Notation · 2 min read
How to memorise the chess board: squares, colours and coordinates
If you count files to find f6, you spend thinking time on bookkeeping and misread your own notation. The aim: hear a square and know at once its colour, its diagonals and which pieces can reach it.
The colour rule
- a1 and h8 are dark. Each player has a light square in the near right-hand corner.
- Number the files a=1 to h=8 and add the rank: even is dark, odd is light. e4 is 5 + 4 = 9, light.
- A bishop only ever reaches one colour, so the rule tells you at once what it can attack.
Landmarks before lists
- The four centre squares: d4, e4, d5, e5.
- The long diagonals a1-h8 and h1-a8.
- f7, f2, h7 and h2, where early attacks land.
- The eight squares a knight reaches from d4 and from f3.
Five drills, ten minutes a day
- Colour call: name twenty squares and their colours aloud.
- Diagonal walk: say a square's diagonals without looking.
- Knight path: a1 to h8 in six knight moves, naming each square.
- Queen sweep: picture a queen and list every square it covers.
- Blind reading: read six moves of a game, then describe the position.
From coordinates to visualisation
Once squares are automatic, play the first eight moves of your opening in your head, then check on a board. If you lose track, use shorter lines. This is what makes calculation reliable.
Practise on your own games
Step through your converted games and, before each move, say the square the piece will land on and its colour.
Key takeaways
- File number plus rank: even is dark, odd is light.
- Learn landmarks, not 64 squares as a list.
- Ten minutes of drills a day is enough.
- Short lines in your head turn recall into calculation.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need to memorise all 64 square colours?
- Not as a list. Learn the rule (file number plus rank: even is dark, odd is light) and a few landmark squares.
- Is a1 a light or a dark square?
- a1 is dark. On a correctly set up board, each player has a dark square in the left-hand corner nearest them and a light square in the right-hand corner.
- Does this help my notation?
- Yes. Reading and writing moves at speed is coordinate recall, so players who know the board write cleaner scoresheets.
The ideas behind this
- Key SquaresSquares near a pawn that win once your king stands on one.
- Square of the PawnA king inside the pawn's box catches the pawn.