Notation · Guide
Chess notation explained
Algebraic chess notation on one page: files and ranks, piece letters, captures, check, castling, promotion, a worked opening and four exercises.
6 min read
Chess notation is the written form of a game. Each move is the piece that moved and the square it landed on: Nf3 means a knight went to f3, e4 means a pawn went to e4. Add a handful of symbols for captures, check and castling and you can read any game published since 1981, when FIDE stopped recognising the older descriptive system (Wikipedia, "Algebraic notation (chess)"). This page covers the whole system with examples, then gives you four exercises.
Squares: files and ranks
The board is eight files by eight ranks. Files are the columns, lettered a to h from White's left. Ranks are the rows, numbered 1 to 8 from White's side. A square is its file then its rank: e4, c6, h1. White's pieces start on ranks 1 and 2, Black's on 7 and 8, and the names are the same from both chairs. If naming a square still takes you a moment, that is the part you can drill: how to learn chess coordinates.
Pieces
| Piece | Letter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| King | K | Ke2 |
| Queen | Q | Qd1 |
| Rook | R | Re1 |
| Bishop | B | Bc4 |
| Knight | N | Nf3 |
| Pawn | none | e4 |
The knight is N because K was already taken by the king. A pawn move is the destination square on its own: e4, d5, a6.
The symbols
| Symbol | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| x | Capture | Bxe5, bishop takes on e5 |
| + | Check | Qh5+ |
| # | Checkmate | Qxf7# |
| O-O | Castles kingside | Also printed 0-0 with zeros |
| O-O-O | Castles queenside | Also printed 0-0-0 |
| =Q | Promotion | e8=Q, also written e8Q |
| e.p. | En passant, optional | exd6 e.p. |
| 1-0, 0-1, 1/2-1/2 | Result | White wins, Black wins, draw |
Both spellings of castling, the letter O and the zero, are in use. Read them the same way.
Captures
A capture is the piece, x, the square: Nxe5. The captured piece is never named, because you can see what stood there. When a pawn captures, the pawn is named by the file it left: exd5 is the e pawn taking on d5. En passant is written the same way, as the pawn landing on the square behind the pawn it took: exd6. Some writers add e.p. after it, and you can leave it off.
When two pieces can reach the same square
If both knights can go to d2, Nd2 does not say which one moved. Add the file of the knight that moved: Nbd2 or Nfd2. If the two pieces stand on the same file, use the rank instead: R1e2 or R8e2. Only when the file and the rank both fail to separate them do you write both, which needs three pieces of the same kind, say three queens after promotions, and almost never happens. The order is fixed: file first, then rank, then both (Wikipedia, "Algebraic notation (chess)").
A worked example
The first three moves of the Ruy Lopez:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6
Read it a move at a time. White's e pawn to e4. Black's e pawn to e5. White's knight to f3, from g1, and since only that knight can reach f3 no extra letter is needed. Black's knight to c6. White's bishop to b5, where it attacks the knight on c6. Black's a pawn to a6, asking the bishop what it wants to do. Cover the moves, set up a board and play them from memory. If you can, you have read notation.
In print, a move number with three dots, 3... a6, is a Black move quoted on its own, and 1.e4 with no space means the same as 1. e4.
Reading and writing
Reading comes first: books, videos, engine lines and every opening explanation use notation. Writing is required in rated over the board games, where you record every move on a scoresheet that an arbiter must be able to replay. To practise writing, record your own online games by hand for a week, then compare your sheet with the site's move list.
Exercises
- Set up a board and play through 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6, the Queen's Gambit Declined.
- Write the notation for: a white knight on g1 moving to f3; a black bishop on c8 capturing on g4; White castling queenside; a white pawn on e7 promoting to a queen on e8 with check. Answers: Nf3, Bxg4, O-O-O, e8=Q+.
- Read 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 without a board and say where every piece stands after move five. That is the Najdorf Sicilian. If you can do it, you are ready for annotated games.
- Pick any game from a database, read ten moves without a board, then check the position.
When an exercise stalls, it is usually the square you are slow on, not the symbol. That is a two minute daily drill: Name the Square shows a square and asks for its name, by voice or by tap, until it is automatic.
Questions people ask
- What is chess notation?
- A written record of a game, one move at a time. Each move is the letter of the piece and the square it moved to, so Nf3 is a knight moving to f3 and e4 is a pawn moving to e4. Algebraic notation is the only form FIDE recognises.
- What do the symbols in chess notation mean?
- x is a capture, + is check, # is checkmate, O-O and O-O-O are castling kingside and queenside, =Q is a pawn promoting to a queen. 1-0, 0-1 and 1/2-1/2 give the result.
- How is a knight move written in chess notation?
- N followed by the destination square, for example Nf3. N is used because K already means king. If both knights can reach the square, add the file of the one that moved: Nbd2.
- How do you write a pawn capture?
- The file the pawn came from, x, the square it landed on: exd5 is the e pawn taking on d5. En passant is written the same way, with an optional e.p. after it.
- How can I practise reading chess notation?
- Play through a short opening from the moves alone, then read ten moves of any game without a board and check your position against the database. If you stall on the square rather than the symbol, drill the coordinates.