Note that this system has been heavily modified for 8PC use.

In the mid-1990s, variants expert Ralph Betza began to spread a shorthand for describing all the weird moves that pieces have in chess variants. His "funny notation" has become known throughout the variants world.

In Betza's notation, a piece is represented by a string of characters (such as fhCfsRbK).

You may ask, what does this weird-looking string of letters mean? This article will guide you through how to interpret this notation.

1. Atoms

Certain capital letters (‘atoms’) refer to the powers of a basic piece. For example N refers to a the moves a chess knight can make.

Putting an integer limits how far a slider component can slide. For example R5 represents a rook than can only go 5 squares at most.

Doubling the letter represents a rider. Form example NN represents a knight-rider.

Combining letters gives you a compound piece. There is no restriction on how the letters should be ordered. For example R3NN represents a rook than can slide 3 squares at most+knight-rider, and BW represents a bishop+wazir (the dragon horse in shogi).

Main Letters [Colour in diagram]

O is a jump to (0,0), effectively passing a turn.

U is a jump to any square of the board, except for the square it’s on.

(m,n) is a jump to (m,n), where m and n are whole numbers.

Rook Family

W is the Wazir, a step to (0,1). [Red]

D is the Dabbaba, a jump to (0,2). [Orange]

H is a jump to (0,3). [Yellow]

Bishop Family

F is the Ferz, a step to (1,1). [Purple]

A is the Alfil, a jump to (2,2). [Blue]

G is a jump to (3,3). [Green]

Knight Family

N is the Knight, a jump to (1,2). [Pink]

C/L is the Camel, a jump to (1,3). [Brown]

Z/J is the Zebra, a jump to (2,3). [Dark Grey]

Shortcuts

R is a shortcut for the ordinary Rook move. This can also be written WW (Wazir-rider).

B is a shortcut for the ordinary Bishop move. This can also be written FF (Ferz-rider).

Q is a shortcut for the ordinary Queen move, RB. This can also be WWFF (Wazir-rider + Ferz-rider).

K is a shortcut for the King's move, WF.

Checkpoint 1:

How do these pieces move?

(i) CF

(ii) BNNWDD

(iii) Q4N

2. Direction Modifiers

Now that we have learnt the most staple part of Betza's notation, we can move on to the small letters. (Remember fhCfsRbK?)

There are 7 small letters for direction modifiers. They are listed below:

b is backwards.

f is forward.

h is half.

l is left.

r is right.

s is sideways (short for rl, left+right).

v is vertical (short for fb, forwards+backwards).

All of these letters, except v, can be combined to make new directional modifiers. Here are all of them (the text refers to a knight's moves):

ff is forward-forward, the forward part of a Knight's forward move (from e4 to d6 and f6 only).
fs is forward-sideways, the sideways part of a Knight's forward move (from e4 to c5 and g5 only).
fh is forward-half, the forward half of the Knight's move (e4 to c5, d6, f6, and g5).
Analogous usage is available for bb, bs, and bh.

Now we'll go back to the fhCfsRbK here. How exactly does it move? We should separate the string into small components:

fhC: The front half of the Camel's move. (e.g. from e4 to d8, f8, b5 and h5).

fsR: The forward and sideways move of the Rook (if you don’t know what this means, then you’d better leave this thread FAST).

bK: The backward moves of the King (i.e. the backward-left, backward-right and the directly backward move, from e4 to d3, e3 and f3).

Checkpoint 2:

How do these pieces move?

(i) fsQbhNbK

(ii) fR5ffNbR3bsZbAA

(iii) frlRrlbK

3. Other Modifiers

Other than the 7 directional modifiers listed above, Betza (and other variant enthusiasts) also made and overloaded more modifiers for different purposes. Here they are:

a is again. This modifier is the most confusing of them all in the original systems; it is now replaced with a revamped T[ ] modifier.

Below is a description for it if you want to know what it does.

The a modifier indicates that the piece can do another move after its first one is completed. modifiers preceding 'a' apply to the first 'leg' of the move, whatever follows is describes the second leg. The direction and modality of the legs can thus be specified independently. Together with some new conventions for the interpretation of the existing modifiers in such a context, this makes an immensely powerful system, able to describe complex trajectories and many exotic modes of capture. (e.g. a Checker can capture on its first fF step, and then must move again in the same direction to an empty square, fcafmF). Directions for a continuation leg are indicated relative to the previous leg, where continuing in the same direction counts as 'forward'. So masR would be a Rook that can do two moves per turn ('a'), the second perpendicular to the first ('s'), where the first should be a non-capture, ('m'), and the second can both capture and non-capture, as usual. The continuation directions are specified in the 8-fold system even for 4-way atoms; when purely orthogonal or diagonal atoms get a continuation direction specified that they do not have, (i.e. intermediate to the directions they stand for), they are converted into each other for the remainder of that move. F interconverts with W, (and thus B with R), D with A and G with H this way. E.g. mafsR for a trajectory that starts orthogonal and then bends 45 degrees ('fs') on any empty square ('m') reached that way.

c is capture-only. (For example, a cQ would only be able to capture but not move as a queen.)

d is self-capture (destroy).

e is en passant.

g is grasshopper. A grasshopper piece is a runner that must jump over exactly one other piece and land on the square just past that piece. The gQ is the grasshopper in chess.com. Doubling the g modifier (e.g. mggNN) gives you a rider-style like piece, leaping any number of pieces along the same path while following grasshopper rules.

i is initial move. Adding this modifier to an atom restricts it to the first move of the piece. Thus the FIDE pawn would be fmWfceFifmnD. The i modifier can be overloaded when its original meaning makes no sense, especially when used in conjunction with T[ ] or a, to mean a move with equal range as the last 'instruction'.

