Descriptive notation

Last updated

Descriptive notation is a chess notation system based on abbreviated natural language. Its distinctive features are that it refers to files by the piece that occupies the back rank square in the starting position and that it describes each square two ways depending on whether it is from White or Black's point of view. It was common in English, Spanish and French chess literature until about 1980. [1] [2] In most other languages, the more concise algebraic notation was in use. Since 1981, FIDE no longer recognizes descriptive notation for the purposes of dispute resolution, and algebraic notation is now the accepted international standard.

Contents

Description

Nomenclature

With the exception of the knight, each piece is abbreviated as the first letter of its name: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and P for pawn. As knight begins with the same letter as king, it is abbreviated as either N or Kt, the former being the modern convention. In 1944, Chess Review received many letters debating the change from Kt to N. [3]

Names of the squares in English descriptive notation English Descriptive Chess Notation.svg
Names of the squares in English descriptive notation

Each square has two names, depending on the viewpoint of White or Black. Each file is given a name corresponding to the piece that occupies the first rank at the start of the game. Thus, in English descriptive notation the queen's file is named "Q" and the king's file is named "K". Since there are two each of the remaining pieces on the first rank, it is necessary to distinguish between them. The pieces on the queen's side of the board (to White's left; to Black's right) are named with respect to the queen, i.e. "queen's rook", "queen's knight" and "queen's bishop"; and have the shortened names "QR", "QN" and "QB", respectively. Similarly, the pieces on the king's side (White's right; Black's left) are named with respect to the king, i.e. "king's rook", "king's knight" and "king's bishop"; and have the shortened names "KR", "KN" and "KB". The rank is given a number, ranging from 1 to 8, with rank 1 being closest to the player.

This method of naming the squares means that each square has one name from White's point of view and another from Black's. For example, the corner square nearest White's left hand (i.e. square a1 in algebraic notation) is called "queen's rook 1" (QR1) by White and "queen's rook 8" (QR8) by Black.

When recording a move by White, the naming from White's point of view is used; when recording a move by Black, the naming from Black's point of view is used.

Spanish descriptive notation uses a similar system, with a few differences:

In Spanish descriptive notation the Sicilian Defence (1. P-K4 P-QB4 in English) would be written 1. P4R P4AD. This is also the method used in French descriptive notation. [4]

Notation for moves

Each move is notated by a sequence of characters that is structured based on the move's type. Special indicators are added to the end of the sequence if relevant.

Typically, the full designation for a piece or a file is shortened to just the last part (indicating type of piece) whenever this does not produce ambiguity. For example, the move KP-K4 would always be written P-K4 since only one pawn can move to K4 without capturing; the move Q-QB4 would be written Q-B4 whenever Q-KB4 is not a legal move. A pawn capturing a pawn may be shown as PxP if it is the only one possible, or as BPxP if only one of the player's bishop's pawns can capture a pawn, or as QBPxP, or PxQBP or other such variations.

Disambiguation of pieces using notations like QBP and KR becomes awkward once the pieces have left their starting positions (or for pawns, left their starting files), and is impossible for pieces created by promotion (such as a second queen). So as an alternative, moves may also be disambiguated by giving the starting square or the square of a capture, delimited by parentheses or a slash, e.g. BxN/QB6 or R(QR3)-Q3. Sometimes only the rank or file is indicated, e.g. R(6)xN.

When listing the moves of a game, first the move number is written, then the move by White followed by the move by Black. If there is no appropriate move by White to use (e.g. if the moves are interrupted by commentary) then an ellipsis ("...") is used in its place.

History

In the earliest chess literature, natural language was used to describe moves. This is the ultimate source of all forms of descriptive notation. Over time, abbreviations became common, and a system of notation gradually evolved. For example, the common opening move 1.e4 was originally recorded as "Pawn to King's Fourth" or similar; by the time of Howard Staunton's The Chess-Player's Handbook (1847), this had been abbreviated to "P. to K's 4th."which was later further reduced to "P-K4".

Comparison to algebraic notation

While descriptive notation is largely regarded as obsolete, it does have a few minor advantages over algebraic notation. By identifying each square with reference to the player on move, descriptive notation better reflects the symmetry of the game's starting position (e.g. "both players opened with P-QB4 and planned to play B-KN2 as soon as possible"). Generic descriptions which refer to all four sectors of the board are also possible, e.g. "all four bishops were developed on N2." Maxims such as "a pawn on the seventh is worth two on the fifth" make sense from both players' perspectives. Because the type of each captured piece is specified, it is easier to visualize the material balance at any point in the game when skimming over a game score .

