How to read a chess game.

Start with the square

Every square has a two-character address: a file letter and a rank number. Files run a to h from White’s left; ranks run 1 to 8 from White’s side. The white king starts on e1, the black king on e8, and the central pawns begin on e2 and e7.

A move is usually written as the piece letter followed by the destination square. If no piece letter appears, the move is a pawn move. So e4 means a pawn moves to e4, while Nf3 means a knight moves to f3.

The piece letters

Each piece has a single uppercase letter in English notation: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N for knight. The knight uses N because K is already taken by the king. Pawns have no letter.

In algebraic notation, the destination square is the important part. The starting square is usually omitted. If two identical pieces can reach the same square, a file or rank is added to make the move unambiguous, such as Nbd2 or R1e2.

Captures, checks, and mate

An x marks a capture. Bxe5 means a bishop captures on e5. The captured piece is not named; the destination and the position make it clear. A plus sign means check, and a hash means checkmate. Some older or informal scores use “++” for checkmate; modern algebraic notation uses #.

A move that puts the opponent in check is not automatically good. The notation only records what happened, not whether it was a blunder. That is why you still need to read the position, not just the score.

Castling, promotion, and en passant

Castling is written O-O for kingside and O-O-O for queenside. It is the only move written with letters that do not name a destination square. Promotion is written with an equals sign and the new piece: e8=Q, e8=R, e8=B, or e8=N.

En passant is usually recorded as a normal pawn capture. If the pawn on e5 captures a black pawn that has just moved to d5, the score may show exd6. Some publications add “e.p.” for clarity, but it is not required in modern algebraic notation.

Annotations: the commentary layer

You will often see punctuation after a move. A single exclamation mark (!) marks a strong move; a question mark (?) marks a mistake; !? is interesting, and ?! is dubious. Two exclamation marks (!!) mark a brilliant move, and two question marks (??) mark a blunder.

These marks are commentary, not part of the official move. Different annotators may disagree about whether a move deserves one. Treat them as a prompt to look closer, not as a final judgment.

A short game score

Here is the Scholar’s Mate sequence in algebraic notation: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qh5 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7#. Read it as a conversation: White moves, Black replies, and the move number usually appears before White’s move. When a score begins with Black, the first move is written 1...e5.

Once you can read that line, you can replay any game score. Start with short games and say each move out loud as you play it. The notation becomes automatic faster than you expect.

See the full Scholar’s Mate guide →

Where to go from here

Return to the beginner path and play through the interactive Scholar’s Mate lesson. Then read a short annotated game and follow the score on a board. Notation is a tool for seeing patterns, not an end in itself.

Return to the beginner path →