Chess Notation

At today's meeting we introduced the topic of Chess Notation. This is a formal way of recording every move in a chess game. As we discussed this morning, this can be important for a number of reasons:
* If the game gets interrupted, you can start back later in the same position
* If there is any question about how the pieces got to their current location, you can track it back
* If you notice an illegal position, you can figure out how you got there
* You can replay the game later for study and improvement.

Chess notation will be REQUIRED at our tournament games, and in the meantime it is really great to get in the habit of writing your games down -- that way it will become second nature to you.

There is a great, simple overview here that will remind you of how to notate your games, if you have any questions. At the end of that post there is a good example of a simple but very famous chess game. Another cool thing about chess notation is that you can take historical games and play them through with a friend or by yourself.

White       Black 
1. e4          e5
2. Nf3       d6
3. d4         Bg4
4. dxe5     Bxf3
5. Qxf3     dxe5
6. Bc4       Nf6
7. Qb3      Qe7
8. Nc3      c6
9. Bg5      b5
10. Nxb5   cxb5
11. Bxb5+ Nbd7
12. O-O-O Rd8
13. Rxd7   Rxd7
14. Rd1     Qe6
15. Bxd7+ Nxd7
16. Qb8+!! Nxb8
17. Rd8#

If you want to learn more about notation, this page has some great ideas about how to use notation to analyze and further understand games you have played.

Don't forget this week's homework -- play at least two games of chess, notate as you go, and bring the notation in for us to look at next week. I would prefer it if you can play a game with a human being, but failing that, you can play against a computer or online chess game.

See you next Tuesday!