In sports, you have the benefit of an instant replay. You can consult the video and see exactly what went wrong. The newspapers and sports magazines report player statistics and describe the best and worst plays in the game.
Chess has a similar means of replaying and studying past games, known as Chess notation. This is simply a way of writing Chess down. Almost all tournament games are recorded by the players (and often by spectators), so that they can be analyzed later.
There are two popular versions of Chess notation. The older version, used throughout most of the history of the game, is called Descriptive Notation. However, in more recent years, a new standard has taken over. This is known as Algebraic Notation.
The reason for this change is a matter of simplicity. While it's a good idea to know both forms of notation, I'm going to focus on Algebraic Notation for now. It's the most simple and easy to understand, and it's also the generally accepted standard, in which most modern chess books and magazines are written.
The Language of Chess
Algebraic Notation has gained favor among the Chess community because of its simplicity. When you look at the Chess board, you see 64 squares arranged in an 8x8 grid. The first thing we need to do is assign a specific name to each square on the board.
Assuming you are playing white, you can assign a letter to each column (or file, as they're called in Chess), from left to right. The far left will be "a" and the far right will be "h."
Each row (or rank) is assigned a number. The one closest to the white player is "1" and the one closest to the black player is "8."
So, if you need to know the name of a specific square, just figure out which letter and number it is, as illustrated below.
Each square has it's own name, and they're very easy to figure out, even without a label, as long as you know how the ranks and files are numbered and lettered (not very hard to do).
Many Chess boards have the letters and numbers printed along the outside edge of the board to make it easier for you, but not all do. At the beginning, I highly suggest you use a Chessboard with that grid clearly labeled-it'll just make your job easier.
Alternatively, if you don't want to buy a new Chessboard with those labels, you can make your own, by simply drawing a Chessboard on a spare piece of cardboard.
The Chess pieces also have a unique "code" in notation. Those are as follows:
King: "K"
Queen: "Q"
Rook: "R"
Bishop: "B"
Knight: "N" (because "K" is already taken)
The Pawns are generally not labelled. You'll understand in a moment.
Writing Down Moves
Once you understand now the squares on the board and the pieces are labeled, it's very easy to write moves down.
Let's look at a sample move, and then I'll show you how it would be written.
You can see that the Knight is moving from c3 to d5. So in notation, you would write "Nd5."
Now, let's look at that same move, but let's add another Knight on f4.
(Nevermind that I've taken the kings out--that was just an accident when I was making the diagrams.)
In this case, simply writing "Nd5" would not suffice, because there are two different Knights that could move there. So you would write "Ncd5." Note that the solid line in this diagram marks which piece moves, while the broken line marks which piece COULD move, but DOES NOT.
See how that works? You just specified that the Knight on the c-file was the one which moved to d5, rather than the one on the f-file. By the same token, if two pieces from the same file could move to the square in question, you can identify the piece by number.
Here's another example, using a pawn move.
In this example, a pawn is moving from e2 to e4. The way you would write that is simply: "e4." When no piece is clearly identified in the notation, you automatically know that it's a pawn move.
Important notes before we continue...
Some players do mark a pawn move with the letter "P." While this is not common or proper, you shouldn't be startled if you see it. There's nothing else it could mean.
In some books, you might find a slightly different form of Algebraic notation. Rather than identifying pieces by letters, they will identify them by symbols. You shouldn't be startled when you see this either. The symbols used in this version of Algebraic Notation are exactly the same symbols you see in my diagrams.
How to Write a Game Down
I'm not going to write down a complete game here, but it's important that you see how the notation will look in a book or magazine.
Here's a small sample of a few moves.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. d4…
Note: In some cases, this would be written in "paragraph" format, like this: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4... Again, nothing to worry about. The moves are exactly the same whichever way you happen to see it written.
Let's dissect what you're seeing, by looking only at the first line, "1. e4 e5." The first number, followed by the period ("1.") is the move number. So you can see that this is the first move of the game. The "e4" is white's move of a pawn to e4. The following "e5" is black's reply, moving his pawn to e5.
