What is a !N Novelty.

Ok, I have a good idea what a !N Novelty is, since I own several Informant books, and I think they invented the term. However, I have never seen an exact verbal definition. My own understanding is the following: 1) Has to be played by a Grandmaster in an official tournament game. 2) Has to be a new move in a specific, known, theoretical position. Even if the move is a `no brainer`, for example, I have seen annotaters give Nf3, a !N Novelty designation, even in normal looking positions if they didn't find the move in their data base. So anyway, let's hear what you think defines a !N Novelty.

You sure you mean "!N" and not just "N"?  I think that "!" and "N" are two different symbols. "!" or exclam just means a very good move. "N" is just novelty.

I haven't bought an Informant in quite a while but I thought you could have good novelties and dubious novelties.

http://www.chessinformant.org/system-of-signs/

The symbol !N, is what Informant uses to designate a Novelty. The stand alone symbol of `!` means a very good move.

Informant keeps track not only of novelties, but their quality. Some are better than others. Some novelties are ?! or worse.

N means that move has never been dne before and ! means good.

@GalaxKing ! is not a very good move. cause then what does !! mean? well, it said a brilliant move but still.

I always thought N was Knight, so did some research. From Wikipedia, I found this:

Theoretical Novelty A move in the opening that has not been played before. Abbr. TN or N.

So, TN or just N. Seems to apply to openings only. The ! would be as explained above - an excellent move.

Informant's system of signs:

17.Nbc3N

The first N is knight; the second novelty. Grammar matters.