j is jump-only. A jump-only dabbaba on e4 can only move to e6 if there is a piece on e5.

k is royalty. Any piece with a ‘k’ modifier is royal. If a player has more than one royal piece, then all of them has to be captured (or in the case of the last royal piece, checkmated) to win, and he can move his royal pieces into check, provided that he doesn’t hang his last royal piece.

m is move-only. (For example, a mQ would only be able to move but not capture as a queen.)

n is non-jumping. (i.e. an originally leaping piece cannot leap, and can be blocked.)

o is cylindrical. Cylindrical pieces do not stop at the edge of the board - they think that if you go to the right from h1, the next square is a1.

p is cannon (p for the Chinese Cannon 'pao'). Cannon pieces move like Rooks, Bishops, Queens, etc, but require exactly one intervening piece to move. Similar to grasshoppers, except that the piece jumped over can be anywhere on the path. Doubling the p modifier (e.g. mppNN) gives you a rider-style like piece, leaping any number of pieces along the same path while following cannon rules.

q is circular slider. The Rose (qN) is an example of a circular slider. The diagram below shows the moves of the qN.

The qN moves in a pseudo-circular/octagonal shape.

The qN may move from its starting square to a pink square, then to a red square, then orange-yellow-orange-red-pink in a circle, and back to its starting position. It is allowed to pass a turn with the qN.

t is tame. A piece with this modifier cannot capture Kings.

u is unload (a captured piece). (See the T[ ] modifier below for examples.)

x is explosion. xK removes all pieces around a piece’s surrounding squares.

z is crooked. Crookedness refers to a piece that must make a n-degree turn after each move, while moving away from its starting square. (The moves of the zR and zB are shown and explained below.)

All moves of the zR. Note that some of the squares overlap, and are represented by purple in this diagram.

This is what you'd get if you decided to combine all possible zNN types.

For example, a cylindrical Queen would be oRoB.

Checkpoint 3:

How do these pieces move and capture?

(i) fmFfceWifmnA

(ii) DAmN

(iii) pNNK

4. The Exotic Operator

The Exotic Operator is represented by a pair of square brackets [ ]. Different capital letters (except for the ones that have been used to represent atoms) can be added in front of it to define exotic effects and modifiers such as trajectories, weird modes of capture, and effects that cannot be described by modifiers (such as immobilization). For C[ ] and E[ ], the small letters DO NOT follow the rules described in Section 3; they are merely a representation of the exotic effect.

(i) The T[ ] modifier

The T[ ] modifier describes a trajectory, or in other words, a path for a piece to take.

The general form when using the T[ ] modifier looks like this: T[M-X-Y] where X and Y are only limited in the outward directions (unless you specify a directional modifier).

For example, T[F-R]would mean a piece which first starts as Ferz, then continues as Rook (in the outward directions). The T[mW-F] is the Xiangqi Horse (also known as a Mao).

To describe a rider with the T[ ] modifier, you should add an asterisk (*) after the square brackets.

e.g. T[mW-F]* is the Mao-rider.

When other modifiers are used inside the T[ ] modifier, they may change in meaning. The changes in meaning are listed below:

i becomes equal. It is now used to convey that an 'instruction' should be equal length to the last 'instruction'.

For example T[dQ-ibuQ-ibQ] describes a queen move with a swap.

If there were a White T[dQ-ibuQ-ibQ] on d1, and a White N on f3, then White could play T[dQ-ibuQ-ibQ] d1-f3, thus putting the N on d1.

T[ ]: The trajectory modifier.

dQ: Destroys (captures own piece) as Queen. (The Queen is now on f3.)

ibuQ: Go back with equal length as a Queen, then unload the piece that just got captured. (The Queen is now on d1.)

ibQ: Go back with equal length as Queen. (The Queen is now on f3.)

All directional modifiers are now defined relative to the last 'instruction'.

For example T[mR-sR]R would describe a 'hook-mover': it can move as a rook, but can optionally make a 90-degree turn if it hasn't captured a piece yet.

T[cM-ibM] is a piece that can rifle capture as M.

(ii) The C[ ] Modifier

The C[ ] modifier describes an exotic mode of capture.

C[a] = Capture by approach

C[i] = Imitative capture (captures in the way the captured piece captures)

C[w] = Capture by withdrawal

(iii) The E[ ] Modifier

The E[ ] modifier describes an exotic effect.

E[nM] = Revives all dead pieces that can be reached as M.

E[iM] = Immobilization of all enemy pieces that could be reached by moving as M.

E[!iM] = Un-Immobilization of all enemy pieces that could be reached by moving as M.

E[u] = Makes a piece indestructible

(iv) The S[ ] Modifier

The S[ ] modifier describes an effect on a specific kind of tile.

S[(Land)M] = Special effect or moves (represented by M) on Land squares/tiles

S[(Ice)M] = Special effect or moves (represented by M) on Ice squares/tiles

Checkpoint 4

How do these pieces move and capture, and if applicable, what effects do these pieces have?

(i) RNNT[cR-ibR]T[cNN-ibNN]

(ii) E[nNK]T[N-B]

(iii) fFbWxKC[i]

Solutions to Checkpoints 1, 2, 3 and 4

(i) Note that the blue pawn has moved from b6 to d6 (which can be captured en passant by the piece on c5), and that the ferz moves of this piece is move-only, and can be blockaded. The non-leaping alfil moves only apply to the first move of this piece.

(ii) Note that the knight moves of this piece are move-only, and can be blockaded.

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