http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_notation
Descriptive Notation is almost nonexistent today, and reading that article explains very well why.
how to read descriptive notacion
Sort:
The ranks are numbered as usual. But instead of a,b,c,d,etc files, they are referred to by the piece on the back rank, and the king or queen side of the board.
The ranks are NOT numbered as usual, the ranks are numbered from the side making the move. So d5, for example, is White's Queen 5, but Black's Queen 4.
The plus side of decriptive is that things like fianchettos are more generically described - B-N2, but it's definitiely a more difficult system to use.
thanks, still a little confusing but i don't think i can learn much more...
Sep 27, 2013
0
#6
Part of a page in the original English descriptive notation.
In algebraic:
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4
Sure, and in descriptive, 1. P-K4, P-K4 2. P-KB4, PxP 3. N-KB3, P-KN4 4. B-QB4
I actually think that if you can't read this, easily, you are missing out on the great chess books, written by the greatest chess minds - Nimzovitch, Lasker, etc. It's well worth getting comfortable with!
Sep 27, 2013
0
#8
Unmaster wrote:
Sure, and in descriptive, 1. P-K4, P-K4 2. P-KB4, PxP 3. N-KB3, P-KN4 4. B-QB4
I actually think that if you can't read this, easily, you are missing out on the great chess books, written by the greatest chess minds - Nimzovitch, Lasker, etc. It's well worth getting comfortable with!
Renaud and Kahn, The Art of the Checkmate remains leagues ahead of all other checkmate pattern books. It is available only in descriptive in English. I suspect that the original French is in algebraic, although I've never seen a copy.
i started chess after the change to algrabrac notacion but there are still a lot of good books that are only in desciptive and i want to know how to read them.