Chess notation: how to read and write the moves

Chess moves are written in algebraic notation. Every square has a name made of a letter and a number, like e4, and a move is the piece’s capital letter followed by the square it goes to: Nf3 means a knight moves to f3. Pawn moves have no letter, so e4 on its own means a pawn moves to e4. Add x for a capture, + for check and # for checkmate, and you can read most games already.

Every square has a name

Look at the board from White’s side. The columns, called files, are lettered a to h from left to right. The rows, called ranks, are numbered 1 to 8 from White’s side up. A square’s name is its file and then its rank, so White’s king starts on e1 and Black’s on e8.

The names never change, whichever side you’re playing. Diagrams in books are nearly always drawn from White’s side, as here.

One capital letter for each piece

Other languages use their own letters; a German book writes the knight S, for Springer. Many books get round that by printing a little picture of the piece instead of the letter, which is called figurine notation.

Writing a move

The piece’s letter, then the square it moves to. The square it came from is left out, because there’s almost always only one piece of that kind that could have gone there.

The FIDE Laws print castling with zeros, 0-0 and 0-0-0. PGN files and most websites use the capital letter O. Both mean the same thing.

When two pieces could make the move

Sometimes two pieces of the same kind can reach the same square. Then you add just enough to tell them apart:

• The file the piece came from, if that’s different: Nbd2 is the knight from the b-file, Nfd2 the one from the f-file.
• Otherwise the rank: with rooks on e1 and e5, R1e3 is the rook from e1.
• In the rare case neither is enough (three queens, say), the whole square: Qh4e1.

Move numbers, and whose move it is

A numbered move in chess is one move by White and the reply by Black. So 1. e4 e5 is move 1: White played e4 and Black answered e5. 2. Nf3 Nc6 is move 2.

When a line starts with Black’s move, three dots stand in for White’s: 3… Nf6 means Black’s third move was Nf6.

Results

• 1-0: White won.
• 0-1: Black won.
• ½-½: a draw. PGN files write it 1/2-1/2.

The ! and ? symbols

Annotated games add a writer’s opinion straight after a move. They aren’t part of the move, and they don’t go on a tournament scoresheet.

Writing your own game down

At a club or tournament game with a long time limit, the FIDE Laws require each player to write down both players’ moves, in algebraic notation, on the scoresheet the event provides. In rapid and blitz games you don’t have to. Write each move in a new row: move number, White’s move, Black’s move. If you play at home, writing your games down is the best way to improve; you can play them back later, or paste them into a chess program.

Other ways you’ll see moves written

• Long algebraic gives both squares: e2-e4, Ng1-f3, and Bc4xf7 for a capture. It’s easier for beginners and computers to follow.
• Descriptive notation is in older English-language books. It names files after the piece that starts on them, counted from each player’s own side, so White’s first move e4 is P-K4 (“pawn to king four”). If you inherit an old chess book, that’s why it looks like a different language.

Worked example 1: Scholar’s Mate

The best-known trap for beginners, over in four moves. White’s queen and bishop both aim at f7, the square next to Black’s king that only the king defends.

Written in a line, the whole game is: 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5 Nf6?? 4. Qxf7# 1-0.

PGN: how chess games are saved

PGN (Portable Game Notation) is the plain-text file format almost every chess program and website uses to save and share games. It was published in 1994 and is still the standard. A PGN file has two parts:

1. Tags in square brackets. Seven are standard, always in this order: Event, Site, Date, Round, White, Black and Result. Dates are written year.month.day, with question marks for anything unknown. A Round of “-” means the game wasn’t part of a numbered round.
2. The moves, in the algebraic notation above, ending with the result. Comments go in curly braces {like this}.

Here’s a real one: the Opera Game, played in Paris in 1858 by the American Paul Morphy against two amateurs playing together as Black, the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, during a night at the Paris opera. It’s one of the most-shown games in chess teaching, because every move develops a piece, opens a line or attacks.

[Event "Casual game"]
[Site "Paris FRA"]
[Date "1858.??.??"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Morphy, Paul"]
[Black "Duke Karl of Brunswick and Count Isouard"]
[Result "1-0"]

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 {White gives up the knight
to open lines to Black's king} cxb5 11. Bxb5+ Nbd7 12. O-O-O Rd8
13. Rxd7 Rxd7 14. Rd1 Qe6 15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 16. Qb8+ {the queen too}
Nxb8 17. Rd8# 1-0

Things to spot as you read it:

• 4. dxe5 and 5… dxe5: pawn captures, starting with the file each pawn came from.
• 11… Nbd7: Black had knights on b8 and f6, and both could reach d7, so the b tells you which one moved.
• 12. O-O-O: White castles queenside, and the rook arrives on d1 ready to attack.
• 16. Qb8+: White gives up the queen to pull Black’s last knight away from d7. Annotators usually mark it !!.
• 17. Rd8#: the rook gives checkmate, protected by the bishop on g5.

Copy that text into any chess program or website that “imports PGN” and you can play through it move by move.

Common questions

Sources

• FIDE Laws of Chess, taking effect from 1 January 2023: Article 8.1 (recording the moves) and Appendix C (algebraic notation). FIDE Handbook. link. Checked 11/11/2026.
• Portable Game Notation Specification and Implementation Guide (Steven J. Edwards, coordinator), 1994: the Seven Tag Roster, SAN and the result tokens. Copy hosted by the ChessGML project. link. Checked 11/11/2026.
• Both games were checked move by move with a rules engine before publishing, including every check and checkmate symbol.