On the other hand, algebraic notation has several advantages. The notation for any given move is almost always more concise in algebraic notation than in descriptive notation; this can reduce the length of chess books and magazines by several pages. While confusion can arise in descriptive notation because each square has two names, no such problem exists in algebraic notation. Algebraic notation specifies a capturing piece's destination square; meanwhile, because unambiguous captures lack coordinate information in descriptive notation, visualization is more taxing, since it requires remembering exactly which pieces are attacking which.

Example

The following game scores show the Evergreen Game.

English descriptive notation:

  1. P-K4 P-K4
  2. N-KB3 N-QB3
  3. B-B4 B-B4
  4. P-QN4 BxNP
  5. P-B3 B-R4
  6. P-Q4 PxP
  7. O-O P-Q6
  8. Q-N3 Q-B3
  9. P-K5 Q-N3
  10. R-K1 KN-K2
  11. B-R3 P-N4
  12. QxP R-QN1
  13. Q-R4 B-N3
  14. QN-Q2 B-N2
  15. N-K4 Q-B4
  16. BxQP Q-R4
  17. N-B6 ch PxN
  18. PxP R-N1
  19. QR-Q1 QxN
  20. RxN ch NxR
  21. QxP ch KxQ
  22. B-B5 dbl ch K-K1
  23. B-Q7 ch K-B1
  24. BxN mate

Spanish descriptive notation:

  1. P4R P4R
  2. C3AR C3AD
  3. A4A A4A
  4. P4CD AxP
  5. P3A A4T
  6. P4D PxP
  7. O-O P6D
  8. D3C D3A
  9. P5R D3C
  10. T1R CR2R
  11. A3T P4C
  12. DxP T1CD
  13. D4T A3C
  14. CD2D A2C
  15. C4R D4A
  16. AxPD D4T
  17. C6A+ PxC
  18. PxP T1C
  19. TD1D DxC
  20. TxC+ CxT
  21. DxP+ RxD
  22. A5A+ R1R
  23. A7D+ R1A
  24. AxC++

Algebraic notation:

  1. e4 e5
  2. Nf3 Nc6
  3. Bc4 Bc5
  4. b4 Bxb4
  5. c3 Ba5
  6. d4 exd4
  7. 0-0 d3
  8. Qb3 Qf6
  9. e5 Qg6
  10. Re1 Nge7
  11. Ba3 b5
  12. Qxb5 Rb8
  13. Qa4 Bb6
  14. Nbd2 Bb7
  15. Ne4 Qf5
  16. Bxd3 Qh5
  17. Nf6+ gxf6
  18. exf6 Rg8
  19. Rad1 Qxf3
  20. Rxe7+ Nxe7
  21. Qxd7+ Kxd7
  22. Bf5+ Ke8
  23. Bd7+ Kf8
  24. Bxe7#

Notes

  1. ↑ ( Brace 1977 :79–80)
  2. ↑ ( Sunnucks 1970 :325)
  3. ↑ ( Lawrence 2009 :10)
  4. ↑ ( Hooper & Whyld 1996 :106)
  5. ↑ Reinfeld, Fred (1963). The Seventh Book of Chess. U.S.A.: Barnes & Noble. ISBN   9780064632744.

Related Research Articles

Baroque chess is a chess variant invented in 1962 by Robert Abbott. In 1963, at the suggestion of his publisher, he changed the name to Ultima, by which name it is also known. Abbott later considered his invention flawed and suggested amendments to the rules, but these suggestions have been substantially ignored by the gaming community, which continues to play by the 1962 rules. Since the rules for Baroque were first laid down in 1962, some regional variation has arisen, causing the game to diverge from Ultima.

Chess strategy is the aspect of chess play concerned with evaluation of chess positions and setting goals and long-term plans for future play. While evaluating a position strategically, a player must take into account such factors as the relative value of the pieces on the board, pawn structure, king safety, position of pieces, and control of key squares and groups of squares. Chess strategy is distinguished from chess tactics, which is the aspect of play concerned with the move-by-move setting up of threats and defenses. Some authors distinguish static strategic imbalances, which tend to persist for many moves, from dynamic imbalances, which are temporary. This distinction affects the immediacy with which a sought-after plan should take effect. Until players reach the skill level of "master", chess tactics tend to ultimately decide the outcomes of games more often than strategy. Many chess coaches thus emphasize the study of tactics as the most efficient way to improve one's results in serious chess play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King (chess)</span> Chess piece

The king is the most important piece in the game of chess. It may move to any adjoining square; it may also perform, in tandem with the rook, a special move called castling. If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on their next move. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate, resulting in a loss for that player. A player cannot make any move that places their own king in check. Despite this, the king can become a strong offensive piece in the endgame or, rarely, the middlegame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pawn (chess)</span> Chess piece

The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess. It may move one vacant square directly forward, it may move two vacant squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward. Each player begins a game with eight pawns, one on each square of their second rank. The white pawns start on a2 through h2; the black pawns start on a7 through h7.

