In the first part, we saw how the moves of the pawns and pieces are recorded, but we still have to see how captures are recorded, ambiguities are resolved, and some other matters. I haven’t put the labels along the side of the board for all the diagrams in this post. If you need to review how the squares are named, review Chess Notation Part 1.

Recording Captures

It is common to write “x” for “captures.” So if the King captures an enemy piece on f1, the move is written “Kxf1.” (You will find some players and some books that use a colon : to designate a capture. So the King capture described above would be written K:f1. This is not common in the U.S.)

It is common for Pawn captures to name the file that the Pawn is capturing from, and the square that the Pawn is capturing to.

So in the diagram above, if White captures the Black Pawn on the second move, it would be written “exd5.” Some books and players just name the files for Pawn captures. This is an abbreviated notation, and the pawn capture just mentioned would be written simply “ed.”

Removing Ambiguities

If the simple method just described for naming the piece and destination would be ambiguous, you should add the name of a file or rank that would remove the ambiguity. In the diagram below, both White rooks could move to e5.

If the Rook at e1 were to move to e5, the move should be written “Ree5.” If the Rook at a5 were were to move to e5, the move should be written “Rae5.” In that same diagram, both Black Rooks could move to f7. If the Rook at f2 were to move to f7, you should write “R2f7.” If the Rook at f8 were to move to f7, you should write R8f7. Of course, if all else fails, you can remove all ambiguity by naming the piece, the square of origin, and the destination square: Rf8f7.

What about en passant captures?

In the old descriptive notation, en passant captures were written, PxP e.p. (Pawn captures Pawn en passant). In algebraic notation, you would just name the file that the capturing Pawn starts on and the square that the Pawn captures to: exd6. Remember that in the en passant capture, the capturing Pawn arrives at the square that the enemy Pawn bypassed in its two-step move. So though the Pawn being captured may be at d5, the capturing Pawn captures by arriving at d6. In the following diagram, Black has just moved d7-d5.

That means that White has two ways of capturing the d-pawn: each of the White’s e-pawns can make the capture. We can’t just write “ed” (the abbreviated way of writing the move) because this wouldn’t tell us which of the pawns made the capture. But in this case, we can remove the ambiguity by naming the destination square, so our normal way of writing the move will suffice: exd6 would be the en passant capture, and exd5 would be the normal capture. Again, the simple way to remove all ambiguity is to name both the square of origin and the square of destination of the capturing piece: e5xd6 or e4xd5.

How to Record the Castling move, Check, and Checkmate

Castling has a unique designation that doesn’t involve naming any squares. Castling to the king-side (castling “short”) is written 0-0. Castling to the queen-side (castling “long”) is written 0-0-0 (By the way, this is one way in which algebraic notation is the same as English descriptive notation.)

You may see some places where the castling move is recorded differently from the way described above.

Check

If a move ends in check to the enemy King, a + is added at the end of the move. For example, in the above diagram with the Rooks, White could check the Black King by moving his Rook to g5. This would be written “Rg5+”.

Checkmate

If a move is checkmate, a # is put at the end of the move (or you could just write “mate” or “checkmate”).

It is also common to write the result of a game using a shorthand. If White wins, this is written “1-0″. If Black wins, the notation is “0-1″. If the game ends as a draw, the notation is 1/2-1/2.

You can learn all the rules … including chess notation in the wonderful book that I recommend to new players: Learn Chess: A Complete Course. And be sure to see my other posts for the absolute chess beginner.

In Part 3, we will review a short game to test our knowledge of chess notation.

How can you record your own chess games for later study (or to show your greatness to future generations)? The answer is in chess notation. This article (part 1 of 3 parts) will show you how to use algebraic notation to record your chess games and read the games of others.

Algebraic notation

I learned chess using English descriptive notation. I prefer it for sentimental reasons. A lot of the books in my library are printed with descriptive notation. But the modern chess world has abandoned descriptive notation for algebraic. Algebraic notation does have its advantages, and – best of all – it is easy to explain. So we’ll learn algebraic notation.

