Algebraic notation

23.Dd7 (algebraic score of the twenty-third play of the white lady moving from d1 to d7).

The algebraic notation system is a way of representing the sequence of moves in a game of chess. Since 1981 it is the only official chess notation system admitted by FIDE, replacing the descriptive notation system. Variants of chess, such as Fischer's random chess, use only this notation.

Box identification

Name for each box according to algebraic notation.

Each of the sixty-four squares on a chessboard is uniquely identified by two characters. The first character identifies the cell column, and is represented by one of the following lowercase letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h, ordered from the left of the player with pieces White to your right. The second character on a square identifies its line (row) and is represented by a number from 1 to 8, in ascending order, from the white player's side to the black player's side. The squares, in the initial position, of some pieces are: rook on the white queen's side a1, white queen d1, rook on the black king's side h8 .

Part identification

Each piece has an associated capital letter, and it varies depending on the language of the annotator; in Spanish, R, D, T, A and C are used, respectively., for the king, the queen, the rook, the bishop and the knight. Although pawns also often have a letter associated with them, this is not used to describe games in algebraic notation.

Here are some examples of the letters associated with the pieces in different languages:

In international print media, FIDE recommends icons (figurines) to represent chess pieces.

Annotation of a move

A basic move is written with the letter of the piece being moved (omitted for pawns), followed by the identification of the destination square. A capturing move is represented by the letter x immediately before the destination square; the capture by a pawn includes, before the x character, the letter of the file of the square of origin.

Short (or kingside) castling is indicated by 0-0, and long (or queenside) castling by 0-0-0.

En passant captures have no special form, although a.p. may be added to the end of the notation. The destination square is where the captured pawn remains. Promotions are indicated by including an = sign followed by the letter (in uppercase) of the promoted piece on the target square. Example: If a white pawn on the g7 square moves, reaching the eighth rank and promoting a Queen, it would be written: g8=Q.

Disambiguation Rules

In case of ambiguities (where several pieces of the same type can be moved to the destination square), proceed in the following order:

1. If the pieces can be distinguished by their original columns, then the letter of the column is inserted (in lowercase) after the letter of the piece. For example, assuming that there are two towers in row 1, one in a1 and another in h1, and you want to move a certain tower to d1, then at the time of writing the notation to specify which of the two towers is being spoken, would be written Tad1 or Thd1, all depending, of course, on which tower you want to move.
2. When the columns are equal, if the pieces can be distinguished by their original rows, then the row number is inserted after the piece's letter. For example, if there are two towers in column a, one in a1 and one in a5, and you want to move one of them to a3, the notation would be T1a3 or T5a3, depending on which towers you want to move.
3. Finally, if both the column and the original row of the moving piece is not enough to distinguish it from another piece, then both the column and the row are written. This happens on rare occasions, only when the player has 3 or more equal parts (resulted from having promoted one or more pawns) able to reach the same target box. For example, if a player with 3 queens in e4, h4 and h1 wants to move the queen in h4 to e1 he must indicate both the column and the origin row in his notation: Dh4e1. Note: In this example, the movements of the other two queens can be differentiated either by the column or by the row only, so they would apply the previous rules and the notations would be Dee1 and D1e1.

It must be taken into account, before assessing the previous steps, that if a piece that can reach the final square cannot be moved because it leaves the king in check, then its movement does not count as ambiguous for the notation.

As explained above, if a move results in a capture, the letter x is added to the notation immediately before the destination square. For example: Qh4xe1.

Check and checkmate

If a move triggers check, the + sign is added as a suffix to the scored move; if the move is a mate, use # or ++. Thus, Qd5+ refers to a queen that has moved to the d5-square and has given check, while Re3# refers to a rook that has moved to the e3-square and has given checkmate.

Comment marks

Additionally, when commenting on a game, the following signs are usually used:

• !: good play
• ?: Bad game
• !: very good play
• ?: very bad play
• !: interesting play
• !: dubious play
• =: equal opportunities for both players
• +/=: light white advantage
• =/+: light black advantage
• +/- (or also) ±): white advantage
• -/+: black advantage
• +-: white decisive advantage
• - +: Black decisive advantage
• ∞: uncertain position
• =/ (or also) ∞=): offset game despite difference of material
• N: theoretical novelty

Example game

A game is reproduced below in this notation, which represents one of the variants of the well-known shepherd's mate.

1. e4 e5
2. Ac4 Cc6
3. Dh5 Ac5
4. Dxf7+