How to Read Chess Notation (Algebraic Notation Explained)
Every chess book, lesson, video, and game review speaks the same language: algebraic notation. It looks cryptic - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 - until you learn the three-part grammar, and then it reads as easily as English. Here is the whole system.
Squares: file first, then rank
The board is a grid. Columns (files) are lettered a through h from White's left; rows (ranks) are numbered 1 through 8 starting from White's side. Every square is a file+rank pair: a1 is White's bottom-left corner, e4 is the famous center square, h8 is Black's far corner. File first, rank second - always.
Moves: who + where
Pieces get capital letters: K (king), Q (queen), R (rook), B (bishop), N (knight - K was taken). Pawns get no letter at all. So 'Nf3' means a knight moved to f3, and 'e4' means a pawn moved to e4. Notation names the destination, not the origin - unless two identical pieces could reach the same square, in which case the origin file or rank is squeezed in after the piece letter: Rad1 means the a-file rook went to d1.
Captures add an x: Bxe5 is 'bishop takes on e5'. Pawn captures lead with the pawn's home file: exd5 means the e-pawn captured on d5 - that origin file is how you tell neighboring pawns apart.
The special symbols
+ is check; # is checkmate. O-O is kingside (short) castling and O-O-O is queenside (long) castling - the only moves written with letters O. Promotion writes the arrival square plus the new piece: e8=Q. Annotators add ! for a strong move, ? for a mistake, and ?? for a blunder - symbols you'll meet in every engine review of your own games.
Moves come in numbered pairs: 1.e4 e5 means White pushed the e-pawn two squares and Black replied in kind. When Black's move is written alone, three dots hold White's place: 1...e5.
A worked example
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O - read it slowly: pawn to e4, pawn to e5; knight to f3, knight to c6; bishop to b5 (this position is the Ruy Lopez); pawn to a6; bishop takes on c6; the d-pawn recaptures on c6; White castles kingside. If you followed that, you can now read any chess book ever printed.
One habit builds fluency fast: whenever you see a move written, say the square to yourself before finding it on the board. Two weeks of that and notation disappears into pure meaning.