Each square has a name

First, each square of the chess board has a name. Each square is designated by a letter corresponding to the vertical columns (called “files”) and a number corresponding to the horizontal rows (called “ranks”). The dark square at White’s lower left is called “a1,” and the squares across White’s first rank (where White’s King, Queen, and other pieces are lined up in the starting position) are called a1, b1, c1, d1, e1, f1, g1, and h1. The second row (where White’s Pawns are lined up in the starting position) are called a2, b2, c2, … h2. The rest of the squares of the chess board are similarly labeled until we get to Black’s king-side Rook, which sits on h8 in the starting position.

The diagram of the chessboard below has letters along the right and left side of the chess board and numbers along the top and bottom of the chess board.

For any square, you can find the letter designation by looking along the top or bottom and the proper number by looking at the numbers along the sides. For example, the White Pawn in the diagram below has been moved to e4 and the Black Pawn has been moved to d5.

By the way … always use lower-case letters for designating the squares. The reason for this is that the pieces are designated using upper-case letters.

How the pieces are named

The pieces are labeled as follows:

• Rook = R
• Knight = N
• Bishop = B
• Queen = Q
• King = K

To record a move, you first write the piece that is moving and then put the name of the square that the piece is moving to. So if the King is moving to f1, you write “Kf1.” If the Rook is moving to e5, you write “Re5.”

Recording Pawn Moves

The Pawn is not normally given a label. For Pawn moves, only the destination square is named. So if White moves the Pawn in front of his King two squares forward on his first move, the notation to record that move is just “e4.”

In part 2, we will cover recording captures, castling, and checkmate. In part 3, we’ll review the chess notation of an entire game.

You can learn all the rules … including chess notation in the wonderful book that I recommend to new players: Learn Chess: A Complete Course. And be sure to see my other posts for the absolute chess beginner.

Today’s article is about Pawn promotion. And along with the rules about Pawn promotion, we will take a little step into endgame strategy.

The pawn is the lowly foot soldier of chess. And though it is the weakest of the pieces, it can have a huge impact on the outcome of a game. The gain of a single pawn can be enough to ensure victory in many positions.

The big reason for this is that a pawn has an ace up its sleeve, so to speak. As you remember, the pawn can only move forward one step at a time (apart from its first move, when it can take two steps). But when it reaches the other side of the board (the “eighth rank”), it is allowed (required) to become a more powerful piece. On almost every occasion in practical play, the Pawn becomes a Queen.

Which piece should I promote the pawn to?

Which piece the Pawn becomes is up to the player. You can decide to make the Pawn into a Knight, a Bishop, a Rook, or Queen. You may not make a second King, and you may not elect to leave the Pawn unpromoted. (Put another way, you can’t elect to “promote” your Pawn to a Pawn.)

Underpromotion

There are occasions … rare occasions when you may wish to promote your Pawn to some piece other than the Queen. We call that “underpromotion.” You may never in your chess career have the occasion to underpromote; this comes up more often in chess puzzles and tactics quizzes. But it could come up, and you should be aware of the possibility.

In the position below, it is White’s move, and his Pawn is on his seventh rank, ready to promote. If he promotes the Pawn to Queen, he will actually lose the game. But if he “underpromotes” the Pawn, he can win the game. Do you see what underpromotion will save the game for White?

Who promotes first?

For our first foray into chess strategy, I want to show you a simple way to determine whether you or your opponent will Queen your Pawn first. There are very many occasions when you will have to carefully count the moves to determine when and under what circumstances you or your opponent will reach the queening square. But in many cases, where its simply a question of which Pawn is faster, there is an easy way to tell.

First, you should recognize that no Pawn is faster than any other Pawn; they all travel at the same rate: one square per turn. I often see players pushing their Pawns in a frantic race as if somehow or other through some magic, their Pawn will get to the eighth rank faster than their opponent’s. But you can tell right away without all the panic. If it is your turn and your Pawn is even with or farther advanced than your opponent’s, your Pawn will get there first (provided you move your pawn!).

It’s a simple rule, but it may spare you some agony in counting moves in simple Pawn races.

What happens after the “race”?

You should be very aware, however, of what happens after your Pawn promotes! Your opponent might very well lose the race, but win the game. You should especially beware of checks. In the diagram below, if it is White’s turn, he will promote first; he’s won the battle! But he loses the war, because though Black loses the race, he promotes with check and will then capture White’s brand new Queen.

