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How To...? Guides

  • How To Play Chess

Chess is a game of War, typically played by 2 players. Each Player controls a side of coloured pieces, 1 White and 1 Black, over a square of Board with 64 alternatively shaded light and dark coloured squares. Each player starts with 32 Pieces of varying types, shapes and abilities which represents the forces at the Player's disposal.

The aim of the game is to skillfully maneuver your Pieces such that no matter what your Opponent does, you will capture their King on the very next move. This is known as Checkmate as capturing the King is not required and it is given that Player achieving Checkmate is victorious as the Winner.

Starting with the White Player first, each Player takes it turn to make a move by picking up a Piece from a Starting Square and placing it down on a chosen Destination Square. Each Piece has a unique ability of moving and typically with a few exceptions, if a Piece is moved onto the same Square as an Opponent Piece, that Opponent Piece is Captured and eliminated from the game.

This alternating play continues until the game ends either by one side winning or a draw is reached.

  • How to setup the Chessboard

Before each game of Chess, there is a specific way each board is setup for a traditional game. Starting with an empty board, this is orientated so that the White square h1 is on the right-hand side of the White Player.

From the Black Player's point of view, the White square a8 is on the right-hand side. The best way to remember this is : "The White On the Right."

`The White Side is on Ranks 1-4 and therefore the White Pieces start on Ranks 1 and 2. Conversely the Black Side is on Ranks 5-8 with the Black Pieces starting on Ranks 7 and 8. White plays Up the board and Black plays down the board however from each Player's perspective they are both playing forward up the board.

So starting with an empty board, place the Rooks in each of the corners with the colours on the correct side. (There are no intentional double-agent players in this game. White Rooks on squares a1 and h1. Black Rooks on a8 and h8.

Next place the Knights horizontally adjacent to each Rook. White Knights on squares b1 and g1. Black Knights on squares b8 and g8.

Next place the Bishops horizontally adjacent to each Knight. White Bishops on squares c1 and f1. Black Bishops on squares c8 and f8.

Next place the Queens. "Let The Lady have her own colour "Square." 
So place the White Queen on square d1. Black Queen on square d8.

Then place the Kings on the last remaining free square on the back ranks. So place the White King on square e1. Black King on square e8.

Finally place the eight pawns of each colour on each square of the 2nd rank for each side in front of the already placed pieces. So place the White Pawns on squares a2 to h2. Black Pawns on squares a7 to h7.

And that's it, the game is now ready to start playing.

Note how in the starting position, each and every piece is covered or protected by at least 1 or more other pieces. So in a kind of mutual deterrent, no piece can be captured without the attacking piece being re-captured itself. The same can be said of the squares on the 3rd and 6th ranks immediately in front of each side. The line of Pawns in combination with power from the pieces on the back ranks prevent any opposing force from entering those squares.

  • How to use Algebraic Notation

   There are benefits in having the ability to record Chess Matches move by move. It allows replay for demonstration, education, entertainment, exhibition, historical record etc.
For serious competitions, it is a legal requirement.
   There is the option for post-match analysis either by human audience or by Chess Engine with any amount computing power to provide answers and insight into how the game was won or lost.
  For the personal player, it provides the opportunity for improvement by being able to replay through, analyse, prescribe and discuss potential solutions so that next time, better play is made.

Therefore a universal notation language is required so that any Chess Player can understand and accurately replay any recorded Chess match. 


Fortunately there are a number of existing Notations used throughout the History of Chess.

First and the most simplest is the Coordinate Notation.

This basically assigns each square on the Chessboard a fixed designation based on its File & Rank location on the Board ranging from letters A-H for Files and Numbers 1-8 for Ranks.

 Each move by both sides is written as in a numerical list and simply states the move's Starting square then Destination Square. It's simplicity is that the actual value and type of the pieces are ignored and only the squares involved are recorded. It is assumed, following the basic rules of Chess, that any Destination Square which is occupied by an Opponent's Piece represents a capture which does not require any explanation.

So for example, here are the first 5 moves from the Sicilian Defence-Najdorf Variation :-

1. E2-E4 C7-C5
2. G1-F3 D7-D6
3. D2-D4 C5-D4
4. F3-D4 G8-F6
5. B1-C3 A7-A6

 

Although simple and easy enough to follow, the Coordinate Notation  does not provide much insight into what is happening in the game unless the reader is following each move precisely on an accompanying Chessboard or is proficient at Blindfold Chess.

