RECORDING A CHESS GAME
One of the most important things to do if you want to become a stronger player is to record your chess games and analyse them. The way that we do this is called Algebraic Notation. It is very simple and used by chess players all over the world.
Each of the 64 squares has a unique label of a letter and number as shown in the diagram below. At the start, White’s pieces are on ranks 1 and 2 and Black’s on 7 and 8.
A pawn is given no symbol but the pieces have symbols as follows:
- King = K
- Queen = Q
- Rook = R
- Bishop = B
- Knight = N
We also use symbols for special moves:
- Castling Kingside = 0-0
- Castling Queenside = 0-0-0
- Check = +
- Double Check = ++
- Checkmate = #
- en passant = e.p.
- Captures = x
We indicate a move by giving:
- The move number in the game
- The symbol of the piece
- The square it moves from (if it isn’t obvious)
- The square it moves to
- If it captures a piece, we put an x before the final square coordinates
The art of playing good Chess is to study the board, consider options, devise strategy and anticipate your opponent’s next move(s). This cannot be done in a nanosecond, which is how most youngsters seem to play, ending up in quickly losing material and consequently the game.
In an attempt to try and slow some of you down and take you to the next level in Chess, we need to teach you how to record your game, using notation.
Should you enter a competition, other than Blitz or Rapidplay (short timings) you will be required to record your game this way.
Notation sheets and pens, will be available for those who want to give this a try, we recommend all advanced players in our groups to learn this.
Chess notation was developed in order to record the position of the pieces on the Chessboard or the moves being made during a Chess game. This done by indicating the current piece and square location and where the piece is being moved to. It also enables us to review Chess games played by not only Grandmasters and other Chess players but also your own games, allowing you to go back over your own games and learn from them. Learning Chess notation is a must to study Chess games and problems from any kind of Chess book.