How to read chess notation: algebraic notation explained
Chess games are written down in algebraic notation: each move is a short code like Nf3 or exd5. Once you can read it, you can replay any game from a book, a website or a PGN file.
Every square has a name: a file letter from a to h, left to right from White’s side, and a rank number from 1 to 8, counted up from White’s side. The bottom-left corner is a1.
Moves and piece letters
A move is the letter of the piece and the square it goes to. The pieces are K king, Q queen, R rook, B bishop and N knight. Pawns have no letter: a pawn move is just the square.
Captures, checks and castling
A few more signs complete the code. x means a capture, + check and # mate; O-O is short castling and O-O-O long castling. When a pawn captures, we write the file it came from: dxc6.
More you will meet
- Move numbers. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 is the first move of White and Black, then White’s second. A Black move on its own is written with an ellipsis: 2…Nc6.
- Two pieces can go to the same square: then add the file or rank the piece comes from, as in Nbd2 or R1e2.
- Promotion: e8=Q means the pawn reached e8 and became a queen.
- Marks: ! is a good move, !! a brilliant one, ? a mistake, ?? a blunder, ?! a dubious move.
- Other languages. Books in many languages use their own letters (Spanish ones write R, D, T, A, C), but PGN files and websites, this one included, use the English K, Q, R, B, N.
Exercise: play the move
Play the move 3.Nxe5 on the board.
Make the move on the board: drag a piece, or click it and then a square.
Solved!
The knight from f3 takes the pawn on e5. The position comes from the Petrov Defence: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5.
Key points
- A square is a file letter and a rank number: e4, a1, h8.
- A move is a piece letter (none for pawns) and a square: Nf3, e4.
- x is a capture, + check, # mate, O-O and O-O-O castling.