Naming The Pieces
Each type of piece (other than pawns) is identified by an uppercase letter, usually the first letter in the name of the piece in whatever language is spoken by the player recording. English-speaking players use K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N for knight (since K is already used). S was also used for the knight in the early days of algebraic notation, from the German Springer, and is still used in chess problems (where N stands for the nightrider, a popular fairy chess piece).
Different letters may be employed in other languages, for example, French players use F for bishop (from fou). In chess literature written for an international audience, the language-specific letters are replaced by universal icons for the pieces, resulting in figurine notation.
Pawns are not indicated by a letter, but rather by the absence of any letter—it is not necessary to distinguish between pawns for moves, since only one pawn can move to a given square. (Pawn captures are an exception and indicated differently; see below.)
Read more about this topic: Algebraic Notation (chess)
Famous quotes containing the words naming and/or pieces:
“See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul—half a drop! ah, my Christ!—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!—
Yet will I call on him!—O, spare me, Lucifer!—
Where is it now? ‘T is gone; and see where God
Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!—
Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)