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Guides to chess notation, the board, and reading chess books.
The complete beginner guide — board coordinates, piece symbols, captures, castling, and reading full games.
Memorise every square name using the colour rule, mnemonics, and spaced repetition.
Why modern chess uses algebraic notation and how to read older English books.
What Portable Game Notation is, how it's structured, and how to read game files.
Morphy's 1858 masterpiece annotated move by move — ideal for following notation in practice.
Seven books worth reading once you can follow the notation.
Every symbol explained: piece letters, captures (x), check (+), checkmate (#), castling, promotion, and annotation marks.
Plain-English definitions for every notation term — algebraic, SAN, PGN, FEN, captures, check, castling, en passant, and more.
How to decode any chess move — why N means Knight, how square names work, and common opening moves explained.
A from-zero introduction — the board, the pieces, every chess move explained, and what to drill next.
Realistic timelines: 30 minutes to read basic moves, 1–2 weeks of daily drilling to fluency. Plus a 14-day plan.
Why chess books feel impossible, what's actually blocking you, and the 2-week fix that opens up the canon.
Honest comparison of the major free notation trainers — Lichess, Chess.com Vision, Chessboard Magic, and ChessNotate.