Every chess article on this site is written in a strange little code: e4, Nf3, exd5, O-O. It looks like alphabet soup until someone shows you the system. This is that ten minutes.
It all rests on one skill: naming any square instantly. The letter (a–h) is the column from White’s left; the number (1–8) is the row from White’s side. So e8 is column e, top row.
Play one round for a baseline. You’ll play again at the end.
Every square has an address
Forget “third square from the left.” Every square has an address made of two parts: a letter and a number.
The letter is the file, the column, a to h from White’s left. The number is the rank, the row, 1 to 8 from White’s side. Read it like a grid reference: e4 means column e, row 4. The pawn that opens the Italian Game steps from e2 to e4. The knight hops to f3. The bishop settles on c4.
Two landmarks: a1 is always dark and h1 is always light, whichever side you’re sitting on. From White’s side, that’s “light on the right.” Lost mid-game? Find a corner and recount.
Reading a move
Once squares have names, moves read themselves. The whole code fits in one table (see the cheat sheet below), but four rules need a sentence each:
Pawn captures name the starting file. In exd5, the pawn on the e-file takes on d5. Without the “e,” you couldn’t tell which pawn it was.
Castling, decoded. The king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook jumps over to land beside it. Count the O’s as the squares between king and rook: two on the short side, three on the long side.
When two pieces could make the move. If both knights can reach d7, the notation adds where the moving one came from: Nbd7 means the knight on the b-file. Rooks sharing a file use the rank instead: R1e2 means the rook on rank 1.
Move numbers. Moves come in pairs, White then Black: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 is two full moves. Three dots mean the number belongs to Black’s move, so 5...Nxd5?? is Black’s fifth move, and the annotator thinks it loses on the spot.
The marks (!, ?, !?) are opinions, not rules. They’re the annotator talking, not part of the move.
Cheat sheet
| You see | It means | Example |
|---|---|---|
K Q R B N | King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight (N, because K was taken) | Nf3: a knight moves to f3 |
| No letter | A pawn | e4: a pawn moves to e4 |
x | Captures | Nxf7: a knight takes on f7 |
+ | Check | Qh5+: the queen gives check from h5 |
# | Checkmate | Qxf7#: the queen takes on f7, mate |
O-O | Castles kingside (the short side) | O-O |
O-O-O | Castles queenside (the long side) | O-O-O |
=Q | Pawn promotes | e8=Q: a pawn reaches e8 and becomes a queen |
! / ? | Good move / bad move | Nd5! |
!! / ?? | Brilliant / blunder | Nxd5?? |
!? / ?! | Interesting / dubious | Bc4!? |
The one skill that matters
You don’t need to memorize any of this, you need to recognize it. Next time an article says “the bishop eyes f7,” your eyes should jump to the square without counting.
Remember your first score? Play another round and beat it.
Then put it to work: the Italian Game opens 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4, and now you can read every move of it.
Now play it: the trainer below names a piece and two squares — drag it there, just as the notation reads.