Every chess resource assumes you can read notation. It looks cryptic from outside and is trivial once explained, so here is the whole system in one page.
Square names
Files — the columns — are lettered a to h from White's left. Ranks — the rows — are numbered 1 to 8 starting from White's side. A square is its file letter then its rank number, always lower case: e4, g7, a1. White's king starts on e1; Black's on e8.
Piece letters
K king, Q queen, R rook, B bishop, N knight. The knight uses N because K is taken. Pawns have no letter at all — a move written as just a square is a pawn move.
Writing a move
- Nf3 — a knight moves to f3.
- e4 — a pawn moves to e4.
- Bxc6 — a bishop captures on c6. The x marks the capture.
- exd5 — a pawn on the e-file captures on d5. Pawn captures name the file the pawn came from.
- Qh5+ — a queen moves to h5 with check.
- Rd8# — a rook moves to d8, checkmate.
- O-O — castling kingside. O-O-O — castling queenside.
- e8=Q — a pawn reaches e8 and promotes to a queen.
- exd6 e.p. — an en passant capture, though the e.p. is usually left off.
Disambiguation
If two identical pieces could legally reach the same square, the notation adds just enough to distinguish them. The file letter is tried first, then the rank number, then both.
So if knights on b1 and d2 can both reach d2's neighbour... more usefully: with knights on b1 and f3 both able to reach d2, the move is written Nbd2 or Nfd2. With rooks on a1 and a8 both able to reach a4, it is R1a4 or R8a4.
Move numbers
A numbered move covers one turn for each side: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6. If a game excerpt starts with Black, three dots stand in for White's move: 12... Bg4.
Annotation symbols
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ! | A good move |
| !! | An excellent or surprising move |
| ? | A mistake |
| ?? | A blunder |
| !? | An interesting move worth considering |
| ?! | A dubious move |
| +- | White is winning |
| -+ | Black is winning |
| = | The position is equal |
| ∞ | Unclear |
Reading a short game
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 — this is the Fried Liver Attack. White pushes a central pawn, develops both a knight and a bishop, then jumps to g5 attacking f7. Black defends with d5, pawns are exchanged, and White sacrifices the knight on f7 to drag the black king out.
Being able to read that sentence and set it up on a board is the entire skill. Everything else is practice.
Other notation you may meet
Descriptive notation — P-K4, N-KB3 — appears in books published before roughly 1980. It names squares from each player's own perspective, so the same square has two names. It is not worth learning unless you are reading old literature.
FEN is a single line describing a whole position: piece placement, side to move, castling rights, en passant square, and two counters. The board here shows the current FEN so you can copy a position into any other chess program.
PGN is a file format holding a full game with its moves and tags. Most chess sites import and export it.