Algebraic notation (or AN) is the standard method for recording and describing the moves in a game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

. It is based on a system of

coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

to uniquely identify each square on the

chessboard A chessboard is a used to play chess. It consists of 64 squares, 8 rows by 8 columns, on which the chess pieces are placed. It is square in shape and uses two colours of squares, one light and one dark, in a chequered pattern. During play, the bo ...

. It is used by most books, magazines, and newspapers. In English-speaking countries, the parallel method of

descriptive notation Descriptive notation is a chess notation system based on abbreviated natural language. Its distinctive features are that it refers to files by the piece that occupies the back rank square in the starting position and that it describes each square ...

was generally used in chess publications until about 1980. A few players still use descriptive notation, but it is no longer recognized by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

, the international chess governing body. Algebraic notation exists in various forms and languages and is based on a system developed by

Philipp Stamma Philipp Stamma ( – c. 1755), a native of Aleppo, Ottoman Syria, later resident of England and France, was a chess master and a pioneer of modern chess. His reputation rests largely on his authorship of the early chess book ''Essai sur le jeu ...

. Stamma used the modern names of the squares, but he used p for pawn moves and the original of a piece (a through h) instead of the initial letter of the piece name. The term "algebraic notation" may be considered a

misnomer A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name ...

, as the system is unrelated to

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

. Other terms such as "standard notation" and "coordinate notation" have been proposed, but the traditional term persists.

Naming the squares

Each square of the

is identified by a unique coordinate pair—a letter and a number—from White's point of view. The vertical columns of squares, called , are labeled a through h from White's left (the ) to right (the ). The horizontal rows of squares, called , are numbered 1 to 8 starting from White's side of the board. Thus each square has a unique identification of file letter followed by rank number. For example, the initial square of White's king is designated as "e1".

Naming the pieces

Each piece type (other than pawns) is identified by an uppercase letter. English-speaking players use the letters K for

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, Q for

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, R for

rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

, B for

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, and N for

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

(since K is already used and is a silent letter in knight). S (from the German ''Springer'') was also used for the knight in the early days of algebraic notation and is still used in some

chess problem A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by the composer using chess pieces on a chess board, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to ...

s (where N stands for nightrider, a popular

fairy chess piece A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some chess problems. Compared to conventional pieces, fair ...

). Different initial letters are used by other languages. In chess literature, especially that intended for an international audience, the language-specific letters are often replaced by universally recognized piece symbols; for example, ♞c6 in place of Nc6. This style is known as Figurine Algebraic Notation (FAN). The

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...

Miscellaneous Symbols Miscellaneous Symbols is a Unicode block (U+2600–U+26FF) containing glyphs representing concepts from a variety of categories: astrological, astronomical, chess, dice, musical notation, political symbols, recycling, religious symbols, Bagua, ...

set includes all the symbols necessary for FAN. In both standard algebraic notation and FAN, pawns are not identified by a letter or symbol, but rather by the absence of one.

Notation for moves

Each move of a piece is indicated by the piece's uppercase letter, plus the coordinate of the destination square. For example, Be5 (bishop moves to e5), Nf3 (knight moves to f3). For pawn moves, a letter indicating pawn is not used, only the destination square is given. For example, c5 (pawn moves to c5).

Captures

When a piece makes a , an "x" (or the multiplication sign "×") is inserted immediately before the destination square. For example, Bxe5 (bishop captures the piece on e5). When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used to identify the pawn. For example, exd5 (pawn on the e-file captures the piece on d5). In older German, Russian, or Italian publications, a colon (:) is sometimes used instead of "x", either in the same place the "x" would go (B:e5) or at the end (Be5:). ''

En passant ''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy paw ...

'' captures are indicated by specifying the capturing pawn's file of departure, the "x", the destination square (not the square of the captured pawn), and (optionally) the suffix "e.p." indicating the capture was ''en passant''. For example, exd6 e.p. Some texts, such as the ''

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). It is current ...

'', omit any indication that a capture has been made. (For example, Be5 instead of Bxe5; ed6 instead of exd6 or exd6 e.p.) When it is unambiguous to do so, a pawn capture is sometimes described by specifying only the files involved (exd or even ed). These shortened forms are sometimes called minimal or abbreviated algebraic notation.

