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How to Mark a Chessboard

Marking a chessboard is beneficial for players who wish to recreate published games. In published games, moves are recorded by noting the name of the piece and which square it moved to. Every square on a chessboard has a rank and file. The ranks are the horizontal rows and the files are the vertical columns. Ranks are numbered 1 through 8 (from the white to black side of the board) while files are names a through h (from the white player's left to right.) These markings need to be made along the edges of the board.

Things You'll Need

Chessboard
Permanent marker
Yardstick

Instructions

- 1
  Place a wooden or plastic chess board on a large flat surface.
- 2
  Align the yardstick with the bottom of the first row. The edge of the yardstick should be approximately 1 inch from the row.
- 3
  
  This is the perspective of the board for this step.
  
  Write the associated letter underneath each column. The leftmost column will be "A," the second will be "B," and so forth.
- 4
  Rotate the board 90 degrees to the left and align the yardstick with the bottom of this column.
- 5
  
  This is the perspective of the board for this step.
  
  Write the associated letter underneath each column. This time, the rows will be numbered from No. 8 to 1, left to right.
- 6
  Rotate the board 90 degrees to the left and align the yardstick with this row.
- 7
  Write the associated letter underneath each column. The columns will be named H to A (reverse alphabet) from left to right. The letters for each column should be identical to those on the opposite side of the board.
- 8
  Rotate the board 90 degrees to the left and align the yardstick with this column.
- 9
  Write the associated letter underneath each column. The rows will be numbered No. 1 through 8, going left to right. The numbers for each column should be identical to those on the opposite side of the board.

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