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Chess Notation: How to Read and Write Moves

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Modern chess uses algebraic notation: each square has a name (file letter + rank number), and a move identifies its piece and destination, with extra symbols where needed. So Nf3 means “knight to f3,” and e4 means “pawn to e4.”

On this page
  1. Squares and piece letters
  2. Captures, checks and the special symbols
  3. PGN and FEN: games and positions
  4. Keep learning

Squares and piece letters

Squares are named file-then-rank, from White’s left: a1 is White’s bottom-left corner, h8 is the far corner. The pieces use capital letters — K king, Q queen, R rook, B bishop, N knight (N, because K is taken). Pawns get no letter at all: you just write the destination square. So Nf3 is a knight move, Bb5 a bishop move, and e4 a pawn move.

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Replaying 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 — watch how each written move maps to a square.

Captures, checks and the special symbols

A handful of symbols cover everything else. They attach to the basic move so you can read a whole game at a glance:

PGN and FEN: games and positions

Two text formats build on this. PGN (Portable Game Notation) stores game moves and can include header tags, comments and variations. FEN (Forsyth–Edwards Notation) records one position in six fields: piece placement, side to move, castling availability, en passant target, halfmove clock and fullmove number. Paste either into the PGN viewer or FEN viewer. For both formats in depth, see how to read PGN and FEN.

Older English-language books may use descriptive notation (P-K4, N-KB3). Algebraic notation is the modern international standard and names fixed board squares rather than squares relative to each player.
What does Nf3 mean?Knight to f3. N is the symbol for knight (K is reserved for the king), and f3 is the destination square.
How are captures written?With an x, like Bxe5 (bishop takes on e5). A pawn capture is written with its starting file: exd5 means the e-pawn captures on d5.
What is the difference between PGN and FEN?PGN records a whole game as a list of moves; FEN records a single position in one line. Both are plain text you can paste into a viewer.

Paste a PGN or FEN to replay it

Keep learning