The recording art

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 14

The recording art

With the start of a new season of the “The Press” chess competition a number of new players will be wondering how to record a game. The way chess games are recorded in print can be quite daunting at first glance. Many strong players have trouble keeping a correct “score” as it is known, while to the uninitiated the symbols and numbers used constitute a series of indecipherable hieroglyphics. However, the system approved by the World Chess Federation called algebraic notation is really very simple to learn. Firstly each square on the board is given a single code. This code consists of a letter and a number, for example a 6 or e 7. The code is established in the following way. Set the board up in the usual way (remember the right hand corner square nearest you should be white).

Looking at the board from white’s point of view, the vertical lines (or files) are labelled a to h from left to right The horizontal lines (or ranks) are labelled I to 8 starting nearest to you and working up the board. Now each square can be given a unique code by determining which file and then which rank it stands on.

For instance, the square in the bottom left hand comer (the black square occupied by your rook) is called al. The square in the top right hand comer is hB. Using these codes it is now possible to indicate the square a piece moves from and the square it goes to. To show which piece is moving, a single letter abbreviation is >laced before the code. In English these are: king k; queen q; rook r, bishop b; knight n. The pawns, as befit their lowly status, do not have a letter. A pawn move is indicated by just giving the square of origin and the square the pawn moves to.

U the first move of a game is the pawn in front of the white king advancing two squares this is written as: e - e 4. If black’s reply is the same pawn move then that would be: e7-e5. Now if white were to move his bishop he could choose between the moves, Bfl-e2, Bfl-d3, Bfl-c4, Bfl-b5, or Bfl-a6. Although this longhand method is strictly correct, it is more common to only indicate the piece moving and the square it goes to. So the first move would then be just e 4, black’s reply would be e 5, and then the various bishop moves would be Be2, Bd3, Bc4, Bbs, or Ba 6. Only when there are two possible pieces, say two rooks, which could go to the same square is it essential to use the full description to avoid any ambiguity. Two other symbols are also used. To indicate castling the correct code is 0-0 for castling on the kingside, and 0-0-0 for castling on the queenside. And lastly, when a move captures

an enemy piece, the hyphen between the square of origin and the destination square is replaced by an x. In the shorthand method the x is placed between the piece and the destination. For example Bxf7. There are other symbols to indicate check and checkmate and so on, but those outlined are the ones used in these columns. The following sample game will help to illustrate the algebraic notation of chess games. It was played in January in a tournament with the unlikely name of the Gausdal Troll Masters, and features a stunning finish by the little known German, Hartman. Benko is an Hungarian-born American grandmaster. Brief descriptions will follow white’s moves. White: Benkoßlack: Hartman 1. c2-c4 (pawn in front of the bishop advances two squares) Nf6 2. Nnl-c3 (knight to the square behind the advanced pawn) d7-d6 3. d 4 (queen pawn advances two squares) NbB-d7 4. Nf3 (the other knight to two squares before the B) e7-e5 5. Bgs (the Bishop moves to the knight’s file) -BfB-e7 6. Qc2 (behind the knight)c7c 6 7. e 3 (the king pawn advances one square) QdB-c7 8. Bd3 (white squared bishop moves two squares) a7-a6 9. 0-0 (castles on the kingside) 0-0 10. Bxh7 (takes a pawn and checks the king) Nf6xh7 11. Bxe7 (takes the black squared bishop) RfB-e8 12. Bh4 (withdraws as far as it can) Nd7-f8 13. c 5 (the pawn first moved advances again) esxd4 14. cxsd6 (pawn takes pawn and attacks the black queen) Qxd6 15. Nxd4 (a knight takes a pawn) Qd6-h6 16. Bg3 (bishop withdraws one square) c6-c5

17. Nd4-e2 (the foremost knight behind the king pawn) BcB-g4 18. a 4 (pawn on the left of the board advances two)Qh6c 6 19. a 5 (the pawn advances once more) Nh7-g5 20. Nf4 (knight moves alongside the enemy bishop) NfB-g6 You. should have achieved the position in the diagram. 21. Nxg6?? (a blunder) Qxg2 White must take the queen and is checkmated by Bh3 and then Nf3.