Each square on the chess board
can be uniquely identified by
combining a letter of the alphabet
and a number. The files in chess
are identified by the letters a
through h. The rows
of the chess board, which are
called ranks, are identified by
numbers. They go from one to
eight.
The white knight is sitting on the
square b1.If we wanted to move
the white knight to the square c3
then we would write:
1) Nc3
The "1)" means that it is the
first move we are making. The
"N" stands for knight.
It is now the black pieces turn to
move. To move the black knight
to the square d5, we add to the
line just written.
1) Nc3 Nd5
Notice how Nd5 is written in the
column after Nc3. The white
moves are always written in the
second column while the black
moves are always written in the
third column.
To make white's second move we
add another row to our first row
and write a "2)" in the first
column followed by white's move.
1) Nc3 Nd5
2) Nxd5
The "x" means that the white
knight captures what is sitting on
the d5 square.
To represent the other pieces we
use "Q" for queen, "R" for rook,
"B" for bishop, and "K" for king.
Next we will discuss the notation
for castling.
To castle the white king to the
right just remember that there are
two empty squares between the
king and the kings rook on h1. It
would be written as:
1) o-o
To castle the black king to the left
just remember that there are three
empty squares between the king
and the queen's rook on a8.
Castling to the left for the black's
move would be written as:
1) o-o o-o-o
Pawns have no representation in
chess notation. Instead, we only
mention the file that the pawn is
sitting on.
To move the e2 pawn up two
squares to the e4 square, we write:
1) e4
To move the black d pawn down
two squares to d5, we write:
1) e4 d5
It is now white's turn to move and
it captures the pawn on d5. It is
written as :
2) exd5
The "e" represents the pawn on
the e file. The "x" means
"captures". The "d5" represents
the square that the captured pawn
is sitting on.
Copyright © Manus Patrick Fealy 1994-2002
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