[Suggestion] Extended 4PC notation

I wrote about this initially in the main club forums. I have amended what I have written there to bring into discussion here. If you would like to see the original post (which will also contain more examples) then please click here.

Use this thread to comment on what I put forward, but please do come up with your own suggestions and don't be afraid to provide constructive criticism. The main point of this thread is to come up with methods that can be used to simplify the communication and notation of 4PC game activity - princapally with analysis and theory in mind.

This will not be canonized in the wikibook unless a significant number of people suggest their approval. Ideally we will go through a number of iterations before we can consider it finalized.

Positional Indication

When indicating who makes the following notated move, the primary convention is to indicate the player using a lowercase letter representing their colour (r=red, b=blue, y=yellow, g=green).

The Positional indication method indicates a player based upon where they sit on the board using hyphens as "place-markers" to indicate where a previous player during that move would have been, similar to the elipsis (...) in 2 player chess to indicate that it is Black to move.

The move itself here is not important, so for the sake of argument, lets assume it is the 6th ply/round and we see a bunch of Queen exchanges on the h8 square...

If Red captures a piece on this square it can be written without a hyphen as such:
6. Qxh8

To indicate that the player moving is Blue, we would use one hyphen:
6. - Qxh8

Yellow is indicated by 2 hyphens:
6. -- Qxh8

Green is indicated by 3 hyphens:
6. --- Qxh8

Positional indication is not meant to be as a replacement for the colour indication method but as a potential alternative.

Any Move

~

The tilde (~) is used to represent that essentially "Any move" can be made by this player because the inevitable outcome is the same. For example, when analysing a checkmate sequence on Green, one can use the tilde to describe Blue's movement in such a position because essentially it doesn't matter what they play... checkmate on Green is still coming.

Any Move Except

(/XX, XX)

Works the same as the "Any Move" notation but with the added condition that the bracketed moves are not played in this particular scenario. Any-Move-Except brackets are opened with the symbol (/ and closed with the symbol ). Each move within the bracket is seperated by a comma ( , ).

This or That Move

(XX, XX)

Brackets used to indicate many moves that could be made by the player in this position, usually because the outcome (in analysis for example) is essentially the same.

Conditional Brackets

Conditional Brackets are an aspect of notation that still need a little work so please do come up with ideas because if we can crack this then we can simplify the writing of a huge number of moves. This is what I have come up with so far:

[XX, XX]

The move that is played within these brackets is dependent on what was played within the previous regular brackets (in allignment order). Conditional brackets can play a role in the formulation of plans as well as in the description of trivial responses that don't particularly change an inevitable outcome.

Capture Brackets

Px(XX, XX)

When a Piece captures brackets, this means that when a previous player has been given This-or-That-Move brackets then a player can capture "whatever piece happened to be played" - usually because in the description of a sequence, the outcome is the same. The idea is that this can help save writing out many variations that essentially lead to the same thing. Similar to Conditional brackets, this is an aspect that needs some work in order to fully define and clarify how it will operate.

Checks

If needing to desribe a situation where more than one opponent King is checked, but it so happens that at least one of them is in double, triple, quadruple (or more) check, then the order in which to notate this goes: {+Red}{+Blue}{+Yellow}{+Green}. Let me know if you think the order would be better going clockwise from the player that delivered the check.

Here is an example of "Fools Mate" written using some of the notation mentioned above:

1. (h3, h4) ~ (g12, g11) (l7, k7)
2. QxQn8+ (/Qg13, Qh14, Bh13) Bm7 #

In words this is to says that if Red, Yellow and Green all open with their Kings pawn and Blue does not intervene by providing a check on Yellow (on the second move), then Green becomes checkmated when Red captures Green's Queen with 2. Qxn8+, and Yellow defends Red's queen with 2. -- Bm7#.

So here is the notation we already use, and will not change for any of the experienced players in 4PC.

Pieces are the same as usual, and follow all rules of 2PC notation.

Any coordinate using the letter 'L' uses a capital L to distinguish from 'i'.

To distinguish who is moving, we use the ply number, followed by lower case letters, and use an ENTER to indicate it is then red's turn (or blue if red is mated etc). It is optional to add 2 dots between moves. For example.

1 r. h3 .. c7 .. h12 .. L8

Qk5 ..

To denote 'any move', I suggest a hyphen or a capital X would be much more suitable, simply as they're more common characters.

'Any move except' has never come up in my 3 years of playing, so I doubt it will be useful, and is rather confusing.

