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How to Read Written Chess Moves

To standardize the recording of chess games, modern players use something known as "algebraic notation" --- a set of rules that clearly identify what pieces have moved, and where. Algebraic notation is numbered by move pairs, with white moving first and black second. This tutorial shows how to read chess notation by walking you through the King's Gambit, a traditional chess opening, followed by the Cunningham Defense: "1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 4. Bc4 Bh4+."

Instructions

- 1
  Set up the chessboard as it would appear at the beginning of a game. Turn the board so that the white pieces and pawns face you (from your perspective, the square on your right-hand corner should be a black one with a white rook on it); if the board is not labeled, the horizontal lines ("ranks" in chess terminology) are labeled 1--8, with line 1 being closest to you and line 8 (the row that contains the black king and queen) being furthest away, and the vertical columns ("files") are labeled A--H, with A the furthest left and H the furthest right.
- 2
  Move the white pawn in the "E" file forward two squares. The first move in the notation ("1. e4 e5") specifies that a white piece or pawn ends up on square E4; because no piece is specified, a pawn is moving.
- 3
  Move the black pawn in the "E" file forward two squares. Move 1 in the notation tells you that a black piece or pawn (again, a pawn, since no piece is specified) ends up on square E5 (because "e5" is the second of the two algebraic statements in the first line of the notation).
- 4
  Read the second line of the notation: "f4 exf4." A white piece or pawn must end up on square F4; move the pawn on the "F" file forward two squares.
- 5
  Take (capture) the white pawn on f4 using the black pawn on e5. The second move in the second line, "exf4," specifies that the black pawn on the "E" file takes ("x") the pawn currently sitting on F4. Set the defeated white pawn aside.
- 6
  Pick up the white knight on the "G" file and move it one square left and two up to F3. The first move in the third line of the notation ("Nf3 Be7") specifies that a white knight ("N") moves to F3. This impedes the movement of the black pawn on the "F" file.
- 7
  Move the black bishop on the "F" file one square down and one left. The notation "Be7" tells you to move the black bishop ("B") to E7.
- 8
  Read the fourth line of the notation, which tells you to move a white bishop to square C4. Do this by taking the white bishop on the "F" file and moving it three squares left and three up. Now, because black's move for the turn specifies that a bishop ends up on square H4, move the black bishop on the "E" file three squares down and three right --- this puts white's king in check, as noted by the "+" in the notation.

Chess & Checkers