Chess Notations

Chess game moves are usually indicated with algebraic notation SAN (Standard Algebraic Notation), the official description system of the International Chess Federation. This system has an short version which is the most used.

The algebraic notation associates with each piece a letter:

The principle of algebraic notation is to designate a move with the piece, its starting square and its destination cell. The 64 squares of the chessboard are marked with a coordinate system from the bottom left: the numbers 1 to 8 for the columns and the lowercase letters from a to h for the rows.

Example: The square at the bottom left is named a1, the square at the top left is called h1, the square at the bottom right is called a8 and the top right square is called h8

The abbreviated notation does not indicate the starting position because it is theoretically known.

Example: A move of a king from the 1st square of the 1st row (column 1 = a, row 1) to the 2nd square of the 2nd row (column 2 = b, row 2) is written Ka1-b2 or Kb2 in short version.

When the chess play is a move, a dash - is indicated between the 2 squares, if it is a catch, it is noted x. In abbreviated version, only the x is noted.

Example: e2-e3, abbreviated to e3, means: the pawn moves to e3

Example: e2xf3, abbreviated to xf3, means: the pawn takes the piece located in box f3

White start, a move number is usually indicated before each movement of a white piece, the black move is indicated after the white one.

Example: 1. e4 Cf6
2. d4 Nxe4

Finally, a position where the king is in check is noted +, and # for checkmate.

To describe, at a given moment, the position of all the pieces of a chessboard, the FEN notation (Forsyth-Edwards Notation) is the most used.

On a single line, the positions of all the pieces as well as the possible rooks, the stroke number or the color of the next turn are described.

The FEN notation of the pieces is:

The initial position of a classical chess game is described:

Example: rnbqkbnr / pppppppp / 8/8/8/8 / PPPPPPPP / RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1