Disambiguating moves

When two (or more) identical pieces can move to the same square, the moving piece is uniquely identified by specifying the piece's letter, followed by (in descending order of preference): # the file of departure (if they differ); or # the rank of departure (if the files are the same but the ranks differ); or # both the file and rank of departure (if neither alone is sufficient to identify the piece – which occurs only in rare cases where a player has three or more identical pieces able to reach the same square, as a result of one or more pawns having promoted). The last form coincides with the long algebraic notation. In the diagram, both black rooks could legally move to f8, so the move of the d8-rook to f8 is disambiguated as Rdf8. For the white rooks on the a-file which could both move to a3, it is necessary to provide the rank of the moving piece, i.e., R1a3. In the case of the white queen on h4 moving to e1, neither the rank nor file alone are sufficient to disambiguate from the other white queens. As such, this move is written Qh4e1. As above, an "x" can be inserted to indicate a capture; for example, if the final case were a capture, it would be written as Qh4xe1. Per FIDE rules, the third form (indicating both the file and rank of departure) is always acceptable, but the first two forms are preferred if they are unambiguous enough (C.8; C.10.3).

Pawn promotion

When a pawn promotes, the piece promoted to is indicated at the end of the move notation, for example: e8Q (promoting to queen). In standard

notation, no punctuation is used; in

Portable Game Notation Portable Game Notation (PGN) is a standard plain text format for recording chess games (both the moves and related data), which can be read by humans and is also supported by most chess software. History PGN was devised around 1993, by Steven J. ...

(PGN) and many publications, pawn promotion is indicated by the equals sign (e8=Q). Other formulations used in chess literature include parentheses (e.g. e8(Q)) and a forward slash (e.g. e8/Q).

Draw offer

FIDE specifies draw offers to be recorded by an equals sign with parentheses "(=)" after the move on the . This is not usually included in published game scores.

Castling

Castling Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved ...

is indicated by the special notations 0-0 (for castling) and 0-0-0 ( castling). While the FIDE standard is to use the digit zero (0-0 and 0-0-0), PGN uses the uppercase letter ''O'' (O-O and O-O-O).

Check

A move that places the opponent's

check Check or cheque, may refer to: Places * Check, Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film * ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld'' Games and sports * Check (chess), a thr ...

usually has the symbol "+" appended. Alternatively, sometimes a

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use de ...

(†) or the abbreviation "ch" is used. Some publications indicate a

discovered check In chess, a discovered attack is a direct attack revealed when one piece moves out of the way of another. Discovered attacks can be extremely powerful, as the piece moved can make a threat independently of the piece it reveals. Like many chess t ...

with an abbreviation such as "dis ch", or with a specific symbol.

Double check In chess and other related games, a double check is a check delivered by two pieces simultaneously. In chess notation, it is almost always represented the same way as a single check ("+"), but it is sometimes symbolized by "++" (however, "++" i ...

is usually indicated the same as check, but is sometimes represented specifically as "dbl ch" or "++", particularly in older chess literature. The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' omits any indication of check.

Checkmate

Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

at the completion of moves is represented by the symbol "#" in standard FIDE notation and PGN. The word mate is commonly used instead; occasionally a double dagger () or a double plus sign (++) is used, although the double plus sign is also used to represent "double check" when a king is under attack by two enemy pieces simultaneously. A checkmate is represented by "" (the not equal sign) in the macOS chess application. In

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and ex-

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

publications, where captures are indicated by ":", checkmate can also be represented by "X" or "x".

End of game

The notation 1–0 at the completion of moves indicates that White won, 0–1 indicates that Black won, and ½–½ indicates a

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...

. In case of forfeit, scores 0–0, ½–0, and 0–½ are also possible. If player(s) lost by default, results are +/−, −/+, or −/−. Often there is no indication regarding how a player won or lost (other than checkmate, see above), so simply 1–0 or 0–1 may be written to show that one player

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

or lost due to

time control A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock, ...

or forfeit. (Similarly, there is more than one way for a game to end in a draw.) Sometimes direct information is given by the words "White resigns" or "Black resigns", though this is not considered part of the notation but rather a return to the surrounding narrative text.

Similar notations

Besides the FIDE standard (or short) algebraic notation (SAN) already described, several similar systems have been used.

Long algebraic notation

In long algebraic notation, also known as fully expanded algebraic notation, both the starting and ending squares are specified, for example: e2e4. Sometimes these are separated by a hyphen, e.g. Nb1-c3, while captures are indicated by an "x", e.g. Rd3xd7. Long algebraic notation takes more space and is no longer commonly used in print; however, it has the advantage of clarity. Some books using primarily short algebraic notation use the long notation instead of the disambiguation forms described earlier. A form of long algebraic notation (without piece names) is also used by the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) standard, which is a common way for graphical chess programs to communicate with chess engines (e.g., for AI).

