Chess Notation QUestion

The Art Of The Middle Game    Paul Keres & Alexander Kotov   Translated by H Golombek

I haven't seen this type of Chess Notation before & can't get a grip on it.     

1. P-Q4         P-KB4      2.P- KKt3  Kt-KB3      3.B-Kt2    P-K3       4. Kt      Bk2

Any advise on how to read this notation so I can study the book????

1

This is old style English notation. 1. Pawn to Queen 4     Pawn to King's Bishop 4 is 1.d4  f5   2. Pawn to King's Knight3   Knight to King's Knight 3 is 2.g3  Nf6 .  3. is Bishop to Kt2    Pawn to King 3 which is 3. Bg2  e6 .  I don't know about 4, something is missing, but hopefully you get the idea.

The big difference I find between descriptive (1.P-K4) and algebraic (1. e4) is that algebraic is absolute. No matter whether you're White or Black, e4 is e4.  Descriptive is relative and shows the move relative to whose moving,  so 1. P-K4 for White would be the same as 1. e4,  but if Black replies 1...e5,  in descriptive you would see instead of 1. e4  e5,  1. P-K4  P-K4  because both white and black move their K's pawn to the 4th rank.

The Art of the Middle Game  is a very good book, but not easy to read.

If you know algebraic notation, here are the moves you listed out:

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. N?? B??

Paul's answer was best. It's called Descriptive Notation and it was the most popular form of notation here in the United States up until about the early to mid 1980s or so.  Check out the link he provided.

It's very, very easy to learn.  It's not rocket science.  In no time at all you will be completely fluent in it, and after doing so, thousands upon thousands of used chess books and magazines that use descriptive notation will then be waiting for you to read and enjoy them. 

I have 400+ chess books and I would estimate that 20-40% of them use descriptive notation.

In my over-the-board tournaments, sometimes, just for the fun of it, I record my game in descriptive.  I like the look of the faces of some of my opponents when they ask to "borrow" my scoresheet... and then can't make heads or tails of the score.

Hey thanks for the help.   I finally transcribed the first game.   It's gonna be a long haul thru this book.   I have no doubt as ya'll have said, over time it will get easyier to understand what the notation says.

Again my thanks 

FYI Follow Up.

The first few games in the book are local games by the translator H. Golombek requiring tedious interpritation from Descriptive to Algebraic notation.

So far the remaining games are by the chess greats and found on the internet in pgn format.   Download the game & find where the book comes in, go from there.   The only transcribing relates to alternative lines of play.    This has proven simpler than I originally thought.  

what does kt_kb3 mean?

If it' s White's move, Nf3; if it's Black's move, Nf6.

Knight to King Bishop 3.

This notation learning will be a long way but it will benefit you *cough* me *cough*