For example, the white player’s queen always starts on the square d1 and the black player’s queen starts on d8. Files are only listed from left to right in alphabetical order from the white player’s perspective. If you’re the white player, then the leftmost file will be the a-file and the rightmost will be the h (and vice versa for black). Always write the letter of the file in lowercase.
King: K Queen: Q Knight: N Bishop: B Rook: R Pawns: (none)
For example, if you move your queen to the square in the 4th rank and the e-file, write down Qd4 for your notation. In this example, Q represents the queen, d refers to the vertical file, and 4 indicates the horizontal rank. It does not matter which square the queen started. When you move a pawn, just write down the file and rank of the square where it moves. For example, if you move the pawn on the e-file onto the 3rd rank, you would write e3. If two of the same piece could have made the same move, list the file or rank of where the piece was before it was moved (or both in rare cases). For example, if you have a rook at h1 and another rook at a1, write down Rhe1 so you know the rook in the h-file was the one that moved to the e1 square.
For example, the first turn’s notation may read “1. e4 d6,” meaning the white player moved a pawn and the black player both moved pawns.
For pawn captures, write the file the pawn started on, followed by an “x” and the square the pawn is on. For instance, exf3 would mean that a pawn on e2 took a piece on f3. For example, if you used your rook to capture a piece in the 7th rank on the e file, you would write Rxe7, where R represents the rook, x indicates a capture, and e7 is the square where the rook ended its movement. You do not need to list the symbol for the piece you captured. Write en passant captures the same as any other pawn capture.
You do not need to include the ranks or files in your notation.
For example, if a player moved their pawn into the 8th rank in the b file and chose to promote it to a queen, you would write b8=Q. In this example, b8 refers to the square in the b file in the 8th rank, and =Q refers to changing the piece to a queen.
For example, if your bishop moved into the 6th rank on the g file and put the opponent’s king in check, then write Bg6+ for the notation.
For example, if you moved your knight to the square b3 and put your opponent’s king in checkmate, use Nb3++ or Nb3# for the notation.
