page_title: Chess
section_title: Notation for recording moves
hierarchical_section_title: Chess / Competition rules / Notation for recording moves
caption_attribution_description: Animation of a Scholar's Mate, with the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Qf7#. I created this image, generating individual frames using Wikipedia's chess templates and animating them with the GIMP. All frames except the last have a delay of 1 second; the last frame has a delay of 1.5 seconds.
context_page_description: Chess is a board game for two players. It is played in a square board, made of 64 smaller squares, with eight squares on each side. Each player starts with sixteen pieces: eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen and one king. The goal of the game is for each player to try and checkmate the king of the opponent. Checkmate is a threat to the opposing king which no move can stop. It ends the game.
  During the game the two opponents take turns to move one of their pieces to a different square of the board. One player has pieces of a light color; the other player has pieces of a dark color. There are rules about how pieces move, and about taking the opponent's pieces off the board. The player with white pieces always makes the first move. Because of this, White has a small advantage, and wins more often than Black in tournament games.
  Chess is popular and is often played in competitions called chess tournaments. It is enjoyed in many countries, and is a national hobby in Russia.
context_section_description: The moves of a chess game are written down by using a special chess notation. This is compulsory for any competitive game.Article 8 & Appendix E Usually algebraic chess notation is used. In algebraic notation, each square has one and only one name (whether you are looking from White's side of the board or Black's). Here, moves are written in the format of: initial of piece moved – file where it moved – rank where it moved. For example, Qg5 means "queen moves to the g-file and 5th rank" (that is, to the square g5). If there are two pieces of the same type that can move to the same square, one more letter or number is added to show the file or rank from which the piece moved, e.g. Ngf3 means "knight from the g-file moves to the square f3". The letter P showing a pawn is not used, so that e4 means "pawn moves to the square e4".
  If the piece makes a capture, "x" is written before the square in which the capturing piece lands on. Example: Bxf3 means "bishop captures on f3". When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn left is used in place of a piece initial. For example: exd5 means "pawn captures on d5."
  If a pawn moves to its eighth rank, getting a promotion, the piece chosen is written after the move, for example e1Q or e1=Q. Castling is written by the special notations 0-0 for kingside castling and 0-0-0 for queenside. A move which places the opponent's king in check normally has the notation "+" added. Checkmate can be written as # or ++. At the end of the game, 1-0 means "White won", 0-1 means "Black won" and ½-½ is a draw.
  In print, figurines (like those in diagrams, but smaller) are used for the pieces rather than initials. This has the advantage of being language-free, whereas the initials of pieces are different in every language. Typefaces which include figurines can be purchased by chess authors. Also, basic notes can be added by using a system of well-known punctuation marks and other symbols. For example: ! means a good move, !! means a very good move, ? means a bad move, ?? a very bad move (sometimes called a blunder), !? a creative move that may be good, and ?! a doubtful move. The purpose of these methods is to make publications readable in a wider range of countries. For example, one kind of a simple "trap" known as the Scholar's mate, as in the diagram to the right, may be recorded:
  1. e4 e5
  
  2. Qh5?! Nc6
  
  3. Bc4 Nf6?? (3...Qe7 would prevent the mate, with 4...Nf6 next move)
  
  4. Qxf7# 1-0
  With figurines in place of the initials, this would be understood by players everywhere.
caption: The "Scholar's mate"