Chess Books Notation Conventions & Layout.

Am I the only person who gets annoyed when working with chess books because the move sequences are written as if it were prose?

Four or five moves with variations presented as a paragraph while trying to take in the commentary and looking at the moves on a board is a nightmare for me.  Invariably I'll get one move out of order by looking back and forth between the book and the board.

How hard would it be for the authors and/or editors to format the move sequences in a column/row layout instead of as a paragraph?  It defies all logic and reason.  It's hard enough to concentrate on what happening in the game without the petty distraction of trying to keep your finger pressed to page to mark your place in the text.

Why don't they do this:

1) Ne2  Bd6

2) g3  Rhf8

3) 0-0  0-0-0

4) and so on?

ChessBase and pgn readers can do it, why not publishers?

Pet peeve for me, anyone else bothered by this?

That's the style they used in the old books, when descriptive notation was standard. I guess the reason they don't use the two column format is it takes up more space on the page compared to 'paragraph' style.

It's the style they still use, universally as far as I can tell.

Space on the page is an issue?  Does seem to be a problem with the authors of maths, statistics, history, political pollsters or even cookbooks. 

For something as abstract as describing a game of chess using only words and letters, space should never a consideration.  Picking up and putting down the book, moving on a board and going back to the book, taking in the commentary, then going back to book for the next move.  Especially in the places where there are a string of moves written thus:

1 Bh7 Ke8 2 Ne5 Kd8 3 Ke6 Kc7 4 Nd7 Kc6 5 Bd3  a) 5 ... Kc8 6 Nc5 Kd8 (6... Kb8 7 Kc6 Kc8 8 Nb7 +-) 7 Bg6 Kc8 8 Bf7 Kd8 (8,,,Kb8 9 Kd7 Ka7 10 Kc7 Ka8 11 Bc4 Ka7 12 Nd7 Ka8 13 Kb6 + Ka7 14 Nc8+ Ka8 15 Bd5#) 9 Nb7 transposes to line 'b'

That is literally verbatim, typical, and complete (meaning there are no diagrams I'm leaving out.)  All authors seem pretty consistent in producing this.  How much extra would I have to pay for columns?  Chess books already cost double or more of like sized books on other subjects. 

The only thing the chess authors do that is ruder is when on a video they read off the moves like they write them above, as fast as they can pronounce the letters.  Ever try to start and stop a video every couple of moves to try to take in the description?  I have, and now I don't buy chess videos, never.

Two authors and only two (that I have found so far) don't write like that Silman and Seirawan but even they come close to doing it.  Is it an "Emperor's New Clothes" sort of thing?  Should I maybe take the first step and send out some emails to tell them they are doing it maybe no one has told them that is a really bad style they shouldn't have copied that very first author the very first chess book, they should break the tradition (and possibly dominate the market in doing so)?

I like to look at the format and complexity and, if it strings together as in @Rory's example above, I use my computer GUI and work with it on-screen.  That way I can easily and quickly explore variations and instantly backup to "reset" the branch position.  It also give me a place to work out my own continuations when the author says something like "and white is better here."  I have several books that switch from simple to complex formats and while I prefer working on the board itself, it is also good practice to be able to switch formats so you don't rely on one for your visualization.

First of all, I agree that condensed 'in-line' variations, such as the example you gave, can be quite tiring / tiresome to follow. I cannot easily visualize as I am reading, and would have to set up a board (real or virtual) to actually do proper work on this kind of text. It is possible, however, that many of the intended readship are able to follow it more easily. I guess it's a matter of practice, like everything else.

Space will always be an issue to some degree, otherwise they could put diagrams in every couple of moves. That would suit me personally, but it would not suit everyone.

(Btw, one presentation that I would love to see in e-book formats would be the ability to click on or point to the start of a variation and have a series of boards displayed, one per ply, that one could scan visually to "play out" the moves in a sequence. That could at least be an option for visualization-impaired readers like myself.)