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EntertainmentHow to Play Chess

How to Understand Chess Symbols

Transcript

Hi, my names Rebecca Taxman with Chess NYC, and I’m gonna talk to you about the symbols used in chess during chess notation. It is extremely imperative that we understand chess notation in order to record games. If we hadn’t learned chess notation, we would not be able to look at games such as Bobby Fisher’s most famous game, or Capablanca’s games, or any games that we have played to go over and understand our own moves.

So, each piece has it’s own letter. Capital P equals pawn, capital N equals Knight, capital B equals bishop, capital R equals rook, capital Q equals queen and capital K equals king. Those are our pieces. now we need to understand the symbols used. So, check is designed by a plus sign. Check mate is designated with a pound sign or a number sign, castling king side or short side castle is 0-0. Castling queen side or long side castle is 0-0-0. Then we have capture, we use an X. A move that is not a good move at all is ?. A good move is an exclamation point. And then we also have, when you have a pawn promotion, that means you get a pawn to the end of the board and you’re going to promote it into a queen or a rook or a knight, we use equal sign.

And those are the symbols that we use for chess notation.


Lessons in this Guide

How to Play Chess with Chess NYC

Chess Etiquette

What Is Blitz Chess?

10 Golden Moves of Chess

Basics of The Italian Game in Chess

Basics of The Ruy Lopez in Chess

Basics of the Sicilian Defense in Chess

What Is Blackburne’s Mating Maneuver in Chess?

What Is a Ladder Checkmate?

What Is a Smothered Checkmate?

What Is Légal’s Pseudo-Sacrifice in Chess?

How to Achieve Checkmate with Only the King & Rook

How to Achieve Checkmate with Only the King & Queen

How to Achieve Checkmate in 4 Chess Moves

How to Achieve Checkmate in 3 Chess Moves

How to Achieve Checkmate in 2 Chess Moves

3 Things to Consider If You Get Stuck in Chess

3 Basic Opening Strategy Principles in Chess

Basic Principles of Attacking & Defending in Chess

Capturing Pieces vs. Pursuing Checkmate in Chess

How to Understand Pawn Structure in Chess

How to Understand Chess Combinations

What Is Zugzwang in Chess?

What Is a Gambit in Chess?

What Is Pawn Promotion in Chess?

What Is Handicapping in Chess?

Legal & Illegal Moves in Chess

What Is Tempo in Chess?

What Is Space in Chess?

What Is Centering in Chess?

What Is Calculation in Chess?

How to Use Chess Notation

How to Understand Chess Symbols

How to Use the King in Chess

How to Use the Queen in Chess

How to Use the Rook in Chess

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