Descriptive chess notation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Descriptive chess notation, or just descriptive notation is a notation for recording chess games, and at one time was the most popular notation in Britain and America for doing so. It has been superseded by abbreviated algebraic notation, as the latter is more brief and less ambiguous. However chess players may find older chess books using this notation. Descriptive notation exists in many language-based variants, the most prevalent being English descriptive notation and Spanish descriptive notation. Howard Staunton, in The Chess-Player's Handbook, (1847) uses a cumbersome early version, viz., P. to K's 4th (later written P-K4). It is noteworthy that in the back of the book, he offers brief descriptions of long algebraic chess notation, which he calls that adopted by German writers, and of ICCF numeric notation, which he calls "Koch's Notation."

Contents

[edit] Naming the pieces

Each piece is abbreviated to the first letter of its name: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, P for pawn. Knight begins with the same letter as king, so to get around this it is abbreviated to either Kt or N. "Kt" is the older abbreviation, and so is perhaps more commonly found in descriptive notation books, descriptive notation being an older system than algebraic. "N" is used in the examples in this article.

[edit] Naming squares on the board

Names of the chessboard squares in descriptive notation.
Names of the chessboard squares in descriptive notation.

In descriptive chess notation each square has two names, depending on black's or white's viewpoint. Each file is given a name corresponding with the piece that occupies the first rank at the start of the game. Thus 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 (left for white, right for black) 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 (right for white, left for black) 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' respectively. 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 instance, the bottom left square ('a1' in algebraic chess notation) is called "queen's rook 1" (QR1) by white and "queen's rook 8" (QR8) by black.

[edit] Notation for moves

Each move of a piece is indicated by a sequence of characters. Castling has its own sequence of characters and special indicators are added to the end of the sequence if relevant.

  • Move that is not a capture: A move without capture is represented by the piece's name, a hyphen and the square at the end of the move e.g. N-QB3 (knight to queen's bishop 3). In some literature, if the move is to the first rank, the "1" is omitted.
  • Capture: A move with capture is represented by the piece's name, a cross (x) and the destination square is identified by the name of the piece captured e.g. QxN (queen captures knight).
  • Castling: The notation 0-0 is used for castling kingside and 0-0-0 for castling queenside. The word "Castles" is sometimes used instead, particularly in older literature.
  • Promotion: Parentheses are used to indicate promotion, with the piece resulting from the promotion in parentheses: P-R8(Q). Sometimes an equal sign is used instead, as in P-R8=Q.

Typically, the move will record only enough information to make the move unambiguous. For example, after 1. P-K4 P-K4, the move 2. B-QB4 would be written 2. B-B4, since White cannot legally move either bishop to KB4. 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 another pawn, or as QBPxP, or PxQBP, or other such variations.

Another method in making the move unambiguous, the location of a capture or the starting point of a move may also be shown, delimited with parentheses or a slash, as BxN/QB6, or R(QR3)-Q3. Sometimes only the rank or file is indicated, as 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's no appropriate White move to use (e.g., if the moves are interrupted by commentary) then an ellipsis ... is used in its place.

In Spanish descriptive notation the hyphen is not needed, as the rank serves as separator. So the Sicilian opening (1. P-K4 P-QB4 in English) would be written 1. P4R P4AD.

[edit] Advantages

By identifying each square with reference to the player on move, descriptive notation better reflects the symmetry of the game's starting position ("both players opened with P-K4 and planned to play B-KN2 as soon as possible"), and because the pieces captured are named, it is easy to skim over a game record and see which ones have been taken at any particular point.

The maxim that "a pawn on the seventh is worth two on the fifth" makes sense from both Black's perspective as well as White's perspective.

[edit] Disadvantages

Confusion can arise because the squares are named differently. Errors may be made when not realizing that a move is ambiguous. In comparison, abbreviated algebraic notation represents the same moves with fewer characters, on average, and can avoid confusion since it always represents the same square in the same way.

[edit] Example

The Evergreen game (Adolf Anderssen, Jean Dufresne, 1852) in English descriptive chess notation.

White:  G. A. Anderssen
Black:  J. Dufresne
Opening:  Evans Gambit
Location: Berlin, 1854
    White       Black
   -------     -------
 1. P-K4        P-K4
 2. Kt-KB3      Kt-QB3
 3. B-B4        B-B4
 4. P-QKt4      BxKtP
 5. P-B3        B-R4
 6. P-Q4        PxP
 7. O-O         P-Q6
 8. Q-Kt3       Q-B3
 9. P-K5        Q-Kt3
10. R-K1        KKt-K2
11. B-R3        P-Kt4
12. QxP         R-QKt1
13. Q-R4        B-Kt3
14. QKt-Q2      B-Kt2?
15. Kt-K4       Q-B4?
16. BxQP        Q-R4
17. Kt-B6 ch!   PxKt
18. PxP         R-Kt1
19. QR-Q1!      QxKt
20. RxKt ch     KtxR
21. QxP ch!     KxQ
22. B-B5 dbl ch K-K1
23. B-Q7 ch     K-Q1
24. BxKt mate

Other examples occur in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.

