Reading and Writing Chess
Short Algebraic Notation
by Sam Tannous


K 		 King {\CH k} 
Q 		 Queen (9 points) {\CH q} 
R 		 Rook (5 points) {\CH r} 
B 		 Bishop (3.5 points) {\CH b} 
N 		 Knight (3 points) {\CH n}
                 Pawn (1 point) {\CH p}


x 		 Capture 

$\dagger$ or $+$          Check 

$\sharp$ or ++ 		Checkmate 
O-O 		 King-side Castle 
O-O-O 		 Queen-side Castle
1-0 		 White Wins
0-1 		 Black Wins
$\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{2}$            Draw or Stalemate
! 		 Good Move 
!! 		 Very Good Move 
? 		 Weak Move 
?? 		 Blunder

\begin{figure}\fenboard{n1rk3q/p4Qp1/2bp4/N3R3/2p5/Pe1P4/1R1NPP1P/4B2K w KQkq - 0 1} \begin{displaymath}\showboard\end{displaymath}\end{figure}

Square Names

Every square on a chessboard has a name. In the picture above, you will notice that the board includes the letters a to h along the bottom and the numbers 1 to 8 along the left edge. Each column (called a file) is labeled with a letter. Each row (called a rank) is labeled with a number. We can use the combination of one letter and one number to describe each square on the board. A lower case letter always comes first in any square's identification. For example, in the picture above, we say the white king is on square h1 and the black queen is on square h8. The black rook is on square c8 and the white pawn above the white bishop is on square e2.

Recording Moves

Moves are generally numbered with white's move written before black's move. We record a chess move by writing the capital letter representing the piece we are moving followed by the name of the square we are moving to. For example, if we move the white knight from square a5 to square b3, we would be write this as Nb3. If we move the black bishop from square c6 to square e8, we would write this as Be8. Pawn moves are written without the capital letter P. So if we move the pawn above the white bishop two squares forward, we would describe this move as simply e4. The pawn move is the only move where we leave out the capital letter representing the piece. If there is any confusion about which piece makes a move, we add a file or rank character after the piece name. For example, if we were to write the move for the white knight capturing the piece on square c4 asNxc4, we really don't know which knight moved to square c4. Either the white knight on a5 or the one on d2 could have captured the black pawn on c4. What we would need to also include is the file letter d after the N as in Ndxc4. This tells us the knight on file d is the one that captured the pawn. We don't have this problem on the chessboard shown above, but if both knights were on the same file d, then we would need to specify the rank instead of the file, like this: N2xc4. Here, we are saying that the knight on the second file captured the pawn.

Captures, Check, and Checkmate

A small letter x is used to show that one piece has captured another. For example, if the white knight on square a5 moves and captures whatever was on square c6 (which happens to be a black bishop), we would write this as Nxc6. And since we leave out the P for pawn moves, we need to write out the file of the square the pawn is on. So if the black pawn on square d6 captures the white rook on e5, we would write this as dxe5. And if the white pawn on square d3 were to capture the black pawn on c4, we would write this as dxc4. When a move results in putting a king in Check, we add a + to the end of the move. For example, if the white rook on square e5 were to move to square e8 putting the black king in Check, we would write this as Re8+. A move putting the king into a Checkmate position has the special symbol called a $\sharp$ (called a sharp) attached to the end of it. In our chessboard above, if the white queen moves to square e7, this would end the game and win it for white. We would write this move as Qe7$\sharp$. There are some other symbols shown above that may be used to reflect the strength of a particular move.

Sample Game

This game was played by Garry Kasparov (white) against Veselin Topalov (black) on January 20, 1999. Some experts consider this one of the best chess games ever played. The game below uses short algebraic notation. Set up a chessboard and see if you can play through the game. 


1. 		 e4 		 d6 
2. 		 d4 		 Nf6 
3. 		 Nc3 		 g6 
4. 		 Be3 		 Bg7 
5. 		 Qd2 		 c6
6. 		 f3 		 b5 
7. 		 Nge2 		 Nbd7 
8. 		 Bh6 		 Bxh6 
9. 		 Qxh6 		 Bb7 
10. 		 a3 		 e5 
11. 		 O-O-O 		 Qe7 
12. 		 Kb1 		 a6 
13. 		 Nc1 		 O-O-O 
14. 		 Nb3 		 exd4 
15. 		 Rxd4 		 c5 
16. 		 Rd1 		 Nb6 
17. 		 g3 		 Kb8 
18. 		 Na5 		 Ba8 
19. 		 Bh3 		 d5 
20. 		 Qf4+ 		 Ka7 
21. 		 Rhe1 		 d4
22. 		 Nd5 		 Nbxd5
23. 		 exd5 		 Qd6
24. 		 Rxd4!! 	 cxd4
25. 		 Re7+ 		 Kb6 
26. 		 Qxd4+ 		 Kxa5
27. 		 b4+ 		 Ka4 
28. 		 Qc3 		 Qxd5 
29. 		 Ra7 		 Bb7
30. 		 Rxb7 		 Qc4 
31. 		 Qxf6 		 Kxa3 
32. 		 Qxa6+ 		 Kxb4 
33. 		 c3+ 		 Kxc3
34. 		 Qa1+ 		 Kd2
35. 		 Qb2+ 		 Kd1
36. 		 Bf1 		 Rd2 
37. 		 Rd7 		 Rxd7 
38. 		 Bxc4 		 bxc4
39. 		 Qxh8 		 Rd3 
40. 		 Qa8 		 c3 
41. 		 Qa4+ 		 Ke1 
42. 		 f4 		 f5 
43. 		 Kc1 		 Rd2 
44. 		 Qa7 		 1-0

\begin{figure}\fenboard{8/Q6p/6p1/5p2/5P2/2p3P1/3r3P/2K1k3 w KQkq - 0 1} \begin{displaymath}\showboard\end{displaymath}\end{figure}

This same game can also be written in a more compact style that many chess books and magazines use. This uses the same short algebraic notation that we used above except that we use small pictures to represent the chess pieces instead of capital letters. See if you can still follow the moves.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Bb7 10. a3 e5 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. Kb1 a6 13. Nc1 O-O-O 14. Nb3 exd4 15. Rxd4 c5 16. Rd1 Nb6 17. g3 Kb8 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Bh3 d5 20. Qf4+ Ka7 21. Rhe1 d4 22. Nd5 Nbxd5 23. exd5 Qd6 24. Rxd4!! cxd4 25. Re7+ Kb6 26. Qxd4+ Kxa5 27. b4+ Ka4 28. Qc3 Qxd5 29. Ra7 Bb7 30. Rxb7 Qc4 31. Qxf6 Kxa3 32. Qxa6+ Kxb4 33. c3+ Kxc3 34. Qa1+ Kd2 35. Qb2+ Kd1 36. Bf1 Rd2 37. Rd7 Rxd7 38. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Qxh8 Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4+ Ke1 42. f4 f5 43. Kc1 Rd2 44. Qa7 1-0