Chess Notation — How to Read and Write Chess Moves

Why Notation Matters

Chess notation does three things that nothing else can. First, it creates a permanent record of a game: every move, in order, so the game can be replayed move by move weeks or centuries later. Second, it is the universal language of chess instruction — every book, every database, and every coaching session relies on it. Third, it lets two players separated by geography agree on a position without a board between them, which is the foundation of correspondence chess.

Without notation, the masterpieces of the game would be lost. The immortal games of Paul Morphy, the endgame precision of José Raúl Capablanca, the combinatorial brilliance of Mikhail Tal — all of it exists only because players wrote their moves down. Howard Staunton, the English champion and champion of the Staunton chess set design, ran a chess column in the Illustrated London News from 1845 onwards that played a major role in standardising notation in England and popularising game scores for a mass readership.

Board Coordinates — Files and Ranks

Set up a standard board with White at the bottom. The eight vertical columns are called files and are labelled a through h from left to right (from White's perspective). The eight horizontal rows are called ranks and are numbered 1 through 8 from the bottom upwards. Every square therefore has a unique two-character address: the file letter followed by the rank number. The bottom-left corner from White's side is a1; the top-right corner is h8. White's king starts on e1; Black's queen starts on d8.

This coordinate grid is the entire foundation of algebraic notation. Once you can name any square instantly, reading and writing moves becomes straightforward.

Piece Symbols

English algebraic notation uses capital letters for pieces:

• K — King
• Q — Queen
• R — Rook
• B — Bishop
• N — Knight (K is already taken by the King)
• No symbol — Pawn

The absence of a letter always means a pawn. So the move e4 means a pawn has moved to e4; the move d5 means a pawn has moved to d5.

Writing a Move

A non-capturing move is written as the piece symbol followed by the destination square: Nf3 (Knight to f3), Bb5 (Bishop to b5), Qd1 (Queen to d1). Pawn moves use only the destination: e4, d5, c6.

The moves of the famous Ruy Lopez opening begin: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. Each full move is numbered; White's move comes first, then Black's. This format — move number, full stop, White's move, space, Black's move — is used universally in game scores and databases.

Captures

When a piece captures an enemy piece on the destination square, insert an x between the piece symbol and the destination: Nxe5 (Knight captures on e5), Bxf7 (Bishop captures on f7). For pawn captures, include the file the pawn is moving from: exd5 means the pawn on the e-file captures the piece on d5. This distinguishes which pawn moved when multiple pawns could theoretically capture onto the same square.

Check and Checkmate

A move that places the opponent's King in check is followed by a + symbol: Bb5+, Qh5+. Checkmate — the end of the game — is marked with #: Qh7#. Some older texts and printed books use the dagger symbol (†) for check and a double dagger (‡) for checkmate, but the plus and hash symbols are the current international standard.

Castling

Castling has its own dedicated notation because it involves two pieces moving simultaneously. Kingside castling (King moves two squares towards the h-file Rook) is written O-O. Queenside castling (King moves two squares towards the a-file Rook) is written O-O-O. The letter used is the capital letter O, not the numeral zero, though many fonts make these look identical. You can read more about the rules for castling in our full chess rules guide.

Pawn Promotion

When a pawn reaches the eighth rank (for White) or the first rank (for Black), it must immediately be promoted to a Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight. The promotion is written as the pawn's move followed by an equals sign and the chosen piece: e8=Q (pawn advances to e8 and becomes a Queen), a1=R (pawn advances to a1 and becomes a Rook). Promotion to a Queen is overwhelmingly the most common choice, but promoting to a Knight — called underpromotion — is occasionally the correct decision to deliver an immediate fork or avoid stalemate.

Disambiguation

Sometimes two identical pieces can legally move to the same square. In that case, you need to specify which piece moved. If the two pieces are on different files, add the origin file after the piece symbol: Nfd2 (the Knight on the f-file moves to d2, not the other Knight). If the two pieces are on the same file but different ranks, add the origin rank: R1e4. If both file and rank are needed for absolute clarity, include both: Qd3e4. This situation arises most often with Rooks and Knights, and occasionally with Queens in the endgame.

Annotation Symbols

Beyond the move itself, annotators add symbols to assess the quality of a move:

• ! — Good move
• !! — Brilliant move
• ? — Mistake
• ?? — Blunder (a serious error, often losing material or the game)
• !? — Interesting move, possibly risky
• ?! — Dubious move, probably inferior but not clearly wrong

These symbols appear immediately after the move notation: Nxf7!! signals that a Knight sacrifice on f7 was judged brilliant. They are editorial rather than required; published game scores from major tournaments include them as teaching aids.

Reading a Historical Game Score

Here are the first ten moves of the Immortal Game, played by Adolf Anderssen against Lionel Kieseritzky in London in 1851 — the same year the Great Exhibition brought chess to a wider public:

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 b5 5.Bxb5 Nf6 6.Nf3 Qh6 7.d3 Nh5 8.Nh4 Qg5 9.Nf5 c6 10.g4 Nf6

Reading left to right: White opens with the King's pawn (e4), Black mirrors it (e5), White offers the King's Gambit (f4), Black accepts by capturing (exf4 — e-pawn takes on f4), and so on. Move 3 ends with + because Black's Queen on h4 gives check to White's King. Every symbol you have learned above is present somewhere in the full 23-move game score.

This game was played in the same era that Jaques of London registered the Staunton chess set design. The standardisation of both the pieces and the notation happened in parallel, as chess grew from a pastime of the elite into a widely played competitive sport.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is algebraic notation in chess?

Algebraic notation is the universal system for recording chess moves. The board is treated as a coordinate grid: files (columns) are labelled a through h from left to right, and ranks (rows) are numbered 1 through 8 from White's side upwards. A move is written as the piece symbol followed by the destination square — for example, Nf3 means a Knight moves to the square on the f-file, third rank. The system is called "algebraic" because it uses coordinate-style addressing rather than describing moves in words. It replaced earlier descriptive notation ("Knight to King's Bishop's third") because it is shorter, unambiguous, and identical from both players' perspectives.

Q: How do you write a chess move?

Start with the piece symbol: K (King), Q (Queen), R (Rook), B (Bishop), N (Knight), or nothing for a pawn. Then write the destination square: Bb5, Nf3, Qd8. For captures, add x between symbol and square: Nxe5, Bxf7. For pawn captures, add the origin file: exd5. Append + for check, # for checkmate. Castling uses O-O (kingside) or O-O-O (queenside). Pawn promotion adds =Q (or the chosen piece) at the end: e8=Q. When two identical pieces can reach the same square, add the origin file or rank to distinguish them: Nbd2.

Q: What does + mean in chess notation?

The + symbol means the move places the opponent's King in check — a direct attack that the opponent must address on their next move. For example, Bb5+ means a Bishop moved to b5 and the resulting position checks the opposing King. Check does not end the game; the opponent must escape it by moving the King, blocking the attack, or capturing the checking piece. Checkmate, which does end the game because there is no legal escape from check, is denoted with # rather than +.

Q: What is the symbol for each chess piece?

In English algebraic notation: K = King, Q = Queen, R = Rook, B = Bishop, N = Knight, and pawns have no symbol. The Knight uses N rather than K because K is already assigned to the King. In other languages the symbols differ — for example, Spanish uses R for Rey (King) and C for Caballo (Knight) — but English symbols are used in international publications and databases. When you see a move without any capital letter, it is always a pawn.