Stamma notation one might suspect. It's an old form of algebraic.John McKenna wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2020 12:54 pmAmazing what Geoff finds in his old crop of curiosities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_StammaAlgebraic 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.
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.
Which oneJohn McKenna wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2020 4:04 pmMeyer, a passionate non-smoker, cancelled his subscription to a chess magazine
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.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.)
Perhaps Jas. P knows something more?
NB: An edition of Philidor's Analysis of the Game of Chess published 1819, in London, gives (Ngf3 as) -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!