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In chess diagrams, the file letters and rank numbers are usually not shown. Try to name the squares without looking at the letters and numbers. By convention, diagrams always show the game from White's side of the board.
The 64 squares are arranged in horizontal "ranks" numbered 1 to 8 and vertical "files" lettered a to h. In the diagram the white king sits on the square where the e-file crosses the 6th rank, so we call this square e6. The black king is on the square a6 and the white pawn is on c5. Each square has its own unique name.
The 1st rank is the one nearest White (when we say White, we mean the player using the using the white pieces) and the 8th rank is the one nearest Black. Notice that the a-file is on White's left, but looking from the other side of the board that same a-file is on Black's right.
K = king, Q = queen, R = rook, B = bishop and N = knight. Notice that we use upper case letters for the pieces and lower case for the squares. To identify a pawn move, just write the name of the square it moves to, eg b6. When a pawn reaches the other end of the board it must be replaced by a piece, eg b8Q means that White moves a pawn to the b8 square and replaces it with a queen.
The move g1N means that Black moves a pawn to the g1 square and replaces it with a knight.
When a pawn makes a capture, we record both the file it moves from and the square it moves to, eg cxd7.
When a pawn captures en passant, we write "e.p." after the move, eg exd6 e.p.
The only other symbols we need to know are... 0-0 = castle kingside,
0-0-0 = castle queenside,
+ = check, x = takes (or captures) and # or mate = checkmate.
In the following game White and Black have each made 11 moves. See if you can repeat the game on your own board.
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Bf4 e6 4 e3 c5 5 c3 Bd6 6 Bg3 0-0 7 Bd3 Bxg3 8 hxg3 Nc6 9 Nbd2 b6 10 Qe2 Bb7 11 0-0-0 Qe7On the 1st move, white moved a pawn to the square d4 and Black moved a pawn to d5. We know pawns were moved because the record does not show K, Q, R, B or N. Notice there is only one pawn that White could legally move to d4 and that is the one in front of the white queen. On the 2nd move, White moves a knight to the square f3 and Black moves a knight to f6. Notice that White's knight must have come from the square g1 and Black's from g8.
On the 6th move, Black castles kingside. When castling either kingside or queenside, the king goes two squares toward the rook and the rook jumps over the king to the square beside it. Here Black moved his king to g8 and his rook to f8 in the one move. It is only in the castling move that the king may travel more than one square.
On the 7th move, we see the first capture of the game when Black takes White's bishop on g3. You will see by now that a recorded move always ends with the name of the square that a pawn or piece moves to.
On White's 8th move, the pawn on the h-file captures whatever was on the square g3. Note that when a pawn makes a capture, it is normal to record both the file it moves from and the one it moves to.
White's 9th move has two lower case letters. The move Nd2 would tell us that a knight moved to the square d2, but in this game there are two nights that could move to d2. One of them is on b1 and the other is on f3. In the game it was the knight on the b-file that moved, so the player recorded the move as Nbd2.
Checks... The game does not show a check. A checking move is recorded by placing a + after the move, eg Bxf7+ or d2+. Sometimes its even possible to play 0-0+.
The result... If White wins, we write 1-0 after the final move. If Black wins, we write 0-1 and if the game is drawn or stalemated we write ½ - ½.