There are score sheets and score pads available at any tournament and for sale in stores and through the United States Chess Federation. You use these to write down a game in progress. The score will look somewhat different from those you see in magazines and books, but this is only because score sheets line up the moves in neat columns, rather than spread them out in a paragraph.

In a typical score sheet, there will be two sets of numbered double columns for a total number of four columns. The left-hand column is for White's moves. The column at the right of that one is for Black's moves. The third column is for later White moves. You will notice that they are numbered, continuing from the bottom of the first column. The last column is for later Black moves.

The game you have been looking at was played in 1858 at a Paris opera house during a performance of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Paul Morphy, a young man from New Orleans and the strongest player in the world at the time, handled the White pieces. The Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard consulted to come up with Black's replies.

The extra information asked for at the top is good to have in a tournament. Who played the White pieces? Who played the Black pieces? What were the ratings of the players? Where and when did the tournament take place? Pairing numbers and other information you may not understand are usually of interest only to the tournament director. There are lines below for the result of the game, which is a good bit of information for anybody intending to use the score of the game to know. Turn the page for a look at an official chess score sheet.