In chess, a pin is a tactic in which a defending piece cannot move out of an attacking piece's line of attack without exposing a more valuable defending piece. Moving the attacking piece to effect the pin is called pinning; the defending piece restricted by the pin is described as pinned. Only a piece that can move any number of squares along a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line can pin. Any piece can be pinned except the king. The pin is one of the most powerful chess tactics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algebraic notation (chess)</span> Method to convey chess moves

Algebraic notation is the standard method for recording and describing the moves in a game of chess. It is based on a system of coordinates to uniquely identify each square on the board. It is used by most books, magazines, and newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rules of chess</span> Rules of play for the game of chess

The rules of chess govern the play of the game of chess. Chess is a two-player abstract strategy board game. Each player controls sixteen pieces of six types on a chessboard. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king; checkmate occurs when a king is threatened with capture and has no escape. A game can end in various ways besides checkmate: a player can resign, and there are several ways a game can end in a draw.

This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of named opening lines, see List of chess openings; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants; for a list of terms general to board games, see Glossary of board games.

Circe chess is a chess variant in which captured pieces are reborn on their starting positions as soon as they are captured. The game was invented by French composer Pierre Monréal in 1967 and the rules of Circe chess were first detailed by Monréal and Jean-Pierre Boyer in an article in Problème, 1968.

A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some chess problems. Compared to conventional pieces, fairy pieces vary mostly in the way they move, but they may also follow special rules for capturing, promotions, etc. Because of the distributed and uncoordinated nature of unorthodox chess development, the same piece can have different names, and different pieces can have the same name in various contexts. Most are symbolised as inverted or rotated icons of the standard pieces in diagrams, and the meanings of these "wildcards" must be defined in each context separately. Pieces invented for use in chess variants rather than problems sometimes instead have special icons designed for them, but with some exceptions, many of these are not used beyond the individual games for which they were invented.

Portable Game Notation (PGN) is a standard plain text format for recording chess games, which can be read by humans and is also supported by most chess software.

Forsyth–Edwards Notation (FEN) is a standard notation for describing a particular board position of a chess game. The purpose of FEN is to provide all the necessary information to restart a game from a particular position.

ICCF numeric notation is the official chess notation system of the International Correspondence Chess Federation. The system was devised for use in international correspondence chess to avoid the potential confusion of using algebraic notation, as the chess pieces have different abbreviations depending on language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Promotion (chess)</span> Chess rule

In chess, promotion is the replacement of a pawn with a new piece when the pawn is moved to its last rank. The player replaces the pawn immediately with a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. The new piece does not have to be a previously captured piece. Promotion is mandatory when moving to the last rank; the pawn cannot remain as a pawn.

Judkins shogi is a modern variant of shogi, however it is not Japanese. Credit for its invention has been given to Paul Judkins of Norwich, UK, prior to April 1998.

Shō shōgi is a 16th-century form of shogi, and the immediate predecessor of the modern game. It was played on a 9×9 board with the same setup as in modern shogi, except that an extra piece stood in front of the king: a 'drunk elephant' that promoted into a prince, which is effectively a second king. While 9×9 may not seem 'small', it was smaller than the other shogi variants prevalent at the time, which were the 12×12 chu shogi and 15×15 dai shogi. According to the Sho Shōgi Zushiki, the drunk elephant was eliminated by the Emperor Go-Nara, and it is assumed that the drop rule was introduced at about the same time, giving rise to shogi as we know it today.

Omega Chess is a commercial chess variant designed and released in 1992 by Daniel MacDonald. The game is played on a 10×10 board with four extra squares, each added diagonally adjacent to the corner squares. The game is laid out like standard chess with the addition of a champion in each corner of the 10×10 board and a wizard in each new added corner square.

Okisaki shogi is a modern variant of shogi. It was developed by Masayuki Nakayachi c. 1996 from suggestions by German chess player Ralph Blockhaus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hostage chess</span> Chess variant

Hostage chess is a chess variant invented by John A. Leslie in 1997. Captured pieces are not eliminated from the game but can reenter active play through drops, similar to shogi. Unlike shogi, the piece a player may drop is one of their own pieces previously captured by the opponent. In exchange, the player returns a previously captured enemy piece which the opponent may drop on a future turn. This is the characteristic feature of the game.

Dynamo chess is a chess variant invented by chess problemists Hans Klüver and Peter Kahl in 1968. The invention was inspired by the closely related variant push chess, invented by Fred Galvin in 1967. The pieces, board, and starting position of Dynamo chess are the same as in orthodox chess, but captures are eliminated and enemy pieces are instead "pushed" or "pulled" off the board. On any given move, a player can make a standard move as in orthodox chess, or execute a "push move" or a "pull move". A move that is either a push move or a pull move is called a "dynamo move".

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.