Chess position assessment symbols

Plus, minus and crossed shapes rating who stands better.

Also known as: Informant symbols, Evaluation symbols

Sport & gamesStandard profile

Meanings

Position assessments use a small vocabulary of symbols rating the advantage: equal, slightly better, clearly better, winning, and unclear. They were introduced by the Chess Informant in the 1960s so that analysis could be published without language, and they succeeded well enough to become universal.

Officially standardisedVerified fact
Rate which side stands better and by how much, using a small fixed vocabulary of symbols.
Contexts: History
Historically documentedDocumented interpretation
Were introduced for language-independent publication by the Chess Informant in the 1960s and became the international standard for annotated chess.
Contexts: History

Visual description

Small marks of plus and minus signs paired in different arrangements, or a crossed square shape.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originHigh confidence: High confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

FIDE Laws of Chess, Appendix C: Algebraic Notation
Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) · retrieved 2026-08-02
The governing body's own handbook. Authoritative for the notation FIDE requires in competition — the piece letters, the capture and check marks, castling — and for nothing outside it. Annotation symbols expressing an opinion about a move are deliberately absent from the Laws and are not cited here.
Go (game)
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-22
Tertiary reference, cited for the conventional description of a mark, its usual name and where it is encountered. Where an issuing body defines the mark, that body is cited alongside and governs.
Chess annotation symbols
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.
Go rules and notation
Nihon Ki-in · retrieved 2026-08-23
The Japanese Go association, one of the bodies whose rules are in international use. Go has more than one rule set — Japanese, Chinese and AGA scoring differ — and records say where a claim is rule-set specific.

Last reviewed 2026-08-23

Part of

Board game and score notation

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Meanings

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Rate which side stands better and by how much, using a small fixed vocabulary of symbols.

Contexts: History

Historically documentedDocumented interpretation

Were introduced for language-independent publication by the Chess Informant in the 1960s and became the international standard for annotated chess.

Contexts: History

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originHigh confidence: High confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

FIDE Laws of Chess, Appendix C: Algebraic Notation
Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) · retrieved 2026-08-02
The governing body's own handbook. Authoritative for the notation FIDE requires in competition — the piece letters, the capture and check marks, castling — and for nothing outside it. Annotation symbols expressing an opinion about a move are deliberately absent from the Laws and are not cited here.
Go (game)
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-22
Tertiary reference, cited for the conventional description of a mark, its usual name and where it is encountered. Where an issuing body defines the mark, that body is cited alongside and governs.
Chess annotation symbols
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.
Go rules and notation
Nihon Ki-in · retrieved 2026-08-23
The Japanese Go association, one of the bodies whose rules are in international use. Go has more than one rule set — Japanese, Chinese and AGA scoring differ — and records say where a claim is rule-set specific.

Last reviewed 2026-08-23