Algebraic Notation

The board should always be set up with a white square on the right of both players.

Rows

The board rows are numbered from 1-8, starting on the white side and going to the black. So, the pawn starting rows are 2 and 7.

Columns
The columns are lettered A-H starting on white's left. The King then starts on e1.



Pieces
Each piece is given a prefix to denote which kind it is. The prefixes are as follows:

King: K
Queen: Q
Rook: R
Bishop: B
Knight: N
Pawn: none


There are two ways of recording moves - putting only the destination, or putting both start and destination. Both ways are shown below.

Start and Destination

Moving and taking
Moves are recorded by putting the start, a dash, and the destination. Taking a piece uses an x instead of a dash. For example:

Code:

1. e2-e4  d7-d5
2. e4xd5  Ng8-f3

The pawn does not have a prefix, so only the start and destination are marked. The Knight move has an N at the beginning to show that it is a Knight. When the white pawn on e4 takes the black pawn on d5, it is marked with an x.

Kingside Castling

Code:

7. O-O

Queenside Castling

Code:

7. ...O-O-O

The "..." signifies that it is black's move.

Check
Check is marked by a "+".

Code:

9. Bf1-b5+

Checkmate
Checkmate is marked by "++".

Code:

9. ...Bf8-b4++

Destination only
Writing the destination only is shorter, but it is still similar to writing both the start and the destination.

Moving a piece is denoted with the prefix and the end location.

Code:

1. e4 Nf6

Taking a piece still uses a "x".

Code:

2. d4 Nxe4
3. f3 e5
4. xe4

The "4. xe4" denotes that a pawn took the piece on e4.

If there are two pieces that can move or take the same location, then the specific piece is noted by the row or column of its start location.

If there are two Rooks on the a row, one on a1 and the other on a8, to say that the Rook on a1 moved to a5 would be the following:

Code:

15. R(1)a5

Kingside castling
Again it uses O-O.

Code:

7. ... O-O

Queenside castling
Uses O-O-O.

Code:

7. O-O

Check
Check is marked by a "+".

Code:

9. Bb5+

Checkmate
Checkmate is marked by "++".

Code:

9. ...Bxb4++