If you’re interested in learning more about the rules and elementary chess tactics, be sure to get the wonderful book, Learn Chess: A Complete Course

This is the ninth in my series of articles about how the chess pieces move. This article will cover the rule about the en passant capture. My next article will cover the rule about pawn promotion, and then we’ll move on to the rules about check and checkmate. After that I plan to have a series of articles and videos on how to checkmate, which should be a lot of fun – be sure to look for that. Click the RSS feed button above to be notified through your favorite reader about updates to this blog!

The en passant rule

First, it is easiest to understand this rule by looking at the video. I have a couple of examples I go through, and you should have a good understanding by reviewing the video.

This is the rule (in my own words): when a Pawn is on its fifth rank (f5 for the white Pawn in the diagram below, c4 for the black Pawn) …

…if an enemy pawn makes a two-step first move, thereby crossing a square that the pawn attacks (a square where the pawn could capture an enemy piece that stands there), for the next move and the next move only, the pawn may capture the enemy pawn as if it had made only a one-step move. (If you want to check the official rule, get the United States Chess Federation’s Official Rules of Chess, Fifth Edition.

The term en passant is French for “in passing.” Think of it this way: the enemy pawn is trying to “sneak past” your pawn by taking two steps instead of one. Your pawn grabs him by the collar, saying “not so fast!” You capture the enemy pawn “in passing” as it were.

So, if Black moves his Pawn at g7 to g5 …

…for the next move ONLY, the White Pawn can capture the Black Pawn as if it stood on g6. .

The same goes for the Black Pawn at c4. If White moves his Pawn to b4 …

…then Black may capture the White pawn as if it stood on b3.

Where does your pawn go after the capture?

When your pawn makes its capture, it goes to the square that it would normally go to in the capture: forward one square diagonally. The enemy pawn is removed from the board and you put your pawn on the square where the enemy pawn would have been standing if it had moved only one step forward on the first move. Look at the video to see the examples.

Only on the next move

If you should come across this opportunity in a game, you must think carefully. In order to make the en passant capture, you must make the capture at the first opportunity. If you make a different move, you lose the right to make the capture. Should your pawn be pinned, or if you happen to be in check from a different piece, or if for any other reason you allow a move to go by without making the en passant capture, you forfeit the opportunity. The move must be made immediately or not at all.

Don’t make the en passant capture just because you can! Make sure that the move is a good one before making it. Don’t capture just because you have the opportunity to capture! Think about the move before you make it.

If you want to learn more about the basic chess rules, chess tactics, and basic strategies, Learn Chess: A Complete Course.

The next article in this series will be on the rules for pawn promotion!

There are a couple of matters that chess beginners (and even some advanced players) don’t completely understand about the rules for castling; this article should clear up those misconceptions.

Can the King castle if it has been checked?

Some players … usually brand new players … mistakenly believe that if the King has ever been checked, he loses the right to castle. This is not true. In order to lose the privilege of castling, the King must have moved. And by the way, it doesn’t matter if the King moved because it was in check, or just because it felt like taking a stroll. If the King moves, it can no longer castle; but a King that has been checked may still castle – provided it hasn’t moved.

The King might be checked any number of times and still castle, provided that the King has never moved out of check. (Usually checks against the uncastled King are blocked by an interposing piece or the checking piece is captured to preserve the castling privilege.)

How about the Rook?

You remember that the King may not castle out of or “across” check. (Review my previous article on castling.)If the King is in check, he can’t castle out of the check. And if the square that the King crosses while castling is guarded by an enemy piece, he again can’t castle.

But this rule does not apply to the Rook. A Rook may castle out of an attack. And the Rook may astle “across” a square that is attacked. (This will only occur on queenside castling, and I explain that in the video.)

Can the Rook cross an attacked square during the castling move?

Also, the rule about castling out of or through check does not apply to the Rook. Castling may be carried out although the Rook is attacked or if the Rook happens to travel across an attacked square.

In fact, there’s a nifty little trap (a type of double attack) in which you castle long (to the queenside) across an attacked square, deliver check to the opposing King with your Rook, and attack the enemy Rook with your King. It’s pretty rare, but good to know about! Take a look at the video to see examples.

My next video will be on how the pawn “en passant” capture works.

If you want a great book for beginners that explains the rules and gives a good foundation for understanding basic chess tactics, be sure to get Learn Chess: A Complete Course. Click the link or find it in my chess store.