BEGINNER COURSE

Get the Chess equipment you need today! Check out what we've found!

Everything you need to get started for dirt cheap and free shipping!

Session # 11
THE ALGEBRAIC NOTATION

We are now going to learn how to record our game. The algebraic notation is the way that is used to record the game. Every good chess board should have letters in the bottom and numbers on the sides, with this we can now give each individual square a letter and number to represent it, like e4. Now If we can do the same with the pieces, we will be able to say which piece moves on which square. The pawn doesn't have a letter to represent it, the king, will be represented by: K , the Queen = Q, the Bishop = B, the Knight = N, the Rook = R. We can now identify the pieces and the squares with letter, numbers and symbols, we now need symbol to represent if it's a movement, a capture, a check, check mate, etc…

TABLE OF THE DIFFERENT SYMBOLS

Symbol	definition	example
-	moves to	Qb6-d4
+	Check	Qb6-d4+
x	captures	Qb6xd4
mate	check mate	Qb6-d4 mate
:	promoted pawn	e8 : Q
?	Bad move	Qb6-d4 ?
!	Good move	Qb6-d4 !
*0-0	Small castle	0-0
*0-0-0	Big castle	0-0-0
*++	double check	Qb6-d4++
½ ½	Draw	Qb6xd4 ½ ½
0-1	White loses or resings	Qb6-d4 0-1
1-0	Black loses or resisngs	Qb6-d4 1-0

*These symbols are not important for now, but will be by the end of the course.

Here is an example of how we prepare a sheet and how we write the game.

White: Joe Black: Mark Date: 12/09/2010
White 1. e2-e4 2. N-f3 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. (...)	Black e7-e5 N-c6

At the end of every session, we recommend pracicing and / or doing some chess puzzles. This site has chess puzzles and also a chess forum so you can chat with other players. http://www.chessnerds.com

Choose your session:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28