So another traditional notation method used and still can be found in many older Chess books from Pre-21st Century is the Descriptive Notation.

Here, the coordinate system is re-labelled with the Files designation based on the Starting Piece associated with that File and the Ranks are counted up from each Player's point of view up the board.

First, the Chessboard is divided lengthways into the Kingside and the Queenside, based on those Pieces Starting Squares.

 

Then each Square on the Chessboard is given a Designated Label based on its position on the board, relative to the Starting Piece and the Player.

Here each letter represents a Piece :-

K - King
Q - Queen
R - Rook
B - Bishop
Kt - Knight

P - Pawn

So as the Starting Pieces' locations are always fixed, the File Labels are always the same. From each Player's point of view, the Ranks count up the Board from 1 to 8.
So White's K4 Square is the equivalent of Black's K5 Square, White's QB5 Square is the equivalent of Black's QB4 Square and White's KKt1 Square is the equivalent of Black's KKt8 Square.

In Descriptive Notation, each move is listed as the Piece moved followed by the Destination Square. Captures are explicitly listed using the X keyword and against the Piece rather than the Square.

So from the previous example of the first 5 moves of the Sicilian Defence-Najdorf Variation :-

1. P-K4 P-QB4
2. Kt-KB3 P-Q3
3. P-Q4 PxP
4. KtxP Kt-KB3
5. Kt-QB3 P-QR3 

Ambigous Pieces can be differentiated by using the File or Square designation.
For example QB5KtxQP.

Further symbols written after the directly after the move indicate special situations :-

+ - Check.
++ - Checkmate.
! - Good Move.
? - Blunder.
e.p. - Capture by En Passant

e.g. 10. R-K8+ or PxP e.p.

O-O - Castles on the  Kingside
O-O-O Castles on the Queenside.

When a pawn reaches the other end of the board, it can be promoted to any piece which is represented by the = keyword.
For example, promoting a Rook Pawn into a Queen: 35. P-QR8=Q

Sometimes when games are recorded in Europe, R is used for the King, D is used for the Queen or Dame, T is used for the Rook or Tower. Also in games post-1944, N is used for the Knight instead of Kt.

Descriptive notation is useful when examining older texts or more traditional Chess books which are still in print or 2nd hand today.




However Algebraic Notation is used today for modern Chess Matches.

As with Coordinate Notation,  each square on the Chessboard is assigned a fixed designation based on its File & Rank location on the Board ranging from letters A-H for Files and Numbers 1-8 for Ranks.

 Each move by both sides is written as in a numerical list and states what Piece is moving, what it is doing and then Destination Square.

Each Piece is represented by a letter  :-


K - King
Q - Queen
R - Rook
B - Bishop
N - Knight

Normal moves simply write the Piece then the Destination Square;
Captures use the x keyword and then the Destination Square.

Pawns don't need a Piece letter and either indicate the Destination Square for a move or for capturing : the File letter x the Destination Square.

So from the previous example of the first 5 moves of the Sicilian Defence-Najdorf Variation :-

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6

Notice how cleaner and concise the text is while still conveying what is taking place in the game. Any experienced Chess player will be able to recognise and follow this with ease for a few moves at least.


Ambigous Pieces can be differentiated by using the File or Rank designation.
​For example : Ncxd5 or N1xg3

Further symbols written after the directly after the move indicate special situations :-
+ - Check.
# - Checkmate.
! - Good Move.
? - Blunder.

e.g. 30. Qd8#

O-O - Castles on the  Kingside
O-O-O Castles on the Queenside.

When a pawn reaches the other end of the board, it can be promoted to any piece which is represented by the = keyword.
For example, promoting a Rook Pawn into a Queen: 35. a8=Q


Figurine Notation is similar to Algebraic Notation because the letters used represent the Pieces are replaced with 2D picture symbols of the pieces and is more suited to computer display.

Portable Game Notation .PGN is used by Chess Engines to easily store & read games into file format for recall and analysis. It takes the list of moves written algebraic notation and adds several headers to embellish the information about the Chess match such as :

[Event "World Championship"]
[Site "Worthing Chess Club"] 
[Date "2022.12.16"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Nigel Short"]
[Black "Garry Kasparov"]






In any notation format which is used, the end result of the match is recorded in the following manner :-

1-0       : Win for White.
0-1       : Win for Black.
1/2-1/2 : Draw either by Agreement, Stalemate, Three Move/Position Repetition.
*           : Unfinished.
 

©2025 by Worthing Chess Club.

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