# Chess/Notating The Game

Notating chess games is important to any chess student, since it allows
them to review their strategy and that of their opponent, to read of
classic chess encounters, and follow how the game developed. Further,
chess puzzles are often set in magazines, newspapers and online, and
their solutions are notated; for an example, see The Times
Chess.

## Algebraic notation

A very common nomenclature for chess games is algebraic
notation. There are several older
systems of notation, but these are less common.

In algebraic notation, we use

-   **R** for a Rook;
-   **N** for a Knight;
-   **B** for a Bishop;
-   **K** for a King;
-   **Q** for a Queen;
-   **no letter** for a Pawn.

Sometimes a pictorial language-independent notation is used, in which a
picture of a horse might represent a Knight, and so on.

Each square on a chess board is given by a coordinate, much like a map
or a planar graph. The *ranks* (rows) are indexed with Arabic numerals 1
through 8, and the *files* (columns) are indexed with Latin letters "a"
through "h." A square's coordinate is denoted as its file index followed
by its rank index. For example, in the board below, black's King is on
the square **d5**.

If black moves his King to, say, **d6**, the move is notated as **Kd6**,
i.e. the **K**ing has moved to square **d6**.

If more than one piece of the same type could have moved to the square
to which the piece was moved, then the file of the piece prior to its
move should come in between the piece\'s symbol and the coordinates of
its destination (i.e., **Qee7**.) If necessary, the rank it was on may
also be added, (i.e., **Qe6e4**.)



Moves in which a piece is captured, a King put in check, or checkmate
have special notations.

-   If a piece is captured, a cross (**x**) is inserted just before the
    destination square. Thus, if the capture is done by a Pawn, the
    cross is preceded by the column the Pawn occupied prior to the
    capture.
-   If the King is put in check, the move\'s notation is followed by a
    plus sign (**+**).
-   If the King is put in checkmate, the move\'s notation is followed by
    a hash or double plus signs (**#\'\'\",**++\'\'\',) or the word
    \"mate\" or \"checkmate.\"

### Annotation shorthand

Annotation shorthand is not a notation system. Rather, it is a system of
symbols for the player or annotator to add his descriptions or comments.
A player or annotator notating a game might wish to highlight an
excellent move, question a bad one, or indicate which player he thinks
has the advantage.

-   If a move is followed by an exclamation mark (**!**), the
    player/annotator is surprised by the move\'s quality.
-   If a move is followed by a question mark (**?**), the
    player/annotator suspects the move may have been poor.
-   If a move is followed by an exclamation mark and then a question
    mark (**!?**), the move interests the player/annotator, though it
    may be sub-optimal.
-   If a move is followed by a question mark and then an exclamation
    mark (**?!**), the player/annotator fears that the move may be
    conclusive.

Repeating a symbol (e.g. **!!** or **??**) adds emphasis.

Results are written as white\'s score followed by black\'s score. For
example, **1--0** indicates that white won, and **0--1** indicates that
black won. In the case of a draw, the result is **½--½**.

There are some additional symbols for the player/annotator to note his
thoughts on the game in general, rather than on any particular move.

-   An equals sign (**=**) indicates positional equality between the
    players.
-   A plus-minus sign (**+/--**) indicates that white is considered to
    have the advantage.
-   A minus-plus sign (**--/+**) indicates that black is considered to
    have the advantage.

## Ambiguity

Sometimes algebraic notation can be ambiguous---that is, two pieces of
the same designation can move to one square. For example, a player might
be able to move either of his Rooks to the same square. In these cases,
it is essential to specify which piece was moved.

The precise move is specified by designating the file (column) that the
piece moved from, before the move\'s final co-ordinate. For example,
**Nd2** indicates that a Knight moved to **d2**, but **Nbd2** indicates
that the Knight that was in column **b** moved to **d2**. If a piece\'s
file is not enough to precisely specify the move, then its rank is used
instead. If neither is enough on its own, both are used.

### Special moves

Some special moves are tricky to write in algebraic notation, and must
have their own notation.

-   Castling King-side is written **O-O**.
-   Castling Queen-side is written **O-O-O**.
-   En Passant (or En Passe\") (French for \"In passing\") capture is
    written as if the captured pawn only moved one square. The notation
    may be followed with *e.p.* or *ep* to clarify that the capture was
    done En Passant.
-   If a Pawn is promoted, the Pawn\'s initial move is written, followed
    by an equal sign and then the shorthand for the new piece; for
    instance, e8=Q. Any additional nomenclature or annotation is written
    after the shorthand for the new piece (such as c8=Q+ if a Pawn
    promoted to a Queen on c8 places the opposing King in check.)

## Sample game in algebraic notation

If you have familiarized yourself with algebraic notation, consider this
short sequence of moves. Try to follow the game by looking at the moves
in algebraic notation, and the boards.

The game has begun, and is nearing the end. White is to move.



