Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What do exclamation marks and question marks mean in annotated chess games?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
chess
Position of chess pieces at the beginning of a game. The pieces are placed on the two ranks closest to the player. In the closest rank, pieces are arranged from left to right: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, and rook. In front of that rank, each square has a pawn.
In chess, annotation symbols are used to evaluate the quality of a move during game analysis. These marks provide a shorthand for players to understand the strategic value of specific decisions:1
- !: A very good move.
- !!: An extremely good or brilliant move.
- ?: A bad move or a mistake.
- ??: A blunder, which is a move that significantly worsens a player's position.
- !?: A double-edged or somewhat dubious move that may be interesting but carries risk.1
These symbols are essential for studying game notation and learning from past matches.1