"Learn to Read & Write Chess" Booklet

Chess notation, also called algebraic notation, is the standard way to read and write chess moves. Every square on the board has a name made from its file (the columns, lettered a–h) and its rank (the rows, numbered 1–8) — so every square is a unique location like a1 or h7. Each piece is written with a capital letter: King (K), Queen (Q), Rook (R), Bishop (B), and Knight (N). Pawns don’t get a letter — a pawn move is written with just the square it moves to.

A move is written in the same order as the spoken words: the piece letter followed by its destination. “Bd2” means the bishop moves to d2, and “a4” means a pawn moves to a4.

• x — a capture: Nxa5 means the knight captures the piece on a5
• + — check: Bh3+
• # — checkmate: Qc2#
• 0-0 — castling kingside, and 0-0-0 — castling queenside
• = — pawn promotion: e8=Q means a pawn reaches e8 and becomes a queen
• ep — en passant: cxb3 ep

Recording your games lets you replay them move by move from your score sheet, so you can study what worked and what didn’t — that’s how players at every level improve. Writing your moves down is also required in most rated over-the-board tournaments. And once you can read notation, every chess book, puzzle collection, and famous game in history opens up to you. Along the way you build pattern recognition, spatial awareness, memorization, and problem-solving skills.

Anyone learning chess notation — from complete beginners to players who want to refine their ability to read and write moves. Developed by Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, co-founder of the Saint Louis Chess Club, the workbook teaches step by step through four building blocks: piece names, square locations, written move types, and finally combining all three by playing a real game while writing down and replaying your moves. It merges reading, talking, writing, and physically moving pieces.

Yes — the PDF is completely free to download in 20 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Tamil, and Swahili. Use the download links at the top of this page. Prefer paper? A printed English edition of “Learn to Read and Write Chess” is available from Q Boutique.