ChessWiz

How to convert a chess scoresheet to PGN

You finish a tournament game and take your scoresheet home: your moves and your opponent's, written by hand. To analyse it with an engine, keep it with the rest of your games or show it to your coach, you first need to turn it into PGN. This guide explains what PGN is, how to convert a scoresheet by hand and how to scan it with your phone in a few seconds.

What PGN is

PGN (Portable Game Notation) is the standard format for storing chess games. It's a text file with a header —players, event, date, round and result— and the moves in algebraic notation. Lichess, Chess.com, ChessBase and practically any chess program can open it.

One detail: PGN always stores the moves with English letters («Nf3», «Bb5»). If you wrote your scoresheet in another language —«Cf3» in Spanish, «Sf3» in German— and you type it in by hand, that translation is up to you as well.

Two ways to convert a scoresheet to PGN

  • Type it in by hand. On the Lichess analysis board or in ChessBase you enter the game move by move. It works, but it takes a while per game and it's easy to skip a move or mix up a letter, especially when you can't make out your opponent's handwriting.
  • Scan it with ChessWiz. You take a photo of the scoresheet and ChessWiz reads the handwritten moves, checks that each one is legal in the position and only asks you about the ones it can't read. The PGN is ready in a few seconds.

How to scan a scoresheet with ChessWiz, step by step

  • 1. Create a free account at chesswiz.app. With the Free plan you can convert 5 scoresheets a month without paying anything.
  • 2. Take the photo with your phone, or upload it from your gallery. If the game takes two sheets, upload both, in order.
  • 3. Check only the doubtful moves. If a move is hard to read, ChessWiz shows you the crop of the scoresheet and the legal moves that fit, and you pick one with a tap. If needed, you can correct any move by playing it on the board.
  • 4. Take your PGN. Download it, copy it or open the game straight in Lichess or Chess.com.

Tips for a photo that reads well

  • Get the whole scoresheet in, move numbers included, filling most of the photo.
  • Even light: no shadow from your phone or hand, and no glare from a lamp.
  • Keep the sheet as flat as possible. If it's been folded, smooth it out a little first.
  • In focus: tap the screen on the scoresheet before taking the photo.
  • Both work: the original or the carbon copy the player keeps.

Notation: in your own language

Every player writes the pieces with the letters of their own language. ChessWiz understands algebraic notation in these seven languages —you don't need to tell it which one— and gives you the game in standard PGN:

  • English: K (king), Q (queen), R (rook), B (bishop), N (knight).
  • Spanish: R (rey), D (dama), T (torre), A (alfil), C (caballo).
  • Catalan: R (rei), D (dama), T (torre), A (alfil), C (cavall).
  • German: K (König), D (Dame), T (Turm), L (Läufer), S (Springer).
  • French: R (roi), D (dame), T (tour), F (fou), C (cavalier).
  • Italian: R (re), D (donna), T (torre), A (alfiere), C (cavallo).
  • Portuguese: R (rei), D (dama), T (torre), B (bispo), C (cavalo).

Pawns have no letter («e4», «exd5») and castling is written «O-O» and «O-O-O».

What to do with your PGN

  • Analyse the game with the Lichess or Chess.com engine and see where it went wrong.
  • Keep it in your ChessBase database or in a Lichess study, with the rest of your games.
  • Send it to your coach: a PGN is a small text that fits in an email or a message.
  • Publish a tournament's games: if you're the organiser, convert the scoresheets of the whole round and publish them the same night.

Frequently asked questions

What if I wrote a move down wrong? It happens more than you'd think. ChessWiz only suggests legal moves: if what's written doesn't fit the position, it looks for the legal move that resembles it most and, if it isn't clear, it asks you.

What about crossed-out moves, or moves I forgot to write down? During the review you can mark a box as crossed out or add the missing move, and ChessWiz realigns the rest of the game.

Does it read the header too? Yes: it suggests the players' names, the event, the round, the date and the result from the photo, and you correct them if needed.

Does it work with any scoresheet? With the usual tournament scoresheets, written in algebraic notation. Old descriptive notation («P-K4») can't be read.