So the position after that first move (the first line in the notation) would look like this on the board.
And so on down the line, you can see that each move (identified by that first number of each line) has a white move followed by a black reply.
However, when you get to the fourth move in this sample, you only see "d4…". What that means is that the game has been broken here, usually for some type of analysis. The next line of notation may read "4. …d5," making it clear that this is black's reply to the move white made before the break.
Special Moves & Other Symbols
The above gives you a pretty good idea of how Chess is written down, but there are a few other things you should know.
Captures
By no means is this a universal truth, but it's very common to denote a capture by writing an "x" in the notation. For example, if a Knight captures a piece on d4, it will read "Nxd4."
In some cases, the "x" is omitted (the assumption is that you'll figure out that a piece was captured simply by reading what square a piece landed on). In other cases, it is included. It all depends on who wrote it down, so you should be ready for both.
Pawn Captures
Pawn captures have to be written a little bit differently. Generally, they will be written something like this: "exf4." This simply means that a pawn from the e-file captured a piece on f4.
The same move might also be written as: "ef4." Again, simply omitting the "x."
En Passant Captures
Almost always, En Passant captures will be written exactly as regular pawn captures. However, it is occasionally true that a player might write "e. p." after the move. This is rarely seen, but if you do see it, you should know what it means.
Pawn Promotion
It's important, when writing a game down, to make it clear which piece a pawn turns into if it makes it across the board. This, too, is a very simple bit of notation, which might look like this: "e8=Q." That simply means that a pawn moved to e8 and turned into a queen.
Or if a black pawn is being promoted, it might read: "e1=R." This means that a black pawn, on reaching e1, turned into a rook.
Castling
There is a unique way to denote castling. If a player castles on the short side, or kingside, it is written: "0-0." If a player castles on the long side, or queenside, it is written: 0-0-0."
It makes no difference whether white or black castles, because you'll be able to determine whose turn it was based on the context (the rest of the game leading up to that move). So don't worry that no squares are explicitly labeled in this piece of notation.
Other Basic Symbols
There are a few other basic symbols you're likely to see frequently, and which you need to know:
+ Check. You might see something like "Qf4+." That simply means the queen moved to f4, putting the enemy king in check.
++ Double Check. If you see something like "Nh3++," it means that after that knight move, there are two pieces threatening the enemy king (you'll learn about double check in an article on Chess tactics).
# Checkmate. If you see "Rh8#" it means that this rook move put the enemy in checkmate. (Note that "#" isn't always used upon checkmate. More common are the next two symbols.)
1-0 White won. When you see this, it means the white player won (possibly by checkmate, or the black player may have resigned).
0-1 Black won. When you see this, it means the black player won (possibly by checkmate, or the white player may have resigned).
1/2-1/2 Drawn game.
Other Symbols
Now you know all the symbols you need to understand Algebraic Notation. However, there are some other symbols frequently used in an analysis of a game, and it's important that you should know them, too.
! Strong move.
!! Brilliant move.
? Weak move.
?? Blunder.
!? Interesting move.
?! Dubious move.
+= White is slightly better.
=+ Black is slightly better.
+- White is better.
-+ Black is better.
++- White has a winning advantage.
-++ Black has a winning advantage.
+=/+- White is slightly to clearly better.
Often, if you're reading analysis, the author will want to show you another possible line of moves (generally illustrating what may have been better, or explaining why a player made a move he did).
In those cases, the alternate line will be in brackets ("[ ]"). Furthermore, the main line (the line actually played in the game) is generally in bold, while the alternate line is in a standard typeface.
Also, in some printed games, a diagram of one or two particular positions will be included. Within the notation, you might find something that looks like: "[D]". This simply means that this is the position shown in the diagram.
Hopefully that gives you an idea of how to read Algebraic Notation. If you're unsure, or think you need some practice, go ahead and click on one of my other Chess articles, and try to follow along with the notation in those. I find that the best way to learn is to do.