The game of Othello takes place on a board with 64 squares. We refer to these squares by a coordinate system: the rows are numbered from top to bottom by 1 to 8; the columns are indicated from left to right by 'a' to 'h'.

   a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h
1 a1 b1 c1  .  .  .  . h1 1
2 a2  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 2
3 a3  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 3
4  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 4
5  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 5
6  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 6
7  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 7
8 a8  .  .  .  .  .  . h8 8
   a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h

The square at the top left is referred to as a1, the one immediately to its right as b1, and so on.

   a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h
1  .  C  .  .  .  .  C  . 1
2  C  X  .  .  .  .  X  C 2
3  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 3
4  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 4
5  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 5
6  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 6
7  C  X  .  .  .  .  X  C 7
8  .  C  .  .  .  .  C  . 8
   a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h

Certain types of squares have been given, for reasons of convenience, a special name. One speaks of the corners (a1, h8, a8, and h8), the X-squares, which are those squares diagonally adjacent to a corner, and of the C-squares, which are the other squares adjacent to a corner. The compass directions are often used to refer to a region of the Othello board. For example, the squares near the a1 corner make up the "north-west" region while row 8 is referred to as the "south edge".

It is not necessary, in reading this booklet, to know how to record a game. However we give the process in case you would like to read a game analysis or record your own games. A game is recorded in a Diag. giving the number and location of each move.

    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h
1  45 32 19 18 31 24 44 43  1
2  46 36  9 11 16 15 42 56  2
3  17  8  3  4 10 22 38 51  3
4  20 13  5  o  x  6 23 40  4
5  21 14  7  x  o  1 39 41  5
6  34 30 12  2 28 29 53 52  6
7  35 47 33 26 25 37 59 55  7
8  50 49 48 27 54 60 58 57  8
    a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h
    

The Diag. above represents the game Penloup-Juhem game from the 1992 World Championships. The first player listed is black, here Penloup. The '1' on f5 indicates that the first move was played on this square; then white responded with d6, followed by c3 d3 c4 ...