How to use the chessboard notation

This chess video tutorial will teach you how to read the chessboard correctly. You will learn that one side of the board is marker A - H, and one side is marked 1 - 8.

Learning the chessboard notation is a great way to familiarize yourself with the board. Trying to play chess games in your head will probably help your game, especially because you can look ahead at sacrifices or other surprising moves possibly leading to the defeat of your opponent.

If you happen to be reading a chess book, and lets say it shows you a diagram, and it says 5.... a7-a6, that would mean it is black's turn, not White's, because of the ..... If it was White's move it would say 5, then a move. Of course White could never move a pawn backwards.

Also, you don't always need to write the starting square of a piece. You could say at the beginning of a game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 like that. See how I didn't write 1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Ng1-Nf3 Nb8-c6 3. Bf1-b5 a7-a6. You could write that, but it's much quicker to do it the other way. This is a lot of information, so it's okay if you don't get it at first, you'll get the hang of it sooner or later.