The chessboard is an 8×8 grid made of rows called ranks and columns called files. The anchor point of the entire board is a1 — this is the dark square where White’s queen-side rook starts the game. From there, the files are labeled with letters (a through h) moving left to right, and the ranks are numbered (1 through 8) moving from bottom to top.
For experienced players
This grid powers algebraic chess notation, where moves are recorded by piece and destination square. For example, “Nf3” means the Knight moves to the f3 square. The notation never changes whether you’re playing as white or black — a1 is always a1.
See also:The Board from Black's Side·Board Setup