The Chessboard

I mentioned that you should acquire a tournament board which has algebraic notation symbols printed along the board's edges. We're going to look at what those letters and numbers means in this lesson. Before we explore algebraic notation, we need to look at the chessboard in detail.

The chessboard consists of 64 alternating light and dark squares. There are 32 light squares and 32 dark squares. On the bottom and top of the tournament board or mat, there are a series of letters, a through h. These represent the eight files that run like columns up and down the board. The first file is the “a” file and the eight file is the “h” file. Files run vertically. Running from the bottom to the top of the board, horizontally, are the ranks. The ranks are numbered 1 through 8. The first rank runs along the bottom of the board and the eighth rank runs along the top of the board. These letters and numbers allow every square on the board to have its own unique address. For example, the square in the lower left hand corner is the “a1” square. The square in the upper right-hand corner is the “h8” square. The center of the board consists of the d4, d5, e4 and e5 squares. Take a moment and see if you can find these four central squares.

We now have a way to identify each square on the board. This is the basis of algebraic notation, the written language of chess. It is important to become familiar with algebraic notation because all chess books use this system to present games to the reader. Knowledge of each squares address allows us to record our games for future analysis.

When the game starts, the White pawns and pieces will be set up along the first and second rank. Black will set up the pawns and pieces along the seventh and eighth ranks. We’ll look at the exact positions of the pawns and pieces later on. If you have a wooden chessboard that lacks algebraic notation, don’t fret. Set the board on a table. Make sure there is a white square in the lower right-hand corner. Take a strip of masking tape and apply it to the bottom row of squares running horizontally along the chessboard. The tape should cover the length of the board. Starting at the leftmost square, label each square a through h. Now, place a small piece of masking tape along the left hand side of the board from top to bottom. Starting at the bottom square (the square you labeled “a”) number the squares 1 through 8 with the “8” being the upper left hand square. You now have a board set up with algebraic notation markers.

We’ve talked about the squares that run up and down as well as left and right. However, there are squares that run at an angle across the board. These are called diagonals and are always made up of squares of the same color. Diagonals are either made up of dark or light colored squares.

Here are a few exercises the test your skills at finding the addresses of a few squares. Do them all because you’ll want to be familiar with this system of square identification:

1.      What are the names of the four corner squares?

2.      What are the names of the four central Squares?

3.      What squares make up the diagonal that starts on a1 and ends on h8?

4.      What are the names of the squares that run across the forth rank?

5.      What are the names of the squares the run along the e file?

Answers:

1.      a1, a8, h1 and h8

2.      d4, d5, e4 and e5

3.      a1, b2, c3, d4, e5, f6, g7 and h8

4.      a4, b4, c4, d4, e4, f4, g4 and h4

5.      e1, e2, e3, e4, e5, e6, e7 and e8

In the next few sections, we’ll look at the pawns and pieces. We see how each of them moves and captures. After that we’ll look at the special rules of chess. This will be followed by taking what we’ve just learned about algebraic notation and learn how to record a game of chess.