Descriptive Notation
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Descriptive notation is a
chess notation Chess notation systems are used to record either the moves made or the position of the pieces in a game of chess. Chess notation is used in chess literature, and by players keeping a record of an ongoing game. The earliest systems of notation used ...
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. In most other languages, the more concise algebraic notation was in use. Since 1981,
FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
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 A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
, each piece is abbreviated as the first letter of its name: K for
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
, Q for
queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
, R for
rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...
, B for
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, and P for
pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pawn, Oregon, an his ...
. 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 ''Chess Review'' was a U.S. chess magazine published from January 1933 to October 1969 (Volume 37 Number 10). Until April 1941 it was called ''The Chess Review''. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but lat ...
'' received many letters debating the change from Kt to N. Each square has two names, depending on the viewpoint of White or Black. Each is given a name corresponding to the piece that occupies the first at the start of the game. Thus, in English descriptive notation the
queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
's file is named "Q" and the
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
'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 Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...
(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: * The initials to identify the pieces are taken from the equivalent Spanish words: R = ''rey'' (king), D = ''dama'' (queen), T = ''torre'' (rook), C = ''caballo'' (knight), A = ''alfil'' (bishop) 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 The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5, c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. Ope ...
(1. P-K4 P-QB4 in English) would be written 1. P4R P4AD. This is also the method used in French descriptive notation.


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. * ''Non-capturing move'': A move without capture is notated by the piece's name, a hyphen and the destination square, e.g. N-QB3 (knight to queen's bishop 3) and P-QN4 (pawn to queen's knight 4). In some literature, if the move is to the first rank, the "1" is omitted. * ': A capture is notated by the piece's name, a cross ("x"), and the name of the piece captured, e.g. QxN (queen captures knight). * ''
Castling Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved ...
'': The notation O-O is used for castling and O-O-O for castling . The word "Castles" is sometimes used instead, particularly in older literature, in which case it may be necessary to disambiguate between kingside and queenside castling; this may be done by specifying the rook, i.e. "Castles KR" or "Castles QR". * ''
Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
'': Parentheses are used to indicate promotion, with the promotion piece enclosed in parentheses, e.g. P-R8(Q). Sometimes a slash or an equal sign is used, e.g. P-R8/Q, P-R8=Q. * ''Special terms and symbols'': Special indicators that are appended to the move include "e.p." (''
en passant ''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy paw ...
''), "ch" or "+" (
check Check or cheque, may refer to: Places * Check, Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film * ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld'' Games and sports * Check (chess), a thr ...
), "?" (a
question mark The question mark (also known as interrogation point, query, or eroteme in journalism) is a punctuation mark that indicates an interrogative clause or phrase in many languages. History In the fifth century, Syriac Bible manuscripts used ques ...
for a bad move), "!" (an
exclamation mark The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...
for a good move), "mate" or "++" (
checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
), " resigns" and "
draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...
". 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 The King's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 It is the most popular opening move in chess, followed by the Queen's Pawn Game. Details about the move and the game plan White opens with t ...
was originally recorded as "Pawn to King's Fourth" or similar; by the time of
Howard Staunton Howard Staunton (April 1810 – 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Am ...
'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 . 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 The Evergreen Game is a famous chess game won by Adolf Anderssen against Jean Dufresne in 1852. This was probably an . At the time, there was no formal title of "World Champion", but the German mathematics professor Anderssen was widely consider ...
. English descriptive notation: Spanish descriptive notation: Algebraic notation:


References

* * * * * * * {{chess Chess notation