The Forsyth Notation
The Forsyth Notation allows us to record where the chess pieces are on the board in a quick and easy way.
Look at this position:
 |
|
| In Forsyth notation this position
would be recorded as: r1bq1rk1/pp3ppp/3n4/2p1N3/2B5/7P/PPP2PP1/R1BQR1K1. |
|
The pieces are represented by their letter symbols (For example, Q = Queen, R = Rook etc.). The letter symbols for Black are written in lower case and for White they are written in capitals. Empty squares are represented by a number. For example, 1 means there is one empty square, 2 means there are two empty squares and so on.
The position is recorded rank by rank starting with the eight rank (a8) and the ranks are seperated by a "/".
Thus r1bq1rk1/ means on a8 there is a Black Rook, then an empty square (b8), a Black Bishop (c8), a Black Queen (d8), an empty square (e8), a Black Rook, (f8), a Black King (g8) and an empty square (h8). See diagram below.
3n4/ means on row 6 there are three empty squares, then a Black Knight, and 4 empty squares as shown in the diagram below.
If a whole row contains empty squares like this:
it is recorded as 8/
| The position on the right would
be written:
4kb1r/p4ppp/4q3/8/8/1B6/PPP2PPP/2KR4. |
 |
