How to Read Chess Notation

The Board Coordinates

Every square has a unique address: a letter for its file (column), a-h left to right from White's side, and a number for its rank (row), 1-8 bottom to top from White's side. White's king starts on e1; Black's king starts on e8.

Naming a Move

• Pawn moves are just the destination square: e4 means "a pawn moves to e4."
• Piece moves start with a capital letter for the piece — N knight, B bishop, R rook, Q queen, K king — followed by the destination: Nf3 means "a knight moves to f3." (Pawns get no letter at all.)
• Captures add an x before the destination: Bxf7 means "a bishop captures on f7." Pawn captures also show the file the pawn came from: exd5 means "a pawn on the e-file captures on d5."
• Disambiguation: if two identical pieces could both legally move to the same square, notation adds the origin file or rank to clarify — Nbd7 means "the knight on the b-file moves to d7," as opposed to a different knight that could also reach d7.

Special Moves

• Castling: O-O is castling kingside (the shorter side), O-O-O is castling queenside (the longer side).
• Promotion: a pawn reaching the last rank adds = and the new piece — e8=Q means "the pawn promotes to a queen on e8."
• En passant is written exactly like a normal pawn capture (occasionally with "e.p." appended for clarity), even though the captured pawn isn't actually standing on the destination square.

Check, Checkmate & Result Symbols

• + after a move means it delivers check.
• # means it delivers checkmate, ending the game.
• A game's result is recorded as 1-0 (White won), 0-1 (Black won), or ½-½ (draw).

Annotation Symbols

Commentators add these after a move to judge its quality, not as part of the official notation:

• ! a good move    !! a brilliant move
• ? a mistake    ?? a blunder
• !? an interesting, double-edged try    ?! a dubious move, probably not best
• +/- White is clearly better    -/+ Black is clearly better    = roughly equal

PGN — Portable Game Notation

PGN is simply the standard plain-text format for writing out a full game: a numbered list of moves in the notation above, exactly the format used in the move sequence shown on every strategy and famous-game page on this site — for example, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 for the opening moves of the Ruy Lopez. Any chess software can read a PGN string and reconstruct the entire game.

FEN — Forsyth-Edwards Notation

Where PGN records an entire game's moves, FEN records a single snapshot position — useful for jumping straight into an interesting position without replaying every move that led there. It packs the whole board, whose turn it is, castling rights, and en passant possibilities into one compact text string.