Algebraic notation is a way to describe the moves on a chess board. It uses a shorthand for each piece and each square on the board to concisely and uniquely describe the movements of the pieces on the board.

Board coordinates

To start to understand the algebraic notation, the first step is to get to grips with the board’s coordinate system. We got into more detail about this in our introduction to chess piece, but let’s have a quick look here:

Chess board

As displayed on the board above, the columns - or files - on the board are denoted by a letter, from a on the left side to h on the right and the rows - or ranks are denoted by a number, from 1 at the bottom to 8 at the top. This gives each square on the board a coordinate. For example, the white rooks sit on a1 and h1, the black rooks on a8 and h8, the white king on e1, the black king on e8, and so on.

Piece names

Each piece is also given a reference to be used for the algebraic notation. These references are simply identifying the type of piece. The references used are a single uppercase letter. K is the king, Q is the queen, R is the rook, B is the bishop and N is the knight (since K is already taken by the king). Pawns are sometimes given the letter P, although this is often omitted for the sake of brevity. There are 8 pawns on each side, but their movements are restricted, and so are often easy to identify.

Moving pieces

To describe the moves in a game, we simply put together the piece reference and the coordinate of the destination square. So Nc3 is a knight moving to c3, Qa6 is the queen moving to a6 and so on and so forth. It’s important to note here that the colour of the piece is not necessary, since the turns are strictly alternating, so only one colour is possible to move at a time.

Uniquely identifying moves

In some cases the above description of a move might not be sufficient to uniquely identify the move on a board, depending on the setup of the board before the move. Here is an example which comes up often in gameplay.

Chess board

In the above scenario, both of these moves would be denoted by Rc1. For this reason, there are certain modification to make in order to uniquely identify the piece that is being moved. In this case, we use the initial file of the rook being moved in order to specify which one it is. The first move shown above would be denoted by Rac1 whereas the second would be denoted by Rfc1. This makes is clear which rook is being moved.

In a similar fashion, if the rooks were on the same file, the rank would be used to identify which one was moved.

Chess board

Now we use the initial rank of the rook to identify which one of the two was moved. So, the first move would be denoted by R1a4 and the second R7a4.

There are some rare cases where the rank or file alone might not be sufficient to identify the piece being moved. This can only occur if the player has 3 or more of the same piece on the board, any of which can reach the same square.

Chess board

This scenario combines all 3 options. The first move illustrates, as shown before, where the original file of the piece can uniquely identify the piece. This move would therefore be Qac3. The second move illustrates an example where the original rank is sufficient to identify the piece moved. This move would be Q5c3. However, the third and final move in this sequence would be described by both of the previous moves and therefore needs extra information to denote. I’m sure you see where this is going - in this case both the rank and file are used to uniquely identify that queen. The third move would be Qe1c3.

The order of preference for which option is chosen is as follows:

  1. If the move can be denoted without reference to the original rank or file, then only the desination square is shown. e.g. Qc3
  2. If the move can be performed by two pieces on the same rank, then the original file is shown. e.g. Qac3
  3. If the move can be performed by two pieces on the same file, then the original rank is shown. e.g. Q5c3
  4. If the rank or file alone are not sufficient to identify the piece, then both are denoted. e.g. Qe1c3

Pawn promotion

When a pawn reaches the opponent’s side of the board, it is promoted into another piece of the player’s choosing. When this happens, the resulting piece is added to the move to denote which piece has been added to the board. In some notations, an = sign is added in between, although this is not always the case. For example, should your e pawn achieve promotion to a queen (which is obviously the most popular choice), the move would be denoted e8Q.

Capturing opponent pieces

Capturing opponent pieces is denoted in the same way as an ordinary move with the addition of an x in between the piece and the destination square. For this purpose, any original rank or file denoted to identify the piece is considered part of the piece notation. Let’s consider the following example to illustrate this:

Chess board

The moves above, in order, would be denoted by:

  • Bxc3 - bishop takes on c3
  • Qaxc3 - queen on a file takes on c3
  • Q5xc3 - queen on 5th rank takes on c3
  • Qe1xc3 - queen on e1 takes on c3

Pawns capturing opponent pieces

Despite not denoting the piece P when it comes to pawn moves, a pawn capture always denotes the file from which the pawn took the other piece. Since pawns change files when they capture other pieces.

Chess board

The pawn on e4 takes on d5, so this capture is denoted by exd5 - e to denote which file the capturing pawn came from, and d5 to denote which square was captured.

We can’t forget about pawns taking en passant, which involves capturing a pawn by moving to the square behind it. (If you’re not sure about this move, check out the section on capturing pieces in our introduction to chess.) To denote a pawn capturing en passant, the abbreviation e.p. is placed after the move and the capturing pawn’s destination square is used rather than the square of the pawn being captured.. For example, a pawn on e5 capturing a pawn on d5 is denoted by exd6 e.p.. e is first because, like with regular pawn captures, denotes which file the capturing pawn moved from. d6 denotes the square the pawn moved to and e.p. makes it clear that this was an en passant capture. It isn’t strictly necessary to identify the move, but it’s typically included to make the distinction clearer when reading.

Castling

Castling is a rather unique move in chess. Check out our piece dedicated to castling for more information on how it works. To denote this move, the decision was taken not to reference either of the pieces moving or indeed the squares they are moving to or from. Instead, a distinctive notation was invented - O-O for king-side castling and O-O-O for queen-side castling. An easy way to remember which version corresponds to which side is to consider how far the rook has to travel in each case. For king-side castling, the rook only has to move two squares (sure, it’s kind of jumping over the king at the same time, but two squares is the result), so the notation is O-O and for queen-side castling, the rook moves 3 squares, so the notation is O-O-O.

Check

When a move results in checking the opponent’s king, a + is often placed after the move notation. The abbreviation ch is also sometimes used in place of + and the abbreviation. In this case, the abbreviation dbl ch can be used to denote a double check, and even dis ch to denote a discovered check. (Read more about discovered check and double check in our piece about discovered attacks.)

Chess board

The move above is denoted by Bh5 dbl ch.

Checkmate

Checkmate is denoted by a # following the move notation.

Chess board

The move shown above is denoted by Qxf7#.

Listing moves

Full algebraic notation is used to keep track of entire games of chess. The whole game play can be listed with algebraic notation. This is usually done in a vertical list, where each point corresponds to white’s move and black’s subsequent move (since white always moves first). A typical beginning to a game might look like this is algebraic notation:

  1. e4 e5 - white moves the e pawn to e4 and black responds by moving the e pawn to e5.
  2. Nf3 Nc6 - white attacks the black pawn on e5 with the king-side knight, black defends with the queen-side knight.
  3. Bb5 a6 - white attacks the knight on c6, black attacks the bishop with the a pawn.

Here is how these first 3 moves for each player would look on the board.

Chess board