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Chessville
From the
From the
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Algebraic NotationAlgebraic notation comes in a variety of forms. In what follows, I will describe the most commonly used form of algebraic, which is sometimes referred to as “simple algebraic notation,” or just plain "algebraic notation," or even the parsimonious "algebraic." Then I'll mention a couple of other less-commonly used forms of algebraic notation, just in case you ever come across them. When notating moves, simple algebraic notation observes the following conventions: 1) Pieces are identified by the following letters: K = king, Q = queen, B = bishop, N = knight (not K, which would be ambiguous with the K for king), R = rook. No upper-case piece letter is used to indicate pawns (for example, "P" is not used to indicate pawns). See number three below for more information about how pawn moves are handled. 2) The piece letter (if there is one) is then followed by the alpha-numeric coordinate of the square to which the piece is being moved. Observe the following board and its coordinates:
The files are labeled “a” through “h” from left to right from White’s perspective. The ranks are labeled “1” through “8” from bottom to top from White’s perspective. Thus, if you were to move a Knight to the f3 square, you would indicate it by "Nf3." 3) Only the destination square is used to indicate pawn moves. For example, "e7" means "The pawn moves to the e7 square." (Actually, this implies "The pawn on e6 moves to the e7 square," since only a pawn on e6 could legally move to the e7 square; but since it's the only interpretation of "e7" which involves a legal move, there's no need to mention it . . . ) Furthermore, since a pawn on its home square on the second rank can elect to move either one or two squares on its first move, "e4" (for example) could mean either "The pawn on e2 moves to the e4 square" or "The pawn on e3 moves to the e4 square." However, in any given position, only one of those two interpretations would involve a legal move, so "e4" could never be ambiguous. 4) Captures are indicated by an "x" between the piece letter and the destination square. For example, "Nxd5" means "Knight captures whatever enemy pieces is currently on the d5 square." [N.B.: Some publishers do not use the "x" -- perhaps feeling that it is redundant or unnecessary, since a piece can only move to a square occupied by an enemy piece if it captures that piece. Still, some people find it more difficult to follow moves lists without the "x" to indicate captures, so most publishers use it.] 5) En passant captures are indicated by "e.p." after the move. For example, "exd6 e.p." means that a pawn sitting on e5 moved to d6, while capturing the enemy pawn on d5 en passant. 6) If two pieces of the same type are both able to move to the same square, then an additional letter or number is used to identify which of the two pieces is actually being moved. For example, "Rad1" means "The Rook currently sitting on the a-file moves to the d1 square" whereas "Rfd1" means "The Rook currently sitting on the f-file moves to the d1 square." However, if both pieces are sitting on the same file, then a number is used instead. For example, "R8d4" means "The Rook currently sitting on the 8th rank moves to the d4 square" whereas "R1d4" means "The Rook currently sitting on the 1st rank moves to the d4 square." 7) Kingside castling is indicated by "O-O" and Queenside castling is indicated by "O-O-O." 8) Check is indicated by "+" after the move; double check is indicated by "++" after the move; checkmate is indicated by "#" after the move. [N.B.: Some older publications use "dbl. ch." for double check and "++" for checkmate, but these are rarely used in newer publications.] 9) Pawn promotion is indicated by the pawn move followed by "=" and then the letter of the piece to which the pawn is being promoted. For example, "a8=Q" means "The pawn moves to the a8 square an promotes to a Queen. [There are also a variety of annotation symbols which may be used in conjunction with algebraic notation (or any other form of notation, for that matter). Click here for more information.] To make all of this more concrete, work through the following games, observing the movement of each piece and the manner in which it is notated. There are two other forms of algebraic notation which are less commonly used, but which you should familiarize yourself with in case you come across them: "Full algebraic notation" is the same as above, except that the origin square of the piece is indicated as well as the destination square. For example, "Ng1-f3" means "The Knight on g1 moves to f3" and "Ra1-d1" means "The Rook on a1 moves to d1." One virtue of this system is that it makes it easier to move backwards through move lists, which can be very useful when working through multiple variations using a real chess board (instead of a computer program). It also eliminates the need for the occasional use of an additional number or letter, as mentioned above in part 6), to indicate which piece moved in the event that two like pieces capable of making the move are on the same file or rank. "Figurine algebraic notation" (which come in both "simple" or "full" forms) is the same as above, but instead of letters, a graphic representation is used to indicate the piece being moved. For example, instead of "N" to indicate a knight, small picture of a knight is used. This is almost never seen on web sites since it requires the use of a special chess font which most visitors of the site would not have installed on their computers, resulting in incorrect display of the notation. However, it is used in several books. One of the advantages of figurine algebraic notation is that it avoids the problem of different languages using different letters for some of the pieces in regular algebraic. Figurine algebraic is easy enough to follow and it shouldn't present you with any special problems. Copyright 2002 S. Evan Kreider. Used with permission.
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