Chess notation
These 2 sections; chess notation and Recording rules are there for you to look at whenever you might be in doubt. If you are happy about this already, please move on to another topic
First let us see how to set up the chess board if you are playing white. Turn the board so that the white corner is at your right. Remember "white's right". This is important because you are not playing proper chess if the white corner is on your left. If there are letters and numbers along the sides of the board then make sure that the letters are running across the edge of the board facing you from left to right a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h. The first diagram shows this. Second diagram showing numbered squares
The numbers should run along the edges of the board and if you are white you want the two 1's to be nearest to you and the two 8 's furthest away. If the two 8's are nearest to you then turn the board around through 180 degrees so the 1's are nearest.
(If you are playing black the white corner should still be at the right hand side but the letters will read from left to right "h,g,f,e,d,c,b,a" and the two 8's will be nearest to you.)
Chess diagrams are shown with the white player at the bottom.
The second diagram shows how the squares are numbered and lettered.
In chess we sometimes talk about ranks and files. A rank is a row of squares running across the board. The squares a1,b1,c1,d1,el,f1,g1,h1 make up the first rank. Squares a2-h2 make up the second rank and so on.
A file is a column of squares running up the board. The a file is made up of squares a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6,a7,a8. Squares b1-b8 make up the b file etc.
Recording moves Summary.
Click For a detailed account with examples
The pieces are indicated by capital letters: K king, Q Queen, R rook, B bishop, N Knight (remember that the word "knight" begins with a K but we have used this letter already for King)
When a piece moves, we write down its letter followed by the square it moves to e.g Nf3 means that a knight has moved to f3 .Bb4 indicates that a bishop has moved to b4
When a piece captures a pawn or another piece we put in an "X". Qxf7 means that the queen has captured something on f7. Rxe5 means that a rook has captured something on e5
We do not use the letter P for pawn. We simply write down the square that the pawn has moved to. e4 means that a pawn has moved to e4, a7 means that a pawn has moved to f7.
Capturing by a pawn
In this case we give the pawn a small letter which indicates the file it starts from. Any pawn on a2,a3,a4,a5,a6 or a7 is an "a" pawn.
Suppose a pawn on a4 captured a rook on b5. Since the pawn is on a4 it is an "a" pawn so we write axb5
Suppose we read cxd6. This tells us that a pawn on the c file has captured something on d6. We know that a pawn captures diagonally forward so we know it started off from c5.
If you want further help click detailed account with examples
Remember to click "Index on the brown bar at the top of the page or the black bar at the bottom.
