Chess Notation
Piece moves are designated by the letter or figurine representing the piece and the square
the piece is moving to. Pawn moves are designated by the square the pawn is moving to.
Some special rules:
• Short (kingside) castling is represented as 0-0
• Long (queenside) castling is represented as 0-0-0
• Captures are indicated by an x before the square on which the capture occurs
o Starts with the piece indicator if a piece is capturing (Nxf7 or Nxf7)
o Starts with the file the capturing pawn is in if a pawn is capturing (dxe6)
• En passant captures are labeled e.p. after the capture (dxe6 e.p.)
• Check is indicated by the plus sign (Bxb5+)
• Checkmate is indicated by the hashtag (Rd8#)
Piece Letter Figurine
King K K
Queen Q Q
Rook R R
Bishop B B
Knight N N
So moving the white kingside knight from its home on g1 to the square f3 is written as
Nf3 or Nf3. Starting the game by moving your d-pawn from its home on d2 up 2 squares
to d4 is written simply as d4 (both in letter and figurine style).
A Famous Historical Game
Paul Morphy vs. The Duke of Brunswick & the Count Isouard
Paris 1858
Philidor Defense [C41]
Letter
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.Nc3 c6
9.Bg5 b5 10.Nxb5 cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.0-0-0 Rd8 13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6
15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 16.Qb8+ Nxb8 17.Rd8#
Figurine
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.Nc3 c6
9.Bg5 b5 10.Nxb5 cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.0-0-0 Rd8 13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6
15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 16.Qb8+ Nxb8 17.Rd8#