Cheatography
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A guide to algebraic chess notation - how the squares are named, what the various symbols all mean, and how to mark up a game for sharing with other people.
Algebraic Notation: SquaresBoard is always oriented with a white square at the bottom right. | Squares are named from white's perspective | Vertical columns are files, named a-h (always lower case) from left to right | Horizontal rows are ranks, named 1-8 from near to far | White king begins on square e1 |
Algebraic Notation: PiecesPiece | Code | Symbol | King | K | ♔ | Queen | Q | ♕ | Rook | R | ♖ | Knight | N * | ♘ | Bishop | B | ♗ | Pawn | [no letter] | ♙ |
Pieces are always uppercase.
* In chess problems, "S" is used to represent the Knight. Algebraic Notation: MovesThe notation for a move indicates which piece is moved, and to where: | | | Qa3 | Queen moves to a3 | | | Kh6 | King moves to h6 | | | b4 | Pawn moves to b4 | Where two identical pieces could move to the same square, the piece name is followed by its original file (or rank where the file is the same), like so: | | | Rba3 | Rook on b file moves to a3 | | | N4f2 | Knight on rank 4 moves to f2 | | | cxd5 | Pawn on c file takes d5 |
| | Algebraic Notation: Symbolsx | Piece taken | e.p. | Piece taken en passant | + | Check | # | Checkmate | = | Pawn promotion * | 0-0 | Castle King-side | 0-0-0 | Castle Queen-side | 1-0 | White win | ½-½ | Draw | 0-1 | Black win | (=) | Draw offered |
* e8=Q means e-file pawn promoted to Queen. The equals is often omitted. Algebraic Notation: Example1. e4 c5 | | | White pawn to e4; Black pawn to c5 | 2. Nf3 d6 | | | White knight to f3 | 3. Bb5+ Bd7 | | | White bishop to b5, Black in check | 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 | | | White bishop takes black bishop on d7, black in check; Queens takes d7 bishop | 5. c4 Nc6 | 6. Nc3 Nf6 | 7. 0-0 g6 | | | White castles king-side | 8. d4 cxd4 | | | White d4 pawn taken by c-file black pawn | 9. Nxd4 Bg7 | 10. Nde2 Qe6 | | | White knight on d-file to e2 |
| | Algebraic Notation: Annotations!! | Extremely strong move, often game-winning | ! | Great move | !? | Speculative move, possibly strong but more analysis needed | ?! | Dubious move, possibly weak but more analysis needed | ? | Bad move | ?? | Blunder, equivalent to hanging a piece | +- | White is winning | +/- | White has a significant edge | +/= | White has a small edge | = | Equality | ∞ | Unclear advantage | =/+ | Black has a small edge | -/+ | Black has a significant edge | -+ | Black is winning | □ | Only move available |
VariantsFigurine Notation is used where notation needs to be independent of language, and uses symbols instead of letters to represent pieces. | Long Notation explicitly defines the start square for the moving piece, as well as the target square. | Numeric Notation uses numbers instead of letters for pieces and for spaces. |
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S is "Springer" (jumper) and is a German notation only. It is not used in English
S is used in chess puzzles sometimes. No idea why the German letter was chosen ...
S is used in puzzles because N=Nightrider which is a fairy piece used in puzzles only.
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