Help!

[Zcylen]

I hope someone can help me!
I'd like to play chess against someone, Im not too newbie since I know to play (more or less good)
the problem is this, I dont know the names of the pieces in english so I wont be able to explain my moves, like ¿¿¿nf6???
WTH? what's that?
can someone explain?
thanx

 

[cgannon64]

I'll play you. Let me explain notation, as its necessary to play games in this type of situation (PBEM, play by letter, play in forums, etc)

All notation shows the piece that moves and the coordinates that the piece moves to (ex: N-->Knight e--->e file 7--->7 rank).

The letters at the beginning stand for the piece that moved.

Pawns - Don't have a letter (ex: e4)
Knights - N is their letter. Not K, because K is King (ex: Nf3)
Bishops - B is their letter. (ex: Be7)
Rooks - R is their letter. (ex: Rd5)
Queens - Q is their letter. (ex: Qf7)
King - K is their letter. (ex: Kb7)

The second letter in the notation (or first, in the case of pawns) represents the file the piece moves to. Files, in case you don't know, are the vertical columns of squares. So the files on the board are a-h. The number at the end of the notation stands for the rank that the peice moves to. Files go from 1-8. One thing VERY important to remember about ranks and files is that they are all from the perspective of the white player. So, the white's left rook is on a1, but black's left rook is on h8. See what I'm saying?

One final note about notation: Notation is the piece and place the piece is moving to. In the cases where two pieces that are the same type (like two knights) can move to the same place, you have to put the position of the piece you are moving is currently on. For example, if two knights can both move to e5, and one is on d7 while the other is on f3, and you want to move the knight on the f rank, the proper notation is: Nfe5. Get it?

And finally, white or black?

good luck

 

[Zcylen]

ok, cgannon, I think Im catching the idea.
(its far much more complicated than we do it in spanish )

lets make an example, ok?
lets says im white, ok? and I move the pawn in front of the king 1 tile, then the notation will be :
e3? right?

another test, if I move the knigt which is 2 tiles at the right of the king, then the notation would be :
Nf3? right?
and its current position would be in front of the bishop's pawn?
(damn, these names are weird )

I hope I didnt mess it

 

[cgannon64]

Good, you got it. How DO you do it in Spanish?

So, I'll ask you again, white or black?

good luck, again

 

[cgannon64]

Oh, sorry, one last thing I forgