How to notate chess moves?

chess Notation

Noting chess moves is called chess notation.In order to notate the chess moves ,you will need to understand the following concepts,that how is it written.

Let's get started,

Position of chess board:We have to place the chess board such that each player has a white square in his right most side.

Incorrect way 

correct way

First of all you all need to know that every square in the chess board has a name.The Vertical lines are called Files,they are represented with a,b,c,d,e,f,g and h.And the horizontal lines are called Ranks,they are represented with 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8.

So every square has a denotion.Like a1,a2,....,a8;

b1,b2,....,b8; so on up to h1,h2,....,h8.The diagonals are called the diagonals itself(for a1-h8 diagonal,d1-h4 diagonal etc)

Before we start the game each player(White and Black) has the following pieces or powers in their board as shown in the fig below,one King each,one Queen each,Two Rooks each,Two Knights each,Two Bishops each and 8 pawns each.

Board and Pieces arrangement:

The white pieces should be placed such that it should occupy the 1st and 2nd Ranks and Black pieces should be placed in 7th and 8th Ranks.

White is taken as a reference for the notation symbols of files and ranks.

initial position White's point of view(Imagine that white player has sat on bottom side)

Initial positon,Black's point of view.(Imagine that white player has sat on bottom side)

 Here observe that from black's point of view the file names on the bottom is reverse that is h,g,f,e,d,c,b,and a.And observe the Rank names also.

Symbols of powers/pieces:

King:  K

Queen: Q

Rook:  R

Knight:  N ( as already K is referred as king)

Bishop: B

Pawn: P (no need of indicating the pawn's symbol in the notation,just we have to write the square name where it is moved.)

Game Notation(Noting the moves):

White should start the game with his first move,and black plays after that ...white's move and black's move together called  one move.

If in the first move the suppose White moves knight in the g1 to f3.It is denoted as 1.Nf3...because "N" for Knight moved to f3 square and it is the first move.

If now black pawn in the d7 moves to d5 square,it is simply denoted as d5 itself(no need of symbol for pawn).

sample chess moves

1. e4 e5 

2. Nf3 Nc6 

3. Bc4 Nf6 

4. Ng5 h6 

5. Nxf7 ...

Capturing/killing the pieces in chess: 

symbol of capture is 'x'.

 suppose we have the following position as fig below...

game position1

Now if in the 5th move,white captures the pawn in f7 with his knight,we have notate as 5.Nxf7.(some books simply write it as 5.Nf7 also)

game position2

Note:Enpassant is also a type of capture ,so same rules apply for notation of enpass.

Check:
symbol of check is '+'.

If in the fifth move from game position 1,white  captures the pawn in f7 with Bishop,that is a check.

game position 3

so we should notate as 5.Bxf7+

Castling:

symbol for king side castling:O-O

king side castling(sample game position)

symbol for Queen side castling:O-O-O

Queen side castling(sample game postion)

Pawn Promotion:

symbol: "=Q"  or "=R" or "=N" or "=B"

Let us consider the game position as follows:

white to play here,if  white plays the pawn from c7 to c8,white has choice of choosing any piece(Rook or Knight or Bishop or Queen) as promotion as the pawn  reached its highest rank.If the pawn promotes to Queen he should write as c8=Q.suppose he promotes the pawn to Rook ,he should write as c8=R etc.

Notation for same file or same rank pieces having equal chances to go to the same square:

suppose if there is a chance of moving two identical pieces to the same square,we have to notate in the following manner:

case1:
If both the identical pieces are in the same Rank and in the different Files,we should write the File name after the piece symbol.Consider the following example:

In the above diagram position,both Rooks have equal chances of putting a check to the king.If Rook in "a" File moves to e5 and puts the check ,we should notate this move as Rae5+.Similarly for "g" Rook we should write it as Rge5+.

(note:we should mention the File name if both the pieces are in the same Rank)

case2:
If both the pieces are in the same File and in the different Ranks,we should mention the Rank name here.
If Rook in the 2nd Rank moves to a5 ,it should be written as R2a5+,similarly for other rook it is written as
R8a5+.



Important Symbols:
O-O        King side Castling or Short Castling
O-O-O   Queen side Castling or Long Castling
+           Check
++         Double Check
#           Checkmate

Symbols used for annotating and analysing games:
!    good move
!!   excellent move
?    bad move
??   blunder
!?    Interesting move
?!    Dubious move

Positions:
=       Equal position
+/=    Slight advantage for White
-/=     Slight advantage for  Black
+/-     Decissive advantage for White
-/+     Decissive advantage for Black

Notating the Result of the game:
1-0   white won
0-1   Black won
1/2-1/2 or 0.5-0.5  Draw