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The extremes of the annotation scale, which are symmetrical and therefore easy to transpose.
Doubling intensifies whichever mark is doubled: !! is the highest praise available and ?? the harshest criticism. Read one for the other and you have inverted the annotator's verdict completely.
Doubling intensifies whichever mark is doubled: !! is the highest praise, ?? the harshest criticism. Reading one for the other inverts the annotator's verdict entirely.
Drawn from the visual attributes recorded for each symbol. Only traits the two records disagree about are listed.
| Trait | Brilliant move (!!) | Blunder (??) |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | lines and dots | lines and dots, spirals |
| Brilliant move (!!) | Blunder (??) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it means | An exceptional move, usually hard to find | A serious error, usually decisive |
| Position on the scale | The top | The bottom |
| Typical subject | A sacrifice whose point appears later | A move that throws away a won or drawn game |
| Defined by | Convention, not the Laws | Convention, not the Laws |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Blunder (??) — Doubling intensifies whichever mark is doubled: !! is the highest praise, ?? the harshest criticism. Reading one for the other inverts the annotator's verdict entirely. | Commonly confused with Brilliant move (!!) — Doubling intensifies in both directions: !! is the highest praise and ?? the harshest criticism. |
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-02
Tertiary reference. Cited for how a mark is written and read in ordinary practice, and for conventions no governing body issues. Never cited for a claim that a rule says something — the rulebooks below carry those.
Both arms sweeping forward means play continues and no kick is coming. One arm straight up means a kick is coming and cannot score directly. Confusing them changes whether players expect a stoppage.
The plain black flag excludes the competitor: their race is over. The black flag with an orange disc reports a mechanical problem that endangers others and sends the driver to the pits to have it fixed, after which they may rejoin. Both are shown with a number board, both are black, and confusing them costs a competitor a race they could have finished.
A cross means all ten pins fell to the first ball; a forward slash means it took two. The cross carries two deliveries of bonus and the slash only one, which is why three strikes are needed for a frame to reach thirty.
The exclamation mark praises a move, the question mark criticises it. Neither is defined by FIDE: unlike the rest of chess notation these are publishing convention, and two annotators may disagree about the same move.