Chess annotation symbols

"Chess symbols" redirects here. For the Unicode block, see Chess Symbols.
This article is about the evaluation of chess moves. For the recording of moves in a chess game, see Chess notation.

When annotating chess games, commentators frequently use widely recognized annotation symbols. Question marks and exclamation points that denote a move as bad or good are ubiquitous in chess literature.[1] Some publications intended for an international audience, such as the Chess Informant, have a wide range of additional symbols that transcend language barriers.[2]

The common symbols for evaluating the merits of a move are "??", "?", "?!", "!?", "!", and "!!". The chosen symbol is appended to the text describing the move (e.g. Re7? or Kh1!?); see Algebraic chess notation.

Use of these annotation symbols is subjective, as different annotators use the same symbols differently or for a different reason.

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
  1. ^ "Chess Analysis Symbols" (PDF). chesscenter.net. C&O Family Chess Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-16. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference CI14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).