Tip 4: Learn Descriptive

Here's a little tip that will give you the potential to improve no end. Learn descriptive notation! It really isn't hard. Here are some reasons why:

• It was good enough for Fischer.

• It will enable you to read old chess books, on the cheap (or maybe from the library). Seriously, why would anybody need to "translate" a book into algebraic notation and/or "update" the language? No living chess author has written anything as classy as Staunton's classic: "...futher defence would be frivolous and vexatious, and the Frenchman with good grace resigns."

• It is arguably fairer than algebraic, since black's moves are recorded from black's point of view rather than white's.

• You will be able to understand what unambigous three-synbol chess is, and perhaps even play it!

If you think your descriptive notation is already up to scratch, try this extract from a French book. Not only is the notation descriptive, but the pieces are named in French and even the chessmen in the diagrams look a little unusual.