This week’s lesson is on chess notation.
Chess notation is a way to write down the moves of a chess game so that we can keep a record of it. We also call it keeping score of the game. Writing down the moves creates a record of everything that happened in the game. Here are some reasons why you should learn it:
- Your game is your creation. If you want to study your game later (days, months, or even years later) you can do it from the written moves.
- Chess notation is necessary if you want to study chess, either with books or online.
- In some tournaments, you are required to make a certain number of moves within a time period (for example, 40 moves in 90 minutes) or you forfeit the game on time. Writing down the moves is your proof that you made the required number of moves in the allotted time.
- Also in tournaments, to claim a draw by repetition you must show that the same position has occurred (or is about to occur) three times. A scoresheet with the written moves is your proof.
- And it’s also pretty cool to write down your moves. It sets you apart from the beginners
Board Coordinates
A chess board has 64 squares. The rows (ranks) are assigned numbers from 1 to 8. The columns (files) are assigned letters from a to h. The board is always labeled from White’s point of view, with a1 being in the lower left corner, as shown here:
Diagram 1. The starting position with board coordinates
Things to remember:
- Always use lowercase letters for the board coordinates. (Capital letters are for the pieces.)
- White’s army always starts on rows 1 & 2. Black starts on rows 7 & 8.
- The kings start on the e-file. The queens start on the d-file.
- When setting up the board, always make sure a1 is a dark square, and h1 is a light square. The old saying is “light on the right”.
Abbreviations for the pieces
Each of the pieces is abbreviated with a capital letter:
- King = K
- Queen = Q
- Rook = R
- Bishop = B
- Knight = N (because K is already used for King)
- Pawn = no letter
Note: some really old chess books abbreviated the knight “Kt”. This isn’t done anymore… everybody uses N now.
How to write moves
First you write the letter for the piece, and then you write the square that you’re moving the piece to:
- If you move a bishop onto the square c4, you write Bc4.
- If you move the queen onto the square h5, you write Qh5.
- If you move a knight onto the square f3, you write Nf3. (Remember K is for king, N is for knight!)
- If you move a pawn to d6, you write d6. (Pawns don’t have a capital letter, so we write d6 all by itself.)
How to write captures
The most common way to write captures is with the letter x. The letter x is an abbreviation for the word “takes”.
- If your rook captures something on d7, you write Rxd7. (Rook takes d7)
- If your king captures something on h1, you write Kxh1. (King takes h1)
Pawn captures are special. You write the lowercase letter for the file where the pawn starts out, then the x for takes, then the square that it captures on.
- If your pawn on f4 captures something on e5, you write fxe5. (f pawn takes e5)
- If your pawn on b3 captures something on c2, you write bxc2. (b pawn takes c2)
Check out this diagram. How would you write all of White’s possible captures?
Diagram 2. White to move
White can make 3 possible captures with the queen, and one with the pawn:
- Queen takes the rook: Qxa8
- Queen takes the bishop: Qxh3
- Queen takes the f-pawn: Qxf5
- Pawn takes the b-pawn: cxb5
Special situation when two of the same type of piece can move to the same square
Sometimes we run into a situation where two knights can move to the same square. Or two rooks. When this happens, we add an extra letter between the piece abbreviation and the destination square to make clear which piece is being moved. This removes the ambiguity.
Diagram 3. Black to move
Look at Diagram 3. Black is in check. Black can block by moving either knight to d7. If we write Nd7 that doesn’t tell us which knight! Here’s how we write it:
- To block with the knight that’s currently on the b-file, we write Nbd7.
- To block with the knight that’s currently on the f-file, we write Nfd7.
The extra letter, between the “N’ and the “d7″, tells us which knight moved.
Sometimes an extra letter doesn’t help, and we have to use a number instead.
Diagram 4. White to move
In Diagram 4, it’s white’s move. Black is threatening to play Qxg2 checkmate and White needs to stop it. White decides to move his rook from e4 to e2, blocking the checkmate threat. Simply writing Re2 doesn’t tell us which rook we moved to e2. Both rooks are on the e-file so adding the letter “e” doesn’t help either. We write R4e2 to show this move.
Special moves
- If your move gives check, you add the + (plus) symbol at the end of the move: Qxd1+ would mean “queen takes d1, check”.
- Castling on the king’s side of the board is written O-O.
- Castling on the queen’s side of the board (the long side) is written O-O-O.
- Capturing a pawn en passant doesn’t require any special abbreviation, but some chess players like to write “e.p.” after the move. For example, gxf3 e.p.
- Promoting a pawn when it reaches the back rank is written with the equals (=) symbol to show what piece you’re getting. For example, a8=Q means white moved a pawn to a8 and made it into a queen. d1=N+ means black moved a pawn to d1 and made it into a knight with check.
- Checkmate is written with the pound (#) symbol. For example, Qxh7#. You can also write the word “mate”.
- If white wins, we write 1-0. If black wins, we write 0-1. If it’s a draw, we write ½-½.
Now that you know chess notation, you’re equipped to study and become a stronger player!
For more information about chess notation, here’s a link to the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_chess_notation
Until next time,
–Coach Mike