ICCF numeric notation

In international

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less common ...

the use of algebraic notation may cause confusion, since different languages employ different names (and therefore different initial letters) for the pieces, and some players may be unfamiliar with the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

. Hence, the standard for transmitting moves by post or email is

ICCF numeric notation ICCF numeric notation is the official chess notation system of the International Correspondence Chess Federation. The system was devised for use in international correspondence chess to avoid the potential confusion of using algebraic notation, ...

, which identifies squares using numerical co-ordinates, and identifies both the departure and destination squares. For example, the move 1.e4 is rendered as 1.5254. In recent years, the majority of correspondence games have been played on on-line servers rather than by email or post, leading to a decline in the use of ICCF numeric notation.

PGN

(PGN) is a text-based file format for storing chess games, which uses standard English algebraic notation and a small amount of markup. PGN can be processed by almost all chess software, as well as being easily readable by humans. For example, the Game of the Century could be represented as follows in PGN:

Formatting

A game or series of moves is generally written in one of two ways; in two columns, as White/Black pairs, preceded by the move number and a period: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 a6 or horizontally: :1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 Moves may be interspersed with commentary (annotations). When the resumes with a Black move, an

ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

(...) fills the position of the White move, for example: :1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 ::White attacks the black e-pawn. :2... Nc6 ::Black defends and develops simultaneously. :3. Bb5 ::White plays the

Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez is named after 16th-century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura. It is one o ...

. :3... a6 ::Black elects Morphy's Defence.

History

Descriptive notation was usual in the Middle Ages in Europe. A form of algebraic chess notation that seems to have been borrowed from Muslim chess, however, appeared in Europe in a 12th century manuscript referred to as “MS. Paris Fr. 1173 (PP.)”. The files run from a to h, just as they do in the current standard algebraic notation. The ranks, however, are also designated by letters, with the exception of the 8th rank which is distinct because it has no letter. The ranks are lettered in reverse – from the 7th to the 1st: k, l, m, n, o, p, q. Another system of notation using only letters appears in a book of Mediaeval chess, Rechenmeister Jacob Köbel's ''Schachzabel Spiel'' of 1520. Algebraic notation is described in 1847 by Howard Staunton in his book ''The Chess-Player's Handbook''. Staunton credits the idea to German authors, and in particular to "

Alexandre Alexandre may refer to: * Alexandre (given name) * Alexandre (surname) * Alexandre (film) See also * Alexander * Xano (disambiguation) Xano is the name of: * Xano, a Portuguese hypocoristic of the name "Alexandre (disambiguation) Alexandre may re ...

, Jaenisch, and the '' Handbuch'' ." While algebraic notation has been used in German and Russian chess literature since the 19th century, the

Anglosphere The Anglosphere is a group of English-speaking world, English-speaking nations that share historical and cultural ties with England, and which today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in d ...

was slow to adopt it, using descriptive notation for much of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1970s, algebraic notation gradually became more common in English language publications, and by 1980 it had become the prevalent notation. In 1981, FIDE stopped recognizing descriptive notation, and algebraic notation became the accepted international standard. File:Ms. Paris 1173.png, Chess diagram found in a French manuscript (1173) File:Jacob Köbel 1520.png, Chess diagram from Jacob Köbel's German book about Mediaeval chess, ''Schachzabel Spiel'' (1520) File:Chess diagram from Howard Staunton's "The Chess-Player's Handbook" (1947).png, Chess diagram showing algebraic notation in Howard Staunton's ''The Chess-Player's Handbook'' (1866)

Piece names in various languages

The table contains names for all the pieces as well as the words for chess, check, and checkmate in several languages.Sources for this section include Wikipedia articles in various languages
Archived
2009-10-25. Several languages use the Arabic

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

''alfil'' for the piece called bishop in English; in this context it is a chess-specific term which no longer has its original meaning of "elephant".

Annotation symbols

Though not technically a part of algebraic notation, the following are some symbols commonly used by annotators, for example in publications ''

Chess Informant Chess Informant (Šahovski Informator) is a publishing company from Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) that periodically (since 2012, four volumes per year) produces a book entitled ''Chess Informant'', as well as the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Op ...

'' and ''

'', to give editorial comment on a move or position. The symbol chosen is simply appended to the end of the move notation, for example, in the Soller Gambit: 1.d4 e5?! 2.dxe5 f6 3.e4! Nc6 4.Bc4+/−