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Learn Chess Notation - The Language of Chess! How to Read & Write Chess Moves! Basics for Beginners - YouTube
Channel: Chess Talk
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Once you have understood all the basic rules
of chess, the next step is to learn chess
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notation.
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You might ask, “Why is this so important?”
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Well, if you want to play a chess tournament
over the board or even if you're just a player
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learning the game, you need to know how to
record your games.
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Algebraic chess notation is an official method
recognized by FIDE for recording & describing
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the moves in a game of chess.
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This is what we generally call the language
of chess and this is how we read, write & talk
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about chess.
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So let’s start with the absolute basics.
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Look, each column on the chess board is called
a file and each row is called a rank.
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Every file on the chessboard is given a letter,
starting with the letter 'a' on the left side
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of the board and going all the way to the
letter 'h' on the right side of the board.
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Each rank is assigned a number from 1 to 8,
just like you see here.
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Remember, at the start of a chess game, all
the white pieces are placed on ranks 1 & 2
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and all the black pieces are placed on ranks
7 & 8.
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Based on this concept of files & ranks, every
square on the chess board is assigned a unique
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name & identity.
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Each square is simply named after its coordinate
pair.
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Which means, this square on the lower left-hand
corner is known as a1.
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We identify it by simply putting together
the file letter & rank number.
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Similarly, this square is called d6 since
it belongs to the d-file and the sixth rank.
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This square, for example, will be called f7.
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And this one is h8.
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In this way, we can easily assign a name to
all these 64 squares on the chess board.
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Now let’s see how we can notate all the
chess pieces.
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It’s actually quite straightforward.
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We just need to use the first letter of each
piece to describe that piece in chess.
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Which means the King's letter is a capital
K, the Rook is a capital R, the Queen is a
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capital Q, the bishop, a capital B, the knight
however, is a little different.
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Since the letter K is already reserved for
the king, therefore, for the knight, we use
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the letter N.
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Now finally, you may think that pawns would
be represented by a capital P. But for the
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pawns, we don’t use any such letters so
keep that in mind.
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Now that you know the names of the squares
& the notation of the pieces, it’s time
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to learn the notation of actual moves in a
chess game.
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To write a move, we simply combine the notation
of the piece with the notation of the square
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it moves to.
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Remember, you only need to mention the square
where the piece moves to and not the square
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where it was originally.
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Let’s take an example.
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In this game, when white plays this as the
first move, then we will write it as Nf3.
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The capital ‘N’ is for the knight & f3
is the square where this knight moves to.
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Another thing to remember is that a piece
is always written in uppercase, whereas the
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letter of the square is always in lowercase.
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Now say, for example, black plays this move,
then how will we write this?
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Yes, it will be written as d5.
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As I mentioned earlier, there is no letter
for the pawn.
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And since the square it moves to is on the
‘d’ file & fifth rank, therefore, we write
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this move as d5 only.
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Similarly, this move will be written as Nc3,
which means knight has moved to c3.
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And this one will be written as Bf5, which
means the bishop has moved to the f5 square.
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As you can see, for every move, we first write
down white’s move followed by black’s
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move.
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We keep doing this till the end of the game
& this is how we can record all the moves
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in a game of chess.
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Okay, now let’s talk about some special
symbols that we use in chess notation.
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Look, we have different symbols for captures,
pawn promotion, checks & checkmate.
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Let’s look at them one by one.
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To show a piece capture, we use a small ‘x’
symbol between the piece and the square.
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For example, in this position, if white takes
this knight on c6 with his bishop, then we
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notate it as a capital ‘B’ for the bishop,
followed by a small ‘x’ for the capture
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& finally c6, for the destination square where
this bishop moves to.
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Similarly, if this black pawn captures this
knight, then we will write it as f, which
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means we are talking about this pawn on the
f file, then a small x for the capture, followed
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by e3 – the destination square, which ultimately
means that the f pawn captured on e3.
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Okay, now let’s talk about pawn promotion.
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When a pawn moves to the last rank and promotes
itself, we generally use the symbol of ‘is
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equal to’ & after that, we indicate the
symbol of the piece it is promoted to.
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Say, for example, in this position, if white
moves this pawn from e7 to e8 and promotes
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to a queen, then we write it as e8 is equal
to Q. Similarly, if this black pawn captures
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this bishop on d1 and promotes to a knight,
then we will write it as e cross d1 is equal
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to N. I think you got the point.
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Alright, now let’s look at the symbol for
a check.
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For a move that places the opponent's king
in check, we generally use this ‘+’ symbol
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at the end.
