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Chess Annotation Symbols

Assembled and prefaced by Kelly Atkins

When studying annotated chess games, you'll often encounter a myriad of symbols and abbreviations which are there to convey information in a clear and concise manner, and can be understood by most players of all languages.

Symbol	Means	Also Written As

1 - 0	White Wins
0 - 1	Black Wins
1/2 - 1/2	Draw
+	Check	ch.
++	Double Check	dbl. ch.
dis. ch.	Discovered Check
O-O	Castles Kingside
O-O-O	Castles Queenside
#	Checkmate
!	Good Move
!!	Very Strong or Brilliant Move
?	Mistake
??	Blunder
!?	Interesting Move
?!	Dubious Move
+-	White has a Winning Advantage
	White has a Clear Advantage	+/-
	White has a Slight Advantage	+= or +/=
=	Equal Position
~	Approximately Equal Position
	Unclear Position
	Black has a Slight Advantage	=+ or =/+
	Black has a Clear Advantage	-/+
-+	Black has a Winning Advantage
	Compensation
	Counterplay
	Initiative
	Attack
	Zugzwang
	Only Move
	Development Advantage
	Space Advantage
	Zeitnot (Time Trouble)
N	Novelty
RR	Editorial Annotation
	Better is
	Worse is
=	Equivalent is
	With the Idea of
	Directed Against
<<	Queenside
>>	Kingside
e.p.	En Passant
OTB	Over the Board
CC	Correspondence Chess
Ch.	Championship
M.	Match
OL	Olympiad
zt	Zonal
izt	Inter-zonal
rpd	Rapid Play
sim	Simultaneous
jr	Junior Event
w	Women's Event	wom