Chess Notation

Page 1 - Introduction and movement of the pieces

Page 2 - Playing the game

Page 3 - Notation - recording a game

Chess Notation - Recording a game

The lines of squares going up the board from the letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, are called the files. The “a” file is always on White’s left and Black’s right.

So on the digram above the Rooks are on the a and h files and the Kings are on the “e-file.”

The lines of squares going left to right across the board are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and are called “ranks”.

So each square can be identified by its file and rank.

The White King is on e1 and the White Queen on d1 etc.

Each piece is denoted by a capital letter . The King = K; Knight = N; Queen = Q; Rook = R; Bishop = B. No letter is used for a pawn.

When you move you write the letter for the piece that moved followed by the name of the square it moved to. For example, Ne8 or Qh5 or Rh8 or Nf6. For pawn moves you just write the destination square: e4, e5, h8. When you capture with a piece, put an “x” between the name of the piece and capture square: Kxe2, Qxh5.

Let's look at the example on getting out of check from the previous page and give the notation for each move.

• Putting his Bishop in the Way
  This is written Be5 since the Bishop is moving to e5.
• Capturing the Queen with the Knight
  This is written Nxe3
• Moving his King to a safe square
  This is written Kf7

 

If more than one piece of the type that moved can move to the destination square you simply put the name of the rank or file where the piece came from eg R(a)e1. This means quite simply that the Rook that was on the a file moves to e1

When you capture something with a pawn, instead of putting the name of the piece on the left, you put the file (not the square) it came from, then the x and the square on which it captured. For example: dxe5 or hxg6.

When a pawn reaches the final rank, indicate the square and the piece you have chosen for promotion: e.g. a8(Q), c1(N)

When you castle, you write O-O for kingside, O-O-O queenside.

A check is indicated by a plus sign at the end of the move: Rg8+ or Qxd2+.