Chess Notation Made Easy (Finally!)

By Lalit Akhade, Founder & Head Coach, ChessMates Academy · Published 2026-03-10 · 7 min read

Chess Notation Made Easy (Finally!)

Ask a new player to record a game and watch their face go through a very specific journey: confusion, then frustration, then "why does chess need its own alphabet?" The good news: chess notation is much simpler than it looks. Once you understand the logic, you can read and write it in minutes.

Here is the whole system, explained clearly.

Why Chess Notation Exists

Chess notation allows players to write down games so they can be reviewed, analysed, and shared. When you read about a famous game from 1920 or watch a grandmaster commentary online, the notation is what makes it possible to follow every move.

Notation also lets you review your own games — the fastest way to improve is analysing what went wrong, and you can only do that if you recorded what happened.

The Coordinate System

Every square on the chess board has a unique name based on its file (column) and rank (row).

  • Files are labelled a through h, left to right from White's perspective
  • Ranks are labelled 1 through 8, bottom to top from White's perspective

So the bottom-left square (from White's view) is a1. The top-right square is h8. Each square has exactly one name.

Piece Abbreviations

Each piece is abbreviated with a capital letter:

  • K = King
  • Q = Queen
  • R = Rook
  • B = Bishop
  • N = Knight (not K — that is taken by King)
  • Pawns have no letter — their moves are written just with the destination square

Writing a Move

A basic move is written as: Piece + destination square

  • Nf3 = Knight moves to f3
  • Bc4 = Bishop moves to c4
  • Qd5 = Queen moves to d5

For pawns (no letter), you write just the destination: e4 means a pawn moves to e4.

Special Symbols

Capture: x When a piece takes another piece, add x between the piece and the destination.

  • Nxe5 = Knight captures the piece on e5
  • Bxc6 = Bishop captures on c6
  • exd5 = e-pawn captures on d5 (pawn captures written with the file it came from)

Check: + A move that puts the opponent's king in check gets a + at the end.

  • Qh5+ = Queen moves to h5 and gives check

Checkmate: # or ++ A move that delivers checkmate gets # (or sometimes ++).

  • Qf7# = Queen moves to f7 — checkmate!

Castling - O-O = Kingside castling - O-O-O = Queenside castling

Promotion: = When a pawn promotes, write the destination square and the piece promoted to.

  • e8=Q = Pawn reaches e8 and promotes to a queen

Disambiguating Moves

Sometimes two identical pieces can move to the same square. In this case, you add the file or rank of the piece that moved.

  • Nfd2 = The knight from the f-file moves to d2 (not the other knight)
  • R1e4 = The rook from rank 1 moves to e4

This sounds complicated but happens rarely. When you encounter it, the extra letter or number simply tells you which piece moved.

Annotation Symbols

These appear in published game analysis to express quality of moves:

  • ! = Good move
  • !! = Brilliant move
  • ? = Mistake
  • ?? = Blunder
  • !? = Interesting move (could be good or risky)
  • ?! = Dubious move

A Full Game Example

Here is the Scholar's Mate — chess's most famous four-move game — written in notation:

  1. e4 e5
  2. Bc4 Nc6
  3. Qh5 Nf6??
  4. Qxf7#

Reading this: White plays e4, Black plays e5. White plays Bc4, Black plays Nc6. White plays Qh5, Black plays Nf6 (a blunder — ??). White captures on f7 with check and it is checkmate (#). Game over.

Practising Notation

The best way to learn notation is to use it: record your own games as you play. At first it feels slow, but within a few sessions it becomes natural.

At ChessMates, we teach notation to students as part of our structured curriculum because it unlocks your ability to review your games, follow instructional content, and communicate precisely about chess positions. Book a free trial class and start learning chess the right way from day one.