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Here’s an example.
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In this position, if white checks the black
king with his rook, then we can simply write
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it as R for the rook, followed by a8, followed
by this plus sign which signifies a check.
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Now in this same position, if white takes
this pawn with his queen, then we can simply
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write it down as Q for the queen, followed
by a small ‘x’ for the capture, followed
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by c5 for the destination square, followed
by the ‘plus’ sign for the check.
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So that’s queen takes on c5 with a check.
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Okay, now let’s talk about a checkmate.
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A checkmate is represented by the hash symbol,
just like this.
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For example, in this game, when this rook
takes this knight on h4, it’s a checkmate.
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Therefore, we will write it as R for the rook,
followed by a small x for the capture, followed
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by h4, which is the destination square, followed
by this hash symbol, which means it is a mate.
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Now let’s move on to some special moves
like castling & en passant.
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If you are not aware of these rules, then
again, I would recommend you watch my ‘how
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to play chess’ video by clicking on this
‘I’ button above.
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Let’s talk about castling first.
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For kingside castling, which is the short
castle, we use the special notation 0 dash
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0 or O dash O, however you want to say it.
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On the other hand, for queenside castling,
which is the long castle, we use the special
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notation 0 dash 0 dash 0 or the 3 Os.
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It’s quite straightforward.
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Now let’s look at en passant.
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In this position, if black plays pawn to f5,
then white has the right to capture this pawn
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en passant.
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Therefore, when white takes this pawn, we
will go by the same logic as we discussed
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earlier.
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We begin with the letter g where this pawn
was earlier, followed by a small x for the
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capture, followed by f6 and not f5 because
f6 is the destination square for this white
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pawn.
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It’s nothing different, just that you need
to be careful about the destination square.
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Alright, now let’s look at some unique positions
where two or more identical pieces can move
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to the same square.
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Let’s understand this with the help of an
example.
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In this position, it’s white’s turn & say
for example, he wants to move this knight
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to e4.
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Generally, you would simply notate this move
as Ne4, but the problem is that even this
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knight could move to the e4 square.
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So if we write just Ne4, then how will you
identify which knight has moved to e4?
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Well, in such situations, where two or more
identical pieces can move to the same square,
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we need to specify either the file, rank or
even both after the notation of the piece.
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In this case, both these knights are on different
files.
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This knight is on the c file & this knight
is on the g file.
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Therefore, when this knight moves to e4, we
will notate this move as N for the knight,
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c for the C file where this knight was, followed
by e4, which signifies that the knight on
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the c file has moved to e4 and not this one.
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Let’s take another example.
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Now let’s say black wants to capture this
a6 pawn with this a3 rook.
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How will you notate this move?
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You cannot use this ‘a’ here since both
these rooks are on the ‘a’ file.
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In this case, since the files of both the
pieces are same, you will now need to check
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the ranks.
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This rook is on the third rank & this one
is on the eighth.
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Since both these rooks are on different ranks,
we will use the notation of the rank.
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Therefore, we will notate this move as R for
the rook, followed by 3 for the 3rd rank where
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this rook originally was, followed by x for
the capture, followed by a6 which is the destination
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square.
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In summary, for such situations, you need
to check in the following order of preference.
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First, you will check the files of both the
pieces.
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If they are different, then you simply use
the file name.
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If the files are the same, like you see here,
then you need to check the ranks of both the
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pieces.
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If they are different, then you will use the
rank number.
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And in some rare cases, where both the file
& rank are not sufficient individually to
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identify the piece, then you need to use both
the file & rank in the notation.
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Here’s a unique example.
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White has these three queens because of multiple
pawn promotions.
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In this position, it is white’s turn & he
wants to capture this knight with this h4
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queen.
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So we start with Q for the queen.
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Now we cannot use ‘h’ since even this
queen is on the ‘h’ file.
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We cannot use ‘4’ either since this queen
is also on the fourth rank.
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Therefore, we will have to specifically use
h4 to identify this queen.
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After this, we use ‘x’ for the capture,
followed by e1 which is the destination square,
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followed by this hash because it is also a
checkmate.
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This is one of the most complicated examples
you will see when it comes to chess notation.
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Now that you have learnt all this, here’s
a quick test for you all.
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How will you notate this move by white?
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Let me know the correct chess notation in
the comments section below.
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Let’s see how many of you get this right!
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If you liked this tutorial, then hit the thumbs
up button below.
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And don’t forget to Subscribe to our channel
& for some interesting chess content, follow
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me on Instagram at Chess Talk Official.
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Thanks for watching & I shall see you in my
next video.
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