How to read chess notation

Every puzzle solution — in the app and in the printed books — is written in algebraic notation. It looks cryptic for about five minutes, then becomes second nature. Here's everything you need.

The squares

Every square on the board has its own address: a letter for the file (column, a–h, left to right from White's side) and a number for the rank (row, 1–8, starting from White's side). So "e4" is the file-e column, 4th row up.

The pieces

A move is written as the piece's letter followed by the square it moves to. Pawns are the exception — they have no letter, just the destination square (e.g. "e4" means a pawn moved to e4).

K
King
Q
Queen
R
Rook
B
Bishop
N
Knight (K is already taken by the King)

Special symbols

x
A capture — e.g. "Nxe5" means the knight captures whatever is on e5.
+
Check — the move attacks the enemy king.
#
Checkmate — the game-ending move.
O-O
Castling kingside (the shorter side).
O-O-O
Castling queenside (the longer side).
=Q
Promotion — e.g. "a8=Q" means a pawn reaching a8 becomes a queen.

Putting it together

"Nxe5+" reads as: a knight captures a piece on e5, putting the enemy king in check. That's the whole system — once you can read one move, you can read every solution in the books and the app, exactly as printed. We keep solutions in real notation rather than plain English, because it's the same language you'll see in every chess book, app, and broadcast from here on.