What is descriptive notation?

Sort:
Ishrak

I have no clue how to understand descriptive notation. Although i don't need it,i wanna learn it. Please help

MrEdCollins

Ever heard of Google?

If not, it's a search engine.  The website is www.google.com.  You type in the search box whatever you're interested in, and then click the search button.  After you do, tens of thousands, or more, suggested websites will come up.

For example, if you enter "descriptive notation" in the Google search box, the first suggested website that comes up is wikipedia's entry for descriptive notation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_notation

The second suggested link is this one:

http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Descriptive-Notation

Knock yourself out.

Coach-Bill

Descriptive notation is what I first learned at age 11 in 1966. I found a Sunday newspaper chess column, and all the games were written in it. I remembered the rulebook my chess set came with had a diagram with each square names printed on it. In Descriptive Notation each square has two names, and both players write the moves in the perspective of their army. Each File is labeled after the piece which has its starting position there.

so

1. e4 e5 is written by both players as

1. P-K4 P-K4.

Not 1. P-K4 P-K5 by White, and also not 1. P-K5 P-K4 by Black.

To follow up

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Nc3 Nf6 is written

2. N-KB3 N-QB3

3. N-B3 N-B3

you don't have to write 3. N-QB3 N-KB3, the Q and K letters are needed to show which Knight went there....

 

Anyway, I took 64 pieces of masking tape and placed them over all the squares. I wrote the two names of each square on each piece of tape and beging replaying the games from the newspaper. On the third week, i said to myself "I've got this!" I peeled off the tape, played threough the first game in the paper perfectly, and never looked back....

 

A lot of great chess literature is written only in English Descriptive.

 

I have been using DN in recent tournaments and my opponents have no clue what I am doing!