White decides to move his Bishop from **d3** to **c4**, to check
black\'s King. This is white\'s thirtieth move. So in algebraic
notation, we write

-   **30. Bc4+**

Since only one Bishop could move to **c4**, the Bishop\'s initial
position was not specified. The **+** indicates the check.



White\'s Bishop is now, unfortunately, in the Queen\'s line of fire.
Black decides to capture it. So for black\'s 30th move we write

-   **30\... Qxc4**

The *x* signifies that a piece has been captured. When black\'s move is
written separately from white\'s, an ellipsis (**\...**) is placed
between the number and the move. The ellipsis indicates that white\'s
move has been omitted.

The board now looks like this:



White is in trouble now, and decides to flee to **f2**. His move is

-   **31. Kf2**

If black checks white\'s King, by moving his Queen to **c2**, his move
is

-   **31\... Qc2+**

## Descriptive Notation

An older form of notation you will run into quite frequently is
*Descriptive Notation*. It is useful to know because older books use it.

In this form, instead of the files being a, b, c etc., they are Queen
rook (QR), Queen Knight (QN), Queen Bishop (QB), Queen (Q), King (K),
King Bishop (KB), King Knight (KN) and King Rook (KR). The ranks are
labelled from your point of view so that the square e4 (in algebraic) is
White\'s K4 and Black\'s K5.

To record the moving of a piece, you write the piece, then a dash,
(\"-\") which means \"moves\", or \"moves to\" and to where it moves. 1.
P-K4 means move a Pawn to the 4th rank in the King\'s file. N-Q-B3 means
you move your Knight to the third rank in the Queen\'s Bishop file. For
a capture, you specify the piece taking, and the piece to be taken.
QRPxN means Pawn in the Queen Rook file takes Knight. Excessive notation
is left out so that if there is only one way a Pawn could legally take a
Knight, the move is recorded as PxN. Note that if a piece is specified
to be on the King\'s or Queen\'s side of the board, that is the side it
is on *now*, NOT the side it started out on. In rare occasions the move
will still be ambiguous when, for example, both Knights can make a
particular capture and both of them are on the same side. It would then
be necessary to insert a \"/\" which means \"on\". For example: N/3XP
(for the rank) or N/BXP (for the file).

In order to compare the two systems, we could look at the same game in
both algebraic and descriptive notation in full (1, 3, 5) and
abbreviated (2, 4, 6) notation.

+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| Algebraic          | Descriptive                                     |
+====================+=================================================+
| 1.  e2-e4 e7-e6    | 1.  PK2-K4 PK2-K3                               |
| 2.  d4 d5          | 2.  P-Q4 P-Q4                                   |
| 3.  Nb2-c3 Bf8-b4  | 3.  NQN1-QB3 BKB1-QN5  |
| 4.  Bb5+ Bd7       | 4.  B-QN5ch B-Q2       |
| 5.  Bh3xd7+ Qd8xd7 | 5.  BKR3xQ7ch QQ1-Q2xB                          |
| 6.  Ne2 d3xe4      | 6.  N-K2 PQ3xPK4                                |
| 7.  0-0            | 7.  0-0                                         |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

:   1.Note here that since only one Bishop can
    move to QN5, it is unnecessary to specify which Bishop moved to that
    square.
:   2.Check is indicated by \"ch\", or \"+\",
    and \"++\" for the uncommon but not entirely rare *double check*,
    and \"+mate\" or \"+++\" for checkmate.

## Coordinate Notation

A different type of notation uses only the squares that the pieces were
on to denote movements; the dash \"-\" is inserted to denote \"moves
to\". For example, to denote the earlier 7 moves, the following notes
are shown:

1.  e2-e4 e7-e6
2.  d2-d4 d7-d5
3.  b1-c3 f8-b4
4.  f1-b5+ c8-d7
5.  b5xd7+ d8xd7
6.  g1-e2 d5xe4
7.  0-0 or 0-0-0

## ICCF numerical notation

```{=html}
<div style="float:right;">
```
```{=html}
</div>
```
A move is denoted by the file (1 to 8) and rank (1 to 8) of its starting
square followed by its destination square (from 11 at the White Queen's
Rook square to 88 at the Black King's Rook square). \"1. e4\" is denoted
as \"1. 5254\" in ICCF notation. Unlike other notations, ICCF notation
does not make apparent when castling, check, checkmate, and capture took
place (castling King side is 5171 for white and 5878 for black). Pawn
promotion necessitates a fifth number specifying the new piece (1=Queen,
2=Rook, 3=Bishop, 4=Knight). This notation is considered to be
international in that there is no dependency on piece names or specific
alphabets. However this notation still depends on Arabic numerals.


es:Manual de Ajedrez/Anotando un
juego
it:Scacchi/Annotazioni di
gioco ms:Catur/Mencatat
permainan