[edit] Names of pieces in other languages

Language King Queen Rook Bishop Knight Pawn Chess Check Checkmate
figurine ♔ ♚ ♕ ♛ ♖ ♜ ♗ ♝ ♘ ♞ ♙ ♟ ... + #
Arabic م ف ر فل حص شطرنج
Catalan R rei D dama/reina T torre A alfil C cavall (P) peó Escacs Escac/ Xec Escac i mat
Chinese K 王 Q 后 R 車 B 象 N 馬 兵 國際象棋 將軍 將死
Croatian K kralj D dama/kraljica T top/kula L lovac/laufer S skakač/konj (P) pješak Šah Šah Šah mat
Czech K král D dáma V věž S střelec J jezdec (P) pěšec Šachy Šach Mat
Danish K konge D dronning T tårn L løber S springer (B) bonde Skak Skak Skakmat
Dutch K koning D dame T toren L loper P paard (P) pion Schaken Schaak Mat
English K king Q queen R rook B bishop N/Kt knight (P) pawn Chess Check Checkmate
Esperanto R reĝo D damo T turo K kuriero Ĉ ĉevalo (P) peono Ŝako Ŝak Ŝakmato
Estonian K kuningas L lipp V vanker O oda R ratsu (E) ettur Male Tuli Matt
Finnish K kuningas D daami/ kuningatar T torni L lähetti R ratsu (S) sotilas Shakki Shakki Matti/ Shakkimatti
French R roi D dame T tour F fou C cavalier (P) pion Jeu d'échecs Échec Échec et mat
German K König D Dame T Turm L Läufer S Springer (B) Bauer Schach Schach Schachmatt
Greek Ρ βασιλιάς Β βασίλισσα Π πύργος Α αξιωματικός Ι ίππος (Σ) πιόνι Σκάκι Σαχ Mάτ
Hebrew מלך מלכה צריח רץ פרש רגלי שחמט שח מט
Hindi R raja V vajeer H hathi O oont G ghoda (P) pyada Shatranj Shah Maat
Hungarian K király V vezér B bástya F futó H huszár (P) gyalog/ paraszt Sakk Sakk Matt
Icelandic K kóngur D drottning H hrókur B biskup R riddari (P) peð Skák Skák Skák og mát
Indonesian R raja M menteri B benteng G gajah K kuda (P) pion Catur Skak Skak mati
Irish R rí B banríon C caiseal E easpag D ridire (F) fichillín/ ceithearnach Ficheall Sáinn Marbhsháinn
Italian R re D donna T torre A alfiere C cavallo (P) pedone Scacchi Scacco Scacco matto
Japanese キング クイーン ルーク ビショップ ナイト ポーン チェス 王手
Korean K 킹 Q 퀸 R 룩 B 비숍 N 나이트 (P) 폰 체스 체크 체크메이트
Latin K rex Q regina R turris B episcopus N eques (P) pedes Scacci Scaccus Mattus
Latvian K karalis D dāma T tornis L laidnis Z zirgs (B) bandinieks Šahs Šahs Šahs un mats
Lithuanian K karalius V valdovė B bokštas R rikis Ž žirgas (P) pėstininkas Šachmatai Šach Matas
Luxembourgish K kinnek D damm T tuerm L leefer P päerd (B) bauer Schach Schach Schachmatt
Norwegian K konge D dronning T tårn L løper S springer (B) bonde Sjakk Sjakk Sjakkmatt
Persian ش شاه و وزیر ق/ر قلعه/رخ ف فیل ا اسب س سرباز شطرنج کیش کیش‌مات
Polish K król H hetman W wieża G goniec S skoczek (P) pion Szachy Szach Mat
Portuguese R rei D dama/rainha T torre B bispo C cavalo (P) peão Xadrez Xeque Xeque-mate
Romanian R rege D regină T turn N nebun C cal (P) pion Şah Şah Mat
Russian Кр король Ф ферзь Л ладья С слон К конь (П) пешка Шахматы Шах Мат
Serbian К краљ Д дама Т топ Л ловац С скакач (П) пешак Шах Шах Мат
Sicilian R re D riggina T turru A alferu S scecchu (P) pidinu Scacchi
Slovakian K kráľ D dáma V veža S strelec J jazdec (P) pešiak Šach Šach
Slovene K kralj D dama T trdnjava L lovec S skakač (P) kmet Šah Šah Mat/Šahmat
Spanish R rey D dama/reina T torre A alfil C caballo (P) peón Ajedrez Jaque Jaque mate
Swedish K kung D dam T torn L löpare S springare (B) bonde Schack Schack Schack matt
Telugu రాజు మంత్రి ఏనుగు శకటు గుర్రం బంటు చదరంగం దాడి కట్టు
Turkish Ş/K şah/kral V vezir K kale F fil A at (P) asker/piyon Satranç Şah Mat
Ukrainian Kр король D королева T тура C слон K кінь (П) пішак Шахи Шах Мат
Vietnamese V Vua H Hậu X Xe T Tượng M Mã _ Tốt Cờ vua Chiếu Chiếu bí
Welsh T teyrn/brenin B brenhines C castell E esgob M marchog (G) gwerinwr Gwyddbwyll Siach Siachmat