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Descriptive notation

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Scoresheet in descriptive notation used by Bobby Fischer in a 1970 game against Miguel Najdorf.

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.

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, Kt or KT, the first 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
1909 diagram showing the square names from the point-of-view of each player. Note the use of "Kt" for knight, and "Sq." (square) for the first rank.

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. In 19th century chess literature the first rank is usually called simply the "[piece]'s square", so "K1" ("King One") is called "King's square" (K. Sq.). Some players omitted both the "1" and the "sq", so "Rook to King 1" was written R–K.

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 a full diagram of the board using this naming method, see the image above.

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:

  • The initials to identify the pieces are taken from the equivalent Spanish words: R = rey (king), D = dama (queen, lit. 'lady'), T = torre (rook), C = caballo (knight), A = alfil (bishop, lit. 'war elephant') and P = peón (pawn). The files are named after the initials of the pieces on the first rank, with those on the queen's side being suffixed by the letter "D", and those on the king's side suffixed by the letter "R". From White's left to right along the first rank this yields: TD, CD, AD, D, R, AR, CR, TR.
  • The dash, which in English descriptive notation symbolizes the word "to", is omitted.
  • The numerical rank is identified before the file, e.g. "4R" is equivalent to "K4" (e4 in algebraic notation).

In Spanish descriptive notation the Sicilian Defence (1. P–K4 P–QB4 in English) would be written 1. P4R P4AD (peón al cuatro del rey, peón al cuatro del alfil de la dama). This is also the method used in French descriptive notation.[4]

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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 B×NP
  5. P–B3 B–R4
  6. P–Q4 P×P
  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. Q×P R–QN1
  13. Q–R4 B–N3
  14. QN–Q2 B–N2
  15. N–K4 Q–B4
  16. B×QP Q–R4
  17. N–B6 ch P×N
  18. P×P R–N1
  19. QR–Q1 Q×N
  20. R×N ch N×R
  21. Q×P ch K×Q
  22. B–B5 dbl ch K–K1
  23. B–Q7 ch K–B1
  24. B×N mate

English descriptive notation with variants:

  1. P–K4 P–K4
  2. Kt–KB3 Kt–QB3
  3. B–B4 B–B4
  4. P–QKt4 B×KtP
  5. P–B3 B–R4
  6. P–Q4 P×P
  7. Castles P–Q6
  8. Q–Kt3 Q–B3
  9. P–K5 Q–Kt3
  10. R–K.Sq. KKt–K2
  11. B–R3 P–Kt4
  12. Q×P R–QKt.Sq.
  13. Q–R4 B–Kt3
  14. QKt–Q2 B–Kt2
  15. Kt–K4 Q–B4
  16. B×QP Q–R4
  17. Kt–B6+ P×Kt
  18. P×P R–Kt.Sq.
  19. QR–Q.Sq. Q×Kt
  20. R×Kt+ Kt×R
  21. Q×P+ K×Q
  22. B–B5+ K–K.Sq.
  23. B–Q7+ K–B.Sq.
  24. B×Kt++

Spanish descriptive notation:

  1. P4R P4R
  2. C3AR C3AD
  3. A4A A4A
  4. P4CD AxP
  5. P3A A4T
  6. P4D P×P
  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+ P×C
  18. P×P T1C
  19. TD1D DxC
  20. TxC+ CxT
  21. DxP+ R×D
  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#
Scorecards from a 1931 demonstrating variations in descriptive notation.
This player uses "KT" for knight, and "sq" for the first rank.
This player writes "Knight to Bishop's square" as Kt–B and "King's Rook to King 1" as KR–K.
This player writes check as (CH). On one occasion, "Rook on Queen's square to Queen's Bishop's square" is written R–Q–QBsq.
This player uses dots instead of dashes, so "Pawn to Queen 4" is P. Q. 4. He also denotes castling as Castles.

Notes

  1. ^ (Brace 1977:79–80)
  2. ^ (Sunnucks 1970:325)
  3. ^ (Lawrence 2009:10)
  4. ^ (Hooper & Whyld 1996:106)

References

  • Brace, Edward (1977), "descriptive notation", An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Craftwell, ISBN 1-55521-394-4
  • Golombek, Harry (1977), "notation, descriptive", Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Batsford, ISBN 0-517-53146-1
  • Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1996) [First pub. 1992]. "descriptive notation". The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 106. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.
  • Just, Tim; Burg, Daniel B. (2003), U.S. Chess Federation's Official Rules of Chess (5th ed.), McKay, pp. 219–20, ISBN 0-8129-3559-4
  • Lawrence, Al (January 2009), "On the Shoulders of Chess Giants", Chess Life (1): 10
  • Staunton, Howard (1847), The Chess-Player's Handbook, Henry C. Bohn
  • Sunnucks, Anne (1970), "descriptive notation", The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martins Press, ISBN 978-0-7091-4697-1
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