One of the
most important factors in the advancement of chess knowledge was
the invention of a efficient notation to describe moves. Algebraic
Notation is the generally accepted method of recording moves in
a chess game. It is done with the help of piece names, eight file
letters (a – h) and eight rank numbers (1 – 8).
To record
a move you need the following:
-
A
move number. Move 1 is a move by White and then one by Black.
Each of the components is called a "ply" or "half-move".
-
A
piece letter (for king, queen, rook, bishop and knight). You
can also use "figurines", small images of the pieces.
-
Co-ordinates
designating where the piece moves to.
The
piece names are-
|
King |
K |
|
Queen |
Q |
|
Rook |
R |
|
Bishop |
B |
|
Knight |
N |
The initial
for pawns is omitted, only the move co-ordinates are given.
Given this,
consider the following example:
Be5 is Bishop
to file e, rank 5, and e5 is Pawn to file e, rank 5.
Algebraic
notation records captures with an x (for example, Bxe5), checks
with a plus sign (+), checkmates with a double plus sign (++ or
#), castling King-side with a O-O, and castling Queen-side with
a O-O-O.
For example,
the notation for the first few moves of a game might look like this:
1.e4 (White
opens by moving the Pawn to square e4)
1... e5 (Black responds by moving the Pawn to square e5)
2.Nf3 (White moves the Knight to square f3)
2... Nc6 (Black moves the Knight to square c6)
3.Bb5 (White attacks by moving the Bishop to b5)
3... a6 (Black threatens that Bishop by moving the Pawn from a7
to a6)
4.Ba4 (White moves the Bishop out of harm's way)
4... Nf6 (Black takes this opportunity to develop the other Knight)
If you’re
capturing a piece, indicate the piece that is doing the capturing,
followed by a x for capture, followed by the square of the piece
you are capturing. For example:
5.Bxc6
(White Bishop captures the Black Knight on square c6)
5... dxc6 (When a Pawn makes a capture, indicate the file on which
it starts; the Pawn started on the d-file)
6.d3 (White moves the d-Pawn one square forward)
7... Bb4+ (When a move places the other side in check, use a + at
the end)
Sometimes,
identical pieces can move to the same square. For example, White
can remove the threat to the King by moving a Knight to d2. Unfortunately,
Nd2 doesn't tell you which White Knight moved. (Knight on f3 or
the Knight on b1.)
When identical
pieces can move to the same square, do the following algebraic notation:
-
If both
pieces start on the SAME file, put the starting rank (1 - 8)
right after the name of the piece. Otherwise, put the starting
file (a - h) right after the name of the piece. In this case,
the two White Knights are on DIFFERENT files. So you would write
Nfd2 (starting file after the piece name).
-
If
you are promoting a Pawn, write the letter of the new piece
at the end of the move; for example, e8Q.
