Chess notation

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Chess notation is the term for systems that record the moves made during a game of chess and several have been developed. The term can also be used for systems that record the position of the pieces on a chess board.

Chess notation for recording a game of chess

Chess move notation should describe the pieces involved, the end (and for clarity start) location, and any resulting effect (capture, check, mate etc).

• Descriptive chess notation, English notation or English descriptive notation. Until the 1970s, at least in English-speaking countries, chess games were recorded and published using this notation. This is still used by a dwindling number of mainly older players who emphasise its practical advantages such as being more mistake-proof.
• Algebraic chess notation. This is more compact than descriptive chess notation and is the most widely used method for recording the moves of a game of chess.
• ICCF numeric notation. In international correspondence chess the use of algebraic notation may cause confusion, since different languages have different names for the pieces. The standard for transmitting moves in this form of chess is ICFF numeric notation.
• Portable Game Notation (PGN). This is the most common of several notations that have emerged based upon algebraic chess notation, for recording chess games in a format suitable for computer processing.
• Long algebraic notation or full algebraic notation. This is a variant of algebraic chess notation where the moves include both the starting and ending position separated by a hyphen. Some computer programs use this method (see algebraic chess notation).
• [Steno-Chess]. This is another format suitable for computer processing. It sacrifices playthroughability for concision which minimises the number of characters required to store a game.

When annotating chess games, question marks and exclamation marks are frequently used by annotators commenting on the game to label a move as bad or praise the move as a good one (see punctuation (chess)).

Chess notation for the positions of pieces

In addition to recording games, there is also a notation for recording specific positions called the Forsyth-Edwards notation (FEN). This is useful for adjourning a game to resume later or for conveying chess problem positions without a diagram.

See also

• Chess Opening Theory Table

 

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