To denote 'this or that', we just use a slash. For example

1 r. h3/h4 .. c7

Similarly to 'any move except', the 'capture brackets' will never really be used, and you can merely say px(insertcoordhere).

As for checks, there is no need to use +2, +3, +4 etc. Due to the nature of notation, it can be deduced which king is checked, and how many times. It is simply extra information which is not needed. Checking two separate kings is ++, and three is +++, just like you said.

The notation which already exists will not change, and it extremely similar to 2 player notation. I do like your 'this or that' idea, (we already use slashes, but it's not nearly used enough)!

I am well-versed with 2pc notation. So, at first, I found the current 4pc notation a little difficult, but then I got accustomed to it.

Now, there are different forms of Chess Notation for 2pc and they can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_notation

As you can see, Algebraic Chess Notation is the most widely used today, and within Algebraic Chess Notation there are different .forms. Long, Short, Minimal, Figurine, Reversible, Concise Reversible, and Figurine Concise Reversible. Each form has some use. Personally, I use Short Algebraic Notation when writing/typing and Minimal Algebraic Notation when speaking (like during a study session or while streaming.) I always end up using Figurine Forms of Algebraic Notation when studying from a book, because it is wise to publish most Chess Literature where the Notation is "Independent of Language".

Now, if we extend these several forms of Algebraic Chess Notation to 4PC, we encounter new problems. The Notation has to be Independent of several other factors to accommodate a wide range of people, including: Non-English Speakers, and the Visually Impaired.

The existing Notation works fine whole listing a whole game, but when solving puzzles it becomes necessary to at the r, b, y, g prefix before the moves. This system works fine for English Speaking peoples. Could we come up with a system that isn't Language-biased?

@HighEldar's suggestion of adding 0/1/2/3 hyphen's before a move to correspond to R/B/Y/G is an interesting way to resolve the Language-bias, however there are two problems: a. the Visually Impaired would have a difficult time counting the number of hyphens [when I squint, I can spot the space between hyphens]; b. also, how does one describe the colours Red, Blue, Yellow, Green to the Blind or Colour-Blind?

I propose we use symbols that represent the direction in which the pieces move... allow me to elaborate:

We can take inspiration from 4PC Logo [the Red, Blue, Yellow, Green Arrowheads meeting at the centre, the one which Tom, Eldar and I use as "FLAIRS" beside our usernames].

R, B, Y, G are represented by the corresponding characters: A, >, V, <

Each of these characters correspond to the 4 coloured arrowheads in the 4PC Logo, these characters are from red's perspective.

"A" looks like an arrowhead pointing upwards, thus representing the RED Arrowhead. [Also A is for Alpha... Alpha-Omega, beginning-end... this is serendipitous.]

">" looks like an arrowhead pointing from left-to-right, thus representing the Blue Arrowhead.

"V" looks like a arrowhead pointing downwards, thus representing the RED Arrowhead.

"<" looks like an arrowhead pointing from right-to-left, thus representing the Green Arrowhead.

This system need not be used when listing a whole game, but i would come in handy for puzzles and when annotating positions.

Here's how the 4PC Fool's Mate will look like with this suggested system:

1. A h3 > c7 V g12 < L7
2. A Qxn8+ > Bxg12 V Bm7#

The other ideas suggested by @HighEldar is very "computer programmer/flowchart" way of thinking about 4PC. And I think it might be a pretty good method to use, especially when introducing the game to beginners.

Here's how the 4PC Fool's Mate can be interpreted in simple English sentences, using the Flowchart system incorporating A><V ideas:

1. A (h3, h4) [Red begins with either h3 or h4]

> ~ [Blue makes any move]

V (g12, g11) [Yellow plays either g12 or g11]

< (l7, k7) [Green plays either l7 or k7]
2. A Qxn8+[]Red plays Queen captures n8 putting Green in check]

> (/Qg13, Qh14, Bh13) [this like can be reduces to: "As long as Blue doesn't have a check on Yellow BG are lost"]

V Bm7# [Yellow plays Bishop to m7 and protects the Red Queen, thus Green is mated]

This 'Flowchart" way of thinking can help new players think of moves ahead and look for checks and prophylactic moves before going in for a mating attack.

I agree with the observations of the colour indication system - language bias and consideration of our colour-blind compatriots. For the longest time I was writing all notation using the colours available in the text-colour editor until I was advised that the Yellow colour was difficult to read and that colour-blind readers might have difficulty distinguishing differences between notations.
Mostly my aversion of colour indication came down to the idea that the lowercase letters were already in use (b and g are file indicators for instance) and it required the tiny thought process of having to think where these colours were relative to the board.
The language bias is a clear problem and the system you have proposed @ProfBlunderMaster certainly avoids that problem in a more intuitive way than the current colour indication model. Visually it is easier to distinguish as well from the numerical indication model I have proposed, a fair criticism; I might add that it would take a little getting use to because similar to the colour indication method it would require memorizing which symbols meant which player but its certainly an improvement on the colour indication method.

Perhaps an improvement on the "Numerical position indication" I have come up with could be to have the hyphens seperated by spaces to make them easier to see by the visually impaired?

Of course I'm not going to be without bias. The point of this is to devise a notational system that is the most intuitive and simplest to use and learn. Just as algebraic notation became the de facto standard for chess notation replacing Descriptive notation because it was simpler and easier to use for the majority of people, so too I believe colour indication in 4pc will be replaced by something more intuitive and considerate of a wider audience.

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On the topic of the brackets system, I only think brackets tend to work as it makes it clear that a "This-or-that" move sequence is contained within a particular set of moves playable on that players turn - similar to how set brackets are used in maths and science.

I tried to devise the system to be as neat, easy on the eyes, and intuitive as possible; but I'll concede that the Capture Brackets, Conditional brackets and checks are either unnecessary or too convoluted at this stage. It does however contain the concept of an "Any-move-Except-for" notation which can be used in producing strict definitions of sequences, for example in describing sequences of moves where a check, block, or interfering move is not made.

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None of this is of course going to be made canon but it is useful for us to engage in the discussion of it. If we hypothetically were to make notation canon it is my opinion we would need a lot more people in the University to have their input on the matter, particularly the players who have already been longstanding within the community who have gotten use to the pre-existing notation.

Ultimately, we all want the same thing, the advancement and enhancement of 4PC and the 4PC community. We may disagree about how it is we can get there, but our goal is the same and our collaberation and discussion can only mean that our struggle with ideas will lead to the best and most flawlessly thought out ideas and concepts that will be to everyones benefit.

On the next post I will discuss what we have so far.

Player Indication Methods

So far we have mentioned 3 methods for indicating which player it is to move...

Colour Indication

The letters r, b, y and g are used to indicate the colour of the player about to move.
Examples:

1 r. h3
1 b. c7
1 y. g12
1 g. l5

Numerical Position Indication

Uses repeated symbols as placeholders to indicate where a player has gone before, similar to the elipsis (...) in 2 player chess.
Examples:

1. h3
1. - c7
1. - - g12
1. - - - l5

Rotational Position Indication

Uses unique symbols to represent the position of the player on the board; in our example, arrows facing into the board from Red's perspective.
Examples:

1 A. h3
1 >. c7
1 V. g12
1 <. l5

This-or-That Methods

Slash Method

A slash is used to indicate that either move can be made.
Example:

1. h3/h4 c7/d7 g12/g11 l5/k5

Brackets Method

Brackets are used to indicate that either move can be made.
Example:

1. (h3, h4) (c7, d7) (g12, g11) (l5, k5)

Any-Move

Hyphen

1. -

Capital X

1. X

Tilde

1. ~

Asterisk

1. *

Dollar

1. $

Ampersand

1. &

Any-Move-Except-For

Used to indicate that any move can be played except for the indicated moves.

Brackets Method

1. (/h3, h4)

L-rank

Here the move is impossible to make, but I have written as such to avoid potential bias for any of the Player indication methods.

Upper-case

Capitalises the letter L when indicating a coordinate with the intent to avoid confusion with capital letter for i (I).
Example:

1. L5

lower-case

Does not capitalise the letter L when indicating the coordinate to keep consistent with the other ranks.
Example
1. l5

On another note, I was reading the link you sent @ProfBlunderMaster and came onto a page about a 2pc notation called ICCF which is an international standard that is used in correspondance games as it takes into strict consideration the differences of languages.

Just as 2pc has many variations of notation for different purposes, I think we can make and canonize fairly quickly a 4pc version of this so that it can be available for those who need it.

I also think it would be good if we had a figurine algebraic version aswell BUT, this would mean we would have to nag chess.com to give us these symbols. Perhaps when we write a list of 4pc demands we can include this along with fairy pieces and the insert variations option I've been banging on about.

I like it figurine algebraic.

symbols in unicode utf8

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