MongoDB

{
    "name" : "black king",
    "symbol" : "♚",
    "pos" : [8, "e"] 
}

// use the "chess" database, creates it if it doesn't exist
db = db.getSisterDB("chess");
// make sure the db is empty (in case we run this multiple times)
db.dropDatabase();
 
// map indexes to chess board locations
column_map = {0 : "a", 1 : "b", 2 : "c", 3 : "d", 4 : "e", 5 : "f", 6 : "g", 7 : "h"};
 
// starting at 1a
color_char = {"black" : "█", "white" : " "};
color = "black";
for (i=1; i<=8; i++) {
    for(j=0; j<8; j++) {
        db.board.insert({x : i, y : column_map[j], color : color_char[color]})
 
        /* 
         * switch the color of the square... it's always the opposite
         * of the previous one, unless we're at the end of a row
         */
        if (j != 7) {
            color = color == "white" ? "black" : "white";
        }
    }
}

// create unique ids from symbols
function get_name(symbol, column) {
    switch (symbol) {
    case '♖':
    case '♜':
        return " rook " + (column < 4 ? "left" : "right");
    case '♘':
    case '♞':
        return " knight " + (column < 4 ? "left" : "right");
    case '♗':
    case '♝':
        return " bishop " + (column < 4 ? "left" : "right");
    case '♕':
    case '♛':
        return " queen";
    case '♔':
    case '♚':
        return " king";
    case '♙':
    case '♟':
        return " pawn " + column;
    }
}
 
 
// go through the 2D array of pieces, create the objs, and insert them
function add_pieces(color, color_str) {
    for (row=0; row<color.length; row++) {
         chess_row = row + (color_str == "white" ? 1 : 7);
 
         for (column=0; column < color[row].length; column++) {
             chess_column = column_map[column];
 
             db.board.update({x : chess_row, y : chess_column}, {$set : {piece : {name : color_str+get_name(color[row][column], column), symbol : color[row][column], pos : [chess_row, chess_column]}}});
       }
    }
}
 
add_pieces([['♖','♘','♗','♕','♔','♗','♘','♖'], ['♙','♙','♙','♙','♙','♙','♙','♙']], "white");
add_pieces([['♟','♟','♟','♟','♟','♟','♟','♟'], ['♜','♞','♝','♛','♚','♝','♞','♜']], "black");

// sort by x from 8-1 and y from a-h
cursor = db.board.find().sort({x:-1, y:1});
 
 
count = 0;
board = "";
while(cursor.hasNext()) {
    square = cursor.next();
    if (square.piece) {
        board += square.piece.symbol;
    }
    else {
        board += square.color;
    }
 
    count++;
    if (count % 8 == 0) {
        board += "\n";
    }
}
print(board);

♜♞♝♛♚♝♞♜
♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟
 █ █ █ █
█ █ █ █ 
 █ █ █ █
█ █ █ █ 
♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙
♖♘♗♕♔♗♘♖