Chess Notation

This guide uses standard algebraic notation and FEN strings. Here's a quick reference.

Algebraic Notation

Pieces

Symbol	Piece
K	King
Q	Queen
R	Rook
B	Bishop
N	Knight
(none)	Pawn

Moves

• e4 — Pawn to e4
• Nf3 — Knight to f3
• Bxc6 — Bishop captures on c6
• O-O — Kingside castling
• O-O-O — Queenside castling
• e8=Q — Pawn promotes to queen
• Rd1+ — Rook to d1, check
• Qh7# — Queen to h7, checkmate

Disambiguation

When two identical pieces can move to the same square:

• Rad1 — Rook from the a-file to d1
• R1d3 — Rook from the 1st rank to d3
• Qh4e1 — Queen from h4 to e1 (rare)

FEN Notation

FEN (Forsyth-Edwards Notation) describes a position in a single line.

Example

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

This is the starting position.

Structure

[piece placement] [side to move] [castling] [en passant] [halfmove] [fullmove]

1. Piece placement: Ranks 8 to 1, separated by /. Lowercase = black, uppercase = white. Numbers = empty squares.

2. Side to move: w (white) or b (black)

3. Castling rights: K (white kingside), Q (white queenside), k (black kingside), q (black queenside), or - if none

4. En passant target: The square behind a pawn that just moved two squares, or -

5. Halfmove clock: Moves since last pawn move or capture (for 50-move rule)

6. Fullmove number: Increments after black's move

Endgame FEN Examples

Position	FEN
K+Q vs K	4k3/8/8/8/8/8/8/4K2Q w - - 0 1
Lucena	1K1k4/1P6/8/8/8/8/r7/2R5 w - - 0 1
Philidor	8/8/8/8/4k3/4p3/4K3/4R3 w - - 0 1

Using FEN

1. Copy the FEN string from any position in this guide
2. Paste into Lichess Analysis or your preferred tool
3. Analyze with engine assistance or practice against Stockfish