How to Read Descriptive Chess Notation

To study the moves in a game of chess, the lords of chess long ago decreed that each square on the board should be named. Methods differed, however, with the algebraic system eventually gaining the upper hand over descriptive chess notation. Older books and players still profess a fondness for descriptive notation, which names each square from each player's perspective. Here's how to read descriptive chess notation.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Look at the board and observe the lineup of pieces in their home positions. The King's Square is K1.

2. Continue on the King's side of the board. The Bishop's square is KB1, the Knight is KN1 and the Rook is KR1.

3. Go to the Queen's square, which is named Q1. Continuing on the Queen's side, the squares are named QB1 for the Bishop's square, QN1 for the Knight's square and QR1 for the Rook's square.

4. Move forward to continue naming the squares according to the pieces on the first row. For example, the squares proceeding forward from the Queen's Rook are QR2, QR3, QR4, QR5, QR6, QR7 and QR8. Likewise, the squares proceeding forward from the King's Bishop are KB2, KB3, KB4, KB5, KB6, KB7 and KB8.

5. Indicate a piece's move by using the name of the piece and the square it moves to. For example, if the King's Bishop moved to the third square in the King's Rook row, the descriptive chess notation would be KB-KR3.

6. Look for White's move, then Black's, on the same line. For example, in the fifth pair of moves, you might see: 5: KR-KR4 KN-KB3.

7. Check for special symbols. An "x" indicates a capture, "ch" indicates check, and "KR" and "QR" indicates castling King's side and Queen's side, respectively.

Tips & Warnings

• Realize, when reading descriptive chess notation, that the perspective of the player matters. So the space that is Q3 from White's perspective is Q5 from Black's perspective.

Resources

• Get more information about chess notation.