English Chess Forum

This 1910 'Boys Own'



had an advert on the back cover...



...but the intriguing bit was a chess section with a strange chess notation.(page 30)



Despite the mention of 'blindfold' it is from game 3, Pillsbury - Jackson Whipps Showalter, USA Ch. 1897.

The position quoted is this (White to play move 32)

2r3k1/1pr1q1p1/p2p1p2/3PpPnQ/4N3/1P2P3/1P4R1/6RK w - - 0 32


Full game:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 d6 5. d3 a6 6. Be3 Bxe3 7. fxe3 Na5 8. Bb3 Nxb3 9. axb3 Nh6 10. O-O c6 11. d4 Qe7 12. Qe1 O-O 13. Qg3 f6 14. h3 Be6 15. Rf2 Rae8 16. Raf1 Bc8 17. Nh4 Kh8 18. d5 c5 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. exf5 Rc8 21. Qh4 Qf7 22. g4 Qe7 23. Ne4 Nf7 24. Qh5 Kg8 25. h4 h6 26. Rg2 Rc7 27. Kh1 c4 28. Rfg1 cxb3 29. cxb3 Rfc8 30. g5 hxg5 31. hxg5 Nxg5 32. Rxg5 fxg5 33. Nxg5 g6 34. Qxg6+ Qg7 35. Qe6+ Kh8 36. Rg3 Rc1+ 37. Kg2 R8c2+ 38. Kf3 Rf1+ 39. Ke4 Rh1 40. Qe8+ 1-0

K=King
L=Queen
M=Rook
N=Bishop?
O=kNight
P=Pawn

Amazing what Geoff finds in his old crop of curiosities.

John McKenna wrote: ↑

Fri May 22, 2020 12:54 pm

Amazing what Geoff finds in his old crop of curiosities.

Stamma notation one might suspect. It's an old form of algebraic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic ... on_(chess)

Algebraic notation exists in various forms and languages and is based on a system developed by Philipp Stamma. Stamma used the modern names of the squares, but he used p for pawn moves and the original file of a piece (a through h) instead of the initial letter of the piece name.

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

Stamma's book introduced algebraic chess notation in an almost fully developed form before the now obsolete descriptive chess notation evolved. Philidor's writings had more influence after his victory over Stamma, and the descriptive system based on Philidor's approach was dominant for a long time.

Hurrah for Stamma!

Who saved us from -

"The following example with its explanation is from Nouvelle notation pour les parties ou les coups d'echecs (1836) - f:4R':r'=r 'le Pion du Fou du Roi faisant un pas à la 4. case du Roi adverse, prendre le Pion du Roi adverse et devient Pion du Roi'" (Oxford Companion)

It should be added that although the 2nd edition (1st edition Paris, 1737) of Stamma's The Noble Game of Chess was published in London in 1745 his particular form of algebraic notation "was called German notation and not well received in England. In 1818 Lewis said that it was 'generally considered so tedious and fatiguing...'" (Oxford Companion)

The form of notation in Geoff's original post is also there in the Oxford Companion -

"In Complete Guide to the Game of Chess H.L.F. Meyer (1839-1928) introduced his 'Universal Notation' designating the pieces by the letters K to P, the book failed to sell. (Meyer, a passionate non-smoker, cancelled his subscription to a chess magazine because it published an illustration of a player who happened to have a pipe in his mouth.)

I like that "who happened to have a pipe..."

Now Geoff will be on the lookout for copies of Meyer's and Stamma's books or, better still, knocking up contemporary "antique" versions.

John McKenna wrote: ↑

Fri May 22, 2020 4:04 pm

Meyer, a passionate non-smoker, cancelled his subscription to a chess magazine

Which one

It does not specify in my edition of the Companion.

Hooper & Whyld could not tell all in such an encyclopedic work but they must have had their sources.

Tim Harding might come on with an inkling, perhaps.

'Rabbit's Review' ?

John McKenna wrote: ↑

Fri May 22, 2020 4:04 pm

The form of notation in Geoff's original post is also there in the Oxford Companion -

"In Complete Guide to the Game of Chess H.L.F. Meyer (1839-1928) introduced his 'Universal Notation' designating the pieces by the letters K to P, the book failed to sell. (Meyer, a passionate non-smoker, cancelled his subscription to a chess magazine because it published an illustration of a player who happened to have a pipe in his mouth.)

Oh, I hadn't remembered I actually have a copy of The Oxford Companion, but as you say, it is not forthcoming on the source of its story.

James Pratt wrote: ↑

Sun May 24, 2020 4:03 pm

'Rabbit's Review' ?

Perhaps Jas. P knows something more?

I am more into John Updike's Rabbit (on the wireless.)

I was looking at an obituary in http://www.mccu.org.uk/mgame/mg15.pdf and decided to read the rest of the issue, when I spotted on page 10, a piece about notation...

From which -

Clearly, however, Philidor’s way of recording moves had to be made more efficient if English chess literature were to have room to grow. A major innovation in that respect occurred in 1817, when an edition of Philidor’s works introduced a system of abbreviations into Philidor’s ponderous notation. Those abbreviations, by the way, were introduced rather timidly with suitable apologies to the reader. Over the next few decades, more use of abbreviations occurred, and the descriptive notation of modern times slowly took shape...

We have come a long way from “ the white King commands his owne knight into the third house before His owne Bishop" to the simple "Nf3," and chess literature has come a long way as well!

NB: An edition of Philidor's Analysis of the Game of Chess published 1819, in London, gives (Ngf3 as) -

King's knight to his bishop's third square.

And so was still not descriptive notation, but it was on its way to KKt-KB3.