Basics of Chess – Chess Notation

“When you see a good move, look for a better one” – E. Lasker

Learning chess can be daunting at start specially if you do not know the Chess Notation. The richness of chess today owes very much to the vast amount of contributions and novelties by great past players. One of the amazing contributions was that of chess notation.

Here is a trivia for you, do you know that the first Chess Book was written in Persia in 600 A.D.!

Back to our Chess Notations, they are simple to learn and easy to understand and nearly all countries accept the conventional algebraic system of designating squares on the chessboard. In Chess Notation each square on the board has a name which consists of letters from a to h and followed by numbers from 1 to 8.

The following diagram shows the squares and their names. The corner squares are a1, h1 and a8 and h8, also notice that white Rocks occupy a1 and h1 while black Rocks are on a8 and h8.

The vertical column of eight squares is known as “file.” The files are determined by the first eight letters of the alphabet a – h.

Each row of eight squares running across the chess board is called a “rank.” They are determined by the numbers 1 – 8. The following diagram demonstrates it clearly. The white pieces are placed on first and second ranks while the black pieces are placed on the seventh and eight ranks.

Further the board can be divided into twenty-six diagonals varying in length from two to eight squares.

Ranks or file contain squares ( light squares and dark squares.)

Diagonals are determined by the names of their end squares, for instant a1-h8 diagonal. These two diagonals consists of eight squares and are known as long diagonals.

Now that we know some basics of chess let us move on how to write down a move.

A move in chess is basically moving one piece from a square to another square. There is a simple way to write down that move in Chess Notation and there is a system which as follows:

1.Piece Symbol

2.Square of Arrival

3.x indicates capture.

Chess Symbols are as followed –

King = K
Queen = Q
Rook = R
Bishop = B
Knight = N

Pawn = We do not need to mention for pawn just the arrival square.

Here is a simple example -

e4 e5

This indicates that the white move a piece which in this case is a pawn to e4 square. Pawn has no symbol.

Another example could be -

Nf3 e5

This indicates that Knight (N) moved to square f3.

I hope this short guide has helped you learn the basics of Chess that is Chess Notations which is a vital part of Chess when it comes to recording your games or going through games of great Grand Masters or your own games.