Descriptive notation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:16, 6 January 2025

Latest revision as of 18:30, 20 February 2025

(6 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)

Line 5:

==Description==

===Nomenclature===

With the exception of the [[Knight (chess)|knight]], each piece is abbreviated as the first letter of its name: '''K''' for [[King (chess)|king]], '''Q''' for [[Queen (chess)|queen]], '''R''' for [[Rook (chess)|rook]], '''B''' for [[Bishop (chess)|bishop]], and '''P''' for [[Pawn (chess)|pawn]]. As ''knight'' begins with the same letter as ''king'', it is abbreviated as either '''N''', '''Kt''' or '''KTKt''', the first being the modern convention. In 1944, ''[[Chess Review]]'' received many letters debating the change from Kt to N.<ref>{{harvcol|Lawrence|2009|p=10}}</ref>

[[Image:English Descriptive Chess Notation.svg|thumb|360px|Names of the squares in English descriptive notation]]

Line 25:

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. '''Kt–QB3N–QB3''' (knight to queen's bishop 3) and '''P–QN4''' (pawn to queen's knight 4).

* ''{{chessgloss|capture|Capture}}'': A capture is notated by the piece's name, a cross (×), and the name of the piece captured, e.g. '''Q×N''' (queen captures knight).

* ''[[Castling]]'': The notation '''O-O''' is used for castling {{chessgloss|kingside}} and '''O-O-O''' for castling {{chessgloss|queenside}}. 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 or side, i.e. "'''Castles KR'''," "'''Castles Q''',"or "'''Castles queenside'''".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Reinfeld|first=Fred|title=The Seventh Book of Chess|publisher=Barnes & Noble|year=1963|isbn=9780064632744|___location=U.S.}}</ref>

* ''[[Promotion (chess)|Promotion]]'': Parentheses are used to indicate promotion, with the promotion piece enclosed in parentheses, e.g. '''P–R8(Q)'''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/07/25/archives/chess-pr8-q-then-pr8-q-leads-to-some-fireworks.html | title=Chess:; P-R8 (Q) then ... P-R8 (Q) Leads to Some Fireworks | work=The New York Times | date=25 July 1963 | last1=Horowitz | first1=Al }}</ref> Sometimes a slash or an equal sign is used, e.g. '''P–Kt8P–N8/R''', '''P×R=N'''.

* ''Special terms and symbols'': Special indicators that are appended to the move include "e.p." (''[[en passant]]''), "ch" or "+" ([[Check (chess)|check]]), "?" (a [[question mark]] for a bad move), "!" (an [[exclamation mark]] for a good move), "mate" or "++" ([[checkmate]]), "[[Rules of chess#Resigning|resigns]]" and "[[draw (chess)|draw]]".

**If there is only one way of giving check or checkmate, the move may be written e.g. '''Q ch.''' ("queen checks") or '''R++''' ("rook mates").

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 '''P×P''' if it is the only one possible, or as '''BP×P''' if only one of the player's bishop's pawns can capture a pawn, or as '''QBP×P''', '''P×RP(R6)''' or '''P×QBP''' or other such variations.

Line 174 ⟶ 173:

| caption4 =This player uses dots instead of dashes, so "Pawn to Queen 4" is '''P. Q. 4'''. He also denotes castling as '''Castles'''.

| header =Scorecards from a 1931 tournament demonstrating variations in descriptive notation.

}}