Chess Notations

Ts. Mohd At-Tarmizi Bin Abu Hassan

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CHESS NOTATIONS

POLITEKNIK SULTAN IDRIS SHAH
KEMENTERIAN PENGAJIAN TINGGI

First Edition 2021

Copyright © 2021 Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or
mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses
permitted by copyright law.

eISBN: 978-967-2096-98-6

Published by:
Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah,
Sungai Lang, 45100 Sungai Air Tawar,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.

Phone Number: 03 3280 6200

Fax Number : 03 3280 6400

Website : https://psis.mypolycc.edu.my/

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‫ﺑِ ۡﺴ ِﻢ ٱ�ِ ٱﻟ ﱠﺮ ِﺣﯿ ِﻤﭑﻟ ﱠﺮ ۡﺣ َﻤ ٰـ ِﻦ‬

This book is dedicated to all the chess students, men, and women who commit themselves
to learn about chess.

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CHESS NOTATIONS
Chess Notations is written for polytechnic students who are pursuing subject MPU24011 –
Sukan (Chess) in diploma courses in engineering, tourism and hospitality, management,
and culinary arts. Students of other institutions from primary and secondary school, the
university may also find this book useful.
The content was design to improve chess skills ability through variations bunch of
legendary chess game notation. “Practice makes perfect!”

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CHESS NOTATIONS
I would like to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of our families, friends,
and top management of Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah who have actively contributed to
the successful publication of this book.

Ts. Mohd At-Tarmizi Bin Abu Hassan

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CHESS NOTATIONS i
ii
Title iii
Copyright iv
PSIS Chess Club Logo v
Chess Quotes vi
Dedication vii
Preface viii
Acknowledgements 1
Table of Contents 2-8
Chessboard 9-11
Chess Pieces 12
Chess Notations 13-20
Chess Notations Score Sheet 21-25
Checkmate Position 26-105
Chess Puzzle ix
Legendary Chess Notation x
References and Further Reading
Chess Glossary viii | P a g e

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CHESS BOARD

Chess a board game of strategic skill for two players played on a chequered board on which

each playing sixteen pieces is move according to precise rules. The object is to put the
opponent's king under a direct attack from which escape is impossible (checkmate).

Chessboard

Ranks

Files

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CHESS PIECES

Six unique pieces of chess

i. The Pawn iv. The Bishop
ii. The Rook v. The Queen
iii. The Knight vi. The King

The table below shows how the chessmen are represent in printed material, the symbol given
to it and its value.

Chessman Name Symbol Value

The King K Invaluable

The Queen Q 9 point

The Rook R 5 point
The Bishop B 3 point

The Knight N 3 point
The Pawn 1 point

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i. The Pawn

a. Each player starts with eight.
b. Least powerful piece with the most complicated rules.
c. The pawn typically moves one square forward.
d. There are three exceptions to this rule.
e. A pawn may only attack diagonally forward.
f. A pawn may move two squares forward on ONLY its first move / from its

original starting position.
g. There is a special capture a pawn can make called “en passant”.

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ii. The Rook
a. Each player starts with two.
b. A rook can move horizontally or vertically forwards or backwards.
c. A rook moves until it captures or hits a piece of the same color.

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iii. The Knight
a. Each player starts with two.
b. Moves two squares horizontally or vertically and then one square diagonally
(moves from one corner in any 2x3 set of squares / L shaped jump)
c. The ONLY piece that can jump other pieces.

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iv. The Bishop

a. Each player starts with two.
b. The bishop moves in a straight diagonal line forwards or backwards.
c. There are two bishops for each player one black and one white.
d. Black bishop can only move in black diagonals and white bishop in white.

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v. The Queen

a. Each player starts with one.
b. The queen moves like the rook and bishop combined / moves any number of squares

diagonally, vertically, or horizontally.
c. The most powerful piece.
d. Always starts on a square of her own color.

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vi. The King

a. Each player starts with one.
b. Moves like the queen except only one square at a time.
c. The most valuable piece. The side who’s King is captured first loses
d. Always starts on a square that is NOT his color.

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CHESS NOTATIONS

Notations: are various systems that have developed to record either the moves made
in a game of chess or the position of pieces on a chessboard.
Notation uses this symbol:
K - King
Q - Queen
R - Rook
B - Bishop
N - Knight
(Blank) – Pawn
The board squares is identify by their rank (column) and file (row) names.
For instance, the lower left square is a1. The upper right square is h8.

In Short Algebraic Notation, the format for recording moves is:
(piece symbol) (target square). For pawn moves, the symbol is left off.
Instead of “Pe3”, you would write just “e4”. Using the example, the pawn and knight
moves would be 1. e4 Nc6

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Annotations are add to provide additional insight into the move.
+ - Check
++ - Checkmate
Capture indicated with an “x”. Example: Nxd4
Promotions use an “=”. Example: f7=Q
Castling, king-side: 0-0
Castling, queen-side: 0-0-0

Sometimes more information is need for ambiguous references for example:

If the knight took the pawn, writing “Nxf5” would not be adequate to indicate which white
knight is used. How could we tell the difference? We include the rank and write Nh4xf5.
We have a similar situation with the black pawns taking the white. We need to include the
file of the attacking pawn and write d5xe4.

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Notation Exercise!

Recreate on your chessboard this game from the 1600’s involving a queen sacrifice.

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Chess Notations Score Sheet

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CHECKMATE POSITION

1.1 QUEEN AND ROOK MATE
1.2 QUEEN AND ROOK MATE

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CHECKMATE POSITION

2. TWO ROOK MATE
3. QUEEN AND BISHOP MATE

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CHECKMATE POSITION

4. QUEEN AND KNIGHT MATE
5. KING AND QUEEN MATE

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CHECKMATE POSITION

6. KING AND ONE ROOK MATE
7. KING AND TWO-BISHOP MATE

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CHECKMATE POSITION

8. KING, KNIGHT AND BISHOP MATE
9. ARABIAN MATE

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CHECKMATE POSITION

10. FOOL’S MATE (Two-Move-Checkmate)

11. SCHOLAR’S MATE (Four-Move-Checkmate)

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CHECKMATE POSITION

12. LEGAL’S MATE

13. BACK RANK MATE

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CHECKMATE POSITION

14. SMOTHERED MATE
15. ANASTASIA’S MATE

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CHESS PUZZLE

Garry Kasparov vs Vasyl Ivanchuk 1988 (1-0) – White to win
1. f6 Bxd5 2. Re8+ Bg8 3. f7 Nxf7 4. Nxf7#

Victor Kortschnoj vs Anatoly Karpov 1978 (0-1) – Black to win
1. … Nf3+ 2. gxf3 Rg6+ 3. Kh1 Nf2#

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CHESS PUZZLE

Eldar Gasanov vs Igor Kovalenko 2016 (0-1) – Black to win
1. … Qe6+ 2. Kxg5 Qf6+ 3. Kg4 Rh4+ 4. Kg3 Qg5#

Martyn Kravtsiv vs Ding Liren 2017 (0-1) – Black to win
1. … a1=N#

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CHESS PUZZLE

Mikhail Tal vs Mikhail Botvinnik 1960 (1-0) – White to win
1. Rxa6+ bxa6 2. Qb6+ Ka8 3. Qxa6+ Ra7 4. Qxc8#

Andrei Macovei vs Siva Mahadevan 2020 (0-1) – Black to win
1. … Ra1+ 2. Kxa1 Qa6+ 3. Kb1 Qd3+ 4. Rc2 Qxc2+ 5. Ka1 Ra8+ 6. Qa5 Rxa5#

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CHESS PUZZLE

George Mortimor Kramer vs Ilia Serpik 1996 (1-0) – White to win
1. Bf7+ Kd7 2. Qh3+ Kd6 3. Bf4+ Ne5 4. Qa3+ Kc6 5. Nxe5+

Magnus Carlsen vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2006 (1-0) – White to win
1. Nf5+ gxf5 2. Qxf6+ Kh7 3. Bxf5+ Kg8 4. Be6+ Kh7 5. Qxf4

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CHESS PUZZLE

Fabiano Caruana vs Ruslan Ponomariov 2014 (1-0) – White to win
1. Ba6 KxBa6 2. Qa8#

Samuel Reshevsky vs Robert James Fischer 1970 (0-1) – Black to win
1. … Qf2 2. Qb5 Re1 3. h3 Rxf1+



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International Master Federico Manca vs Braga 1992 (1-0)
Glucksberg vs Najdorf 1929 (0-1)

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Benjamin vs Carter 1975 (1-0)

Albert Einstein vs Oppenheimer 1933 (1-0)

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The World Champion Magnus Carlsen vs Ernst 2004 (1-0)
Grand Master Mark Paragua vs Debashis 2012 (1-0)

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Samuel Rosenthal vs Allies 1887 (1-0)
Kazic vs Vukovic 1940 (1-0)

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Frank Parr vs Wheatcroft 1938 (1-0)

Grand Master Alexander Beliavsky vs Larsen 1981 (1-0)

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Edward Lasker vs Thomas 1912 (1-0)

Byrne vs Grand Master Robert James Fischer 1963 (0-1)

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Anderssen vs Max Lange 1859 (0-1)
Per Ofstad vs Uhlmann 1963 (1-0)

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Hermann vs Hussong 1930 (0-1)

Alexander Fritz vs Mason 1930 (1-0)

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Women International Master Polina Shuvalova vs Afonasieva 2019 (1-0)
Grand Master Zhao Jun vs Deshun 2011 (1-0)

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Svidler vs Grand Master Dmitry Andreikin 2018 (0-1)
Grand Master Vasily Malinin vs Andreev 1989 (1-0)

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Zambelly vs Geza Maroczy 2019 (0-1)

Mikhail Botvinnik vs Checkover 1935 (1-0)

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Vladas Mikenas vs Lebedev 1941 (1-0)
NN vs Emil Joseph Diemer 1978 (0-1)

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Efim Korchmar vs Poliak 1937 (1-0)
Geza Maroczy vs Chigorin 1903 (1-0)

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Friedrich Saemisch vs Herzog 1924 (1-0)

The World Champion Alexander Alekhine vs Kaufmann 1863 (1-0)

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Gusev vs Auerbach 1946 (1-0)

Bagirov vs Eduard Gufeld 1973 (0-1)