDE Laws of Chess, Appendix C: Algebraic Notation
Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) · retrieved 2026-08-02
The governing body's own handbook. Authoritative for the notation FIDE requires in competition — the piece letters, the capture and check marks, castling — and for nothing outside it. Annotation symbols expressing an opinion about a move are deliberately absent from the Laws and are not cited here.
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-02
Tertiary reference. Cited for how a mark is written and read in ordinary practice, and for conventions no governing body issues. Never cited for a claim that a rule says something — the rulebooks below carry those.
Unicode Code Chart: Miscellaneous Symbols (U+2600–U+26FF)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-07-30
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in use.
Both arms sweeping forward means play continues and no kick is coming. One arm straight up means a kick is coming and cannot score directly. Confusing them changes whether players expect a stoppage.
The plain black flag excludes the competitor: their race is over. The black flag with an orange disc reports a mechanical problem that endangers others and sends the driver to the pits to have it fixed, after which they may rejoin. Both are shown with a number board, both are black, and confusing them costs a competitor a race they could have finished.
A cross means all ten pins fell to the first ball; a forward slash means it took two. The cross carries two deliveries of bonus and the slash only one, which is why three strikes are needed for a frame to reach thirty.
The exclamation mark praises a move, the question mark criticises it. Neither is defined by FIDE: unlike the rest of chess notation these are publishing convention, and two annotators may disagree about the same move.