Notation Panel

Your written record of the game — every move, variation, and comment in a readable format

The notation panel is your written record of the game. Every move, variation, and annotation is displayed in a readable format that lets you follow the game's story, explore alternative lines, and add your own analysis.

Opening the Panel

Press U to toggle the notation panel. It shows the full move tree along with variations, comments, and annotations.

Game Header

At the top of the notation, you'll see game metadata: player names (with titles and Elo ratings), the event, round, date, and annotator. Click the header area to edit any of this game information.

Notation Styles

Choose how piece names appear in the move list:

Reading the Move List

The notation panel renders moves in a way that keeps complex analysis readable:

• Main line moves appear on their own lines, numbered sequentially
• Short variations (2 half-moves or fewer, with no nesting) are shown inline in parentheses — keeping minor alternatives compact
• Longer variations get their own indented lines with ChessBase-style depth markers, so you can easily see how deep you are in a sideline
• Comments appear inline right after the move they belong to
• A small colored dot next to a move indicates that arrows or highlights are attached to that position

Navigating Moves

There are several ways to move through the game:

• Click any move to jump directly to that position
• ← → — previous / next move
• ↑ ↓ — visual line-based navigation (moves up or down by display line, useful in complex variation trees)
• Home / End — jump to the start or end of the game
• PageUp / PageDown — scroll the panel without changing the current position

Comments

Double-click a move (or right-click and choose "Add Comment") to open the comment editor. You can add both before-move and after-move comments to any position. Press Ctrl+Enter to save your comment, or Escape to cancel. The editor also includes NAG buttons for adding standard annotation symbols.

Annotation Toolbar

A toggleable toolbar below the move list gives you quick access to annotations. Enable it with the "Show Annotation Buttons" setting. The toolbar has three groups:

Tree Editing

Promote variation, delete variation, delete moves before or after the current position.

Move Quality

Standard assessment symbols: !! (brilliant), ! (good), !? (interesting), ?! (dubious), ? (mistake), ?? (blunder).

Positional Assessments

Evaluation symbols: +− (White decisive), ± (White clear advantage), ⩲ (White slight advantage), = (equal), ⩱ (Black slight advantage), ∓ (Black clear advantage), −+ (Black decisive), plus ∞ (unclear), ⮹ (compensation), ⇆ (counterplay), □ (forced move), ↑ (initiative), → (with attack), N (novelty).

Context Menu

Right-click any move to access a full set of options:

• Promote or delete a variation
• Delete all moves before or after the current position
• Insert a null move
• Add before-move or after-move comments
• Submenus for move annotations, positional assessments, and other NAGs
• Adjust font size

Right-clicking on empty space (not on a move) gives you quick access to font size adjustment and notation style settings.

Material Bar

An optional bar showing the captured piece imbalance between the two sides. When enabled (Setting: "Show Material Bar"), it displays extra pieces as images along with a numeric score differential, updating as you navigate through the game.

Clock Display

When clock data is embedded in the PGN (via %clk annotations), a clock bar appears showing each side's remaining time. The display updates automatically as you navigate through moves.

Drag and Drop

You can drag games from the Games table or the Database panel directly onto the notation panel to add them as variations. A comment with the game's metadata (players, event, date) is appended automatically, so you always know where the line came from.

Display Settings

Quick Reference