Descriptive notation abbreviated to the first letter of its name: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, P for pawn. Knight begins with the same letter as king, so it is abbreviated to either "Kt" (used in older chess literature) or "N". "N" is used in this article. In 1944 "Chess Review" received many letters debating the change from Kt to N . In descriptive notation each square has two names, depending on Black's or White's viewpoint. Each is given a name corresponding with the piece that occupies the first at the start of the game. Thus
Chess piece Chess piece A chess piece, or chessman, is any of the six different movable objects used on a chessboard to play the game of chess. Each player begins with a total of sixteen pieces. The pieces that belong to each player are distinguished by color. The lighter colored pieces are referred to as "white," and the player that owns them, "White". The darker colored pieces are referred to as "black", and the player that owns them, "Black". The word "piece" has three meanings, depending on the context. The context should make the intended meaning clear . In the first context,