1.e4 e5 2.Nf3? You'll see this everywhere in chess. Here's exactly how to read and write chess moves in 5 minutes.
Chess notation is the system for writing down chess moves. It looks intimidating ('1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6') but it's just a code with five rules. Once you have it, you can read every chess book, follow every famous game, and review your own games on Lichess or chess.com. It's the most important non-playing chess skill.
Every square on the chess board has a unique name made of a letter and a number. Files (vertical columns) are labeled a-h from white's left to right. Ranks (horizontal rows) are labeled 1-8 from white's side to black's side.
So white's king starts on e1 (the e-file, 1st rank). Black's king starts on e8. The square in front of white's king is e2; the square in front of black's king is e7. Every game ever recorded uses this coordinate system. Memorize it once — there's no shortcut.
Each piece is represented by a single letter (in English notation):
Note that pawns don't have a letter. 'e4' means a pawn moves to e4. 'Nf3' means a knight moves to f3. The absence of a letter means it's a pawn move.
A simple move is just the piece letter (or none, for a pawn) followed by the destination square:
Captures use 'x' between the piece and the destination. Pawn captures include the file the pawn was on:
Special suffixes:
Sometimes two pieces of the same type can move to the same square. Notation handles this by adding the file or rank of the original piece:
You only add the disambiguation when needed. If only one rook can reach e1, you just write 'Re1.' Notation is minimal — it gives just enough info to identify the move, no more.
Games are written as numbered move pairs: White's move first, then Black's. Move numbers increase by one after each pair.
Example: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
Reading: Move 1, white plays pawn to e4, black plays pawn to e5. Move 2, white plays knight to f3, black plays knight to c6. Move 3, white plays bishop to c4, black plays bishop to c5. This is the start of the Italian Game opening.
When you see only a black move (like '2...Bc5'), the three dots indicate it's black's move. This happens when an article focuses on what black does, or when black's move is annotated separately.
Open any chess game online — pick a famous one like Fischer-Spassky 1972 Game 6 — and read the moves out loud. Translate each one into 'X piece goes to Y square.' At first this is slow. After 50 moves, it's automatic. After 5 games, you'll read notation as fast as you read English.
Notation is also how you'll review your own games. Lichess and chess.com both let you see your game in notation form. Going back through your moves and saying 'wait, why did I play Nh5? That was bad' is much easier when you can read the notation than when you can only watch the visual replay.
There's a second notation system you'll occasionally see — UCI / coordinate notation. Each move is just the FROM square and the TO square, no piece letter. So 'e2e4' means 'piece on e2 moves to e4' (which we know is a pawn because of the position). 'g1f3' means knight from g1 to f3.
This system is used by chess engines because it's machine-readable. You'll mostly see it when reading engine output or working with chess APIs. Standard human notation (the kind described above) is what books and articles use.
"Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory."
— Max Euwe