Chess Notation

What is chess notation?

Chess notation is the written language of chess. The standard system, algebraic notation, gives every square a name like e4 and writes each move as a piece letter plus the square it moves to: Nf3 means a knight moves to f3. FIDE uses it for every official game, and it is what chess books and websites use.

Learning it takes about ten minutes. After that you can replay any game ever recorded, from Morphy in 1858 to the latest world championship, follow opening books, and write down your own games so you can study them later.

Step 1: name the squares

Seen from White's side, the columns are files, lettered a to h from left to right. The rows are ranks, numbered 1 to 8 from White's side to Black's. A square is its file followed by its rank, so e4 is where the e-file crosses the 4th rank.

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• White's pieces start on ranks 1 and 2, Black's on ranks 7 and 8.
• The kings start on e1 and e8, the queens on d1 and d8.
• The a- to d-files are the queenside, the e- to h-files the kingside.
• Square names never change: a1 is always the corner on White's left, even when the board is shown from Black's side and a1 appears top right. The chess board setup guide lists every starting square.

Step 2: learn the piece letters

Each piece except the pawn has a capital letter. Pawns have none: a pawn move is written as the destination square alone.

Other languages use their own letters, which is why many books print small piece icons instead. That style is called figurine algebraic notation, and it reads the same in every country.

Step 3: write moves and captures

Step 4: castling, check, mate and promotion

• Castling uses the capital letter O in PGN files. FIDE's printed Laws use zeros, 0-0 and 0-0-0. Both are understood everywhere.
• En passant is written with the square the pawn lands on, not the square of the pawn it takes: exd6, never exd5.
• Promotion is usually written with an equals sign, e8=Q. FIDE's own Laws leave the sign out: e8Q.
• Older books sometimes write checkmate as ++ instead of #.

Step 5: when two pieces can reach the same square

If two pieces of the same type could move to the square, add just enough to say which one moves. This is called disambiguation.

• Rae1: rooks on a1 and f1 can both go to e1, so add the file of the rook that moves.
• R1e3: rooks on e1 and e5 share a file, so add the rank instead.
• Nbd7: in the game below, Black's knights on b8 and f6 could both go to d7. The b-knight did.
• Qh4e1: with three queens on e4, h4 and h1, file or rank alone is not enough, so both are written. This needs promoted pieces and is very rare.

Annotation symbols

Commentators add marks to judge moves. They are opinions, not part of the move itself.

Engines judge positions with numbers instead. +1.5 means White is about one and a half pawns better, −0.8 means Black is better, and M3 means mate in three. The chess calculator gives an evaluation score for every position it analyses.

Reading a whole game: the Opera Game

Short games are the best practice. Scholar's Mate, 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qh5 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7#, reads: pawn to e4, pawn to e5, bishop to c4, knight to c6, queen to h5, knight to f6 (a blunder), queen takes on f7, checkmate. Once that feels easy, try the most famous short game ever played, Paul Morphy against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, played in a box at the Paris Opera in 1858:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.Nc3 c6 9.Bg5 b5 10.Nxb5 cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.O-O-O Rd8 13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 16.Qb8+ Nxb8 17.Rd8#

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• 4.dxe5 is a pawn capture: the d-pawn takes on e5.
• 11.Bxb5+ is a capture with check.
• 11...Nbd7 is disambiguation: both Black knights could reach d7.
• 12.O-O-O is queenside castling.
• 16.Qb8+! is a queen sacrifice, and 17.Rd8# is mate.

Paste the moves into the chess analysis board to replay them one at a time.

PGN: how whole games are saved

PGN (Portable Game Notation) is the standard text format for chess games. Every chess site exports it and every chess program reads it. Here is the Opera Game as a PGN file:

[Event "Paris"]
[Site "Paris FRA"]
[Date "1858.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Morphy, Paul"]
[Black "Duke Karl / Count Isouard"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg4 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5
6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Qe7 8. Nc3 c6 9. Bg5 b5 10. Nxb5 cxb5
11. Bxb5+ Nbd7 12. O-O-O Rd8 13. Rxd7 Rxd7 14. Rd1 Qe6
15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 16. Qb8+ Nxb8 17. Rd8# 1-0

• Tag pairs in square brackets hold the details. The standard requires seven: Event, Site, Date, Round, White, Black and Result. Unknown parts are written as question marks.
• Movetext follows: the moves in algebraic notation with a space after each move number.
• Comments go in curly braces, and alternative lines go in round brackets.
• Results: 1-0 White won, 0-1 Black won, 1/2-1/2 draw, and * unfinished or unknown.

FEN: one position in one line

PGN stores a game. FEN (Forsyth-Edwards Notation) stores a single position. This is the starting position:

1. The board, rank 8 first. Capitals are White, lowercase is Black, and a number counts empty squares.
2. Whose turn it is: w or b.
3. Castling rights: KQkq, or - if no one can castle.
4. The en passant square, if a pawn has just moved two squares.
5. The halfmove clock for the fifty-move rule.
6. The move number.

Copy a FEN from any chess site and paste it into the best move calculator to set up that exact position and see Stockfish's best move.

Other notation systems you may meet

• Long algebraic: both squares are written, as in e2-e4 or Ng1-f3. Some books use it for beginners.
• UCI (engine) notation: just the two squares with no piece letter: e2e4, castling as e1g1, promotion as e7e8q. This is how chess programs talk to engines like Stockfish.
• Descriptive notation: the older English system, with moves like P-K4 for 1.e4 and N-KB3 for Nf3. Squares were named from each player's own side, so the same square had two names. Books before the 1980s often use it.
• ICCF numeric: used in correspondence chess. Files and ranks are both numbered, so e2-e4 becomes 5254.

How to learn notation quickly

1. Name squares at random. Point at a square and say its name, then do it from Black's side. A few minutes a day is enough.
2. Replay short games. Start with Scholar's Mate and the Opera Game above on a real board.
3. Write down your own games. Record every move of your next few games, then replay them. You will learn notation and find your mistakes at the same time.
4. Read annotated games. The chess openings guide and the chess blog write every line in algebraic notation.