MINI-TUTORIAL ABOUT CHESS NOTATION
Copyright 2002 Dr. David Leo Stefurak
Chess tournaments represent a student's most concerted and concentrated efforts at playing well. It is useful to keep a permanent record of the game by recording, on a sheet of paper, each move as it is made. Chess is like music and art -- players should want to conserve the finest products of their minds by writing down their chess moves. What would we do if Beethoven had not written down his Ninth Symphony or if Einstein had not written down his world-shaking mathematical equations (e.g., E=MC2)?
Chess notation allows a student to review their game later by themselves, to go over the game with a coach, to build upon their and their opponent's ideas, and to preserve their inventiveness and brilliance for all time. Chess notation also preserves student rights during a tournament game including the rights to request a draw by 3x repetition of position, a draw by the 50 move rule, a claim of an illegal move, and other important chess rights and procedures. Chess notation is also the law of the chess land: the United States Chess Federation (USCF) requires all players to record their tournament games games.
Chess notation is usually made on a "score sheet" which has pre-printed numbers for each move (1, 2, 3, ...) and lines and spaces to write in each White and Black move. White and Black moves are written side by side -- that is White's first move is written and then Black's first move is written beside White's move (NOT below it!). Then White's second move is written down and Black's second move is written beside it (i.e., beside White's second move). Note that players record all moves (each and every move) of a chess game -- their own moves and the moves made by their opponent! The scoresheet should indicate the names of each player, which player had White, the date, the round number, the name of the tournament, and the score and final result of the game (win, draw or loss and by whom). Most of this information should be written down by the player before the game begins! This is what students should be doing while they wait at their table for the round to start!
Chess notation is simple and easy to write. Each square on the chess board has a first name and and a last name, just like a person! The first name of each square is a letter (written in lower case -- a small letter: either a, b, c, d, e, f, g, or h) and the last name for that square is a number (from 1 to 8). These letters and numbers can be found at the edges of the chessboard (like on a map). For example, Bobby Fischer's favorite first move was to move the pawn on the square called e2 to the square called e4. This is written down as e2-e4. A hyphen is used to mean the words "goes to".
Please be sure to set up the chess board and men so that ranks 1 & 2 are near the White pieces and ranks 7 & 8 are near the Black pieces. Files (vertical columns of squares) are named by a small letter and ranks (horizontal rows of squares) are numbered 1 through 8. A white square should be at the right-hand side for both players (h1 for White and a8 for Black) and the White Queen goes on a White square (d1) and the Black Queen goes on a Black square (d8). It is possible to arrange the board and pieces in the wrong configuration: make sure you have it right before the games starts ("White on the right.").
Each chess piece is represented in written form by a capital letter. K is used for King, Q for Queen, R for a Rook, B for a Bishop, and N for Knight (so as not to confuse it with K for King). If White's first move was to move the Knight sitting on the square g1 to the square f3, we would write Ng1-f3 ("Knight on g1 goes to f3"). Remember: small letters for squares and capital letters for pieces. One interesting thing about chess notation is that we do not use the letter P for pawn. Rather the symbol for a pawn is no symbol! Remember that we notate Bobby Fischer's favorite first move as e2-e4 (and not Pe2-e4). That is because a chess player knows that if a Rook was on e2 and it went to e4, the notation would have been Re2-e4. The absence of a symbol clearly means that a pawn went from e2 to e4 (otherwise we would have used a Q or R to indicate the piece moved from e2 to e4 [a B, N and K cannot legally move from e2 to e4 in a single turn]).
The symbol "x" is used to indicate a capture. Suppose White plays 1.e2-e4 and Black responds d7-d5. Then White could (and should) play 2.e4xd5 ("the pawn on e4 captures the pawn on d5"). Or suppose that White played 1.Ng1-f3 and Black responded Nb8-c6. If White then played 2.Nf3-e5?? then Black would play Nc6xNe5 ("Knight on c6 captures Knight on e5"). Coach Leo recommends that students use this form of notation -- called "long algebraic notation" -- until they become chess masters. Then an abbreviated form, called "short algebraic notation," can be used. There are a few additional chess symbols that can also be used in notating your games: "+" means check, "#" means checkmate, "0-0" means Castles Kingside, "0-0-0" means Castles Queenside, "1-0" means White won, "0-1" means Black won and "1/2 - 1/2" means the game was a draw.
Coach Leo recommends that players do not "annotate" their games as they play. Therefore students should not place question marks after their moves (? and ??) nor should they place exclamation marks after their moves (! and !!). It is important not to let your opponent know what you are thinking during the game! Do not just give free information to your opponent -- they will find a way to use it against you. Players should note that their scoresheet (i.e., their written record of their game) can not be used against them in support of a claim by their opponent in rulings by the tournament director. Players should keep their scoresheets in a safe place, not lose them, and bring them to chess club! A neat and well written scoresheet is often the positive sign of a well ordered, thoughtful, and successful chessplayer!
Copyright 2002 Dr. David Leo Stefurak