Before you read this, check out last week's article to get all of the Beginning steps to playing chess!

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/how-to-play-chess...

Now that we have covered the basics of playing chess, it is important to discuss ways to fix possible mistakes made during the game. The best way of fixing these mistakes is through reviewing the chess notations.

Chess notation is the recording of moves done in a chess match via shorthanded marks. Each piece and the spot on the board has different marks. To begin, let us go to the board which in the last article we stated was an eight by eight checkerboard pattern. If you look at the board, the white color is in the bottom right hand corner. If you are looking from the white side as the one closest to you, is 1 going to 8, the row furthest from you. The left column is a, going all the way to the right being h. White is always in rows 1 and 2, whilst black are always in 7 and 8 to start out the game. Pawns are the only pieces without a letter notation. King is marked with K, Queen is marked with Q, Bishop is marked with B, Rook is marked with R, and the Knigh t is marked with N. When you move a piece, you mark where it was, followed by where it went. So say that to start the match, the leftward knight moved from it's initial spot, to two spaces above the bishop's initial spot. The notation for that move would be 1. Nb1-Nc3. As notation would continue, each round of turns, (white goes, then black goes) would be marked on the same line. So for example:

1.e2-e4 e7-e5

2.Nb1-Nc3 f7-f6

There are more notations that are used for special clauses. Firstly, if you take a piece with a move, instead of a dash in between the two notations, there will be an "x". If the piece puts the opponent's king into "check" or checkmate with an escape for the king, you put a "+" symbol at the end of the move. For checkmate either "++" or "#" are acceptable. Also if a pawn is promoted, the first part will note the pawn moved forwards, but instead of a "-", an "=" will be used. Following the "=" will be the newly promoted piece notation, and its' position on the board.

A piece of information not in the first article. Castling is a move in which the king "jumps" the rook after the rook moves beside it, all in one move. Castling can also be described as the king moving two spaces to the left or right due to "leapfrogging" the rook. Castling is a move that has a few clauses to it before it can be accomplished. First off, the rook nor the king could have moved during the match. Second, the king cannot castle if in Check, or if jumping would have jumped over a Check. Thirdly, there can be no pieces in between the rook and the king. Castling basically is used to protect the king in an alternate position that the middle of the board. There are two types of castling. Castling on the queen's side, and Castling on the king's side. (Queen side is the left rook, king side is the right rook.) Each of these have a different notation. Castling on the king's side is notated with a 0-0. Since the Queen's side is a longer distance for the rook to move, it is notated as 0-0-0.

Overall this form of notation is called Full Algebraic notation and is the most popular format for notations.

With notations by your side, any chess match can be remade, and analyzed so that your game play can be improved. Happy chess playing everyone!

Stay in tune for next week where I will go into advanced detail about the importance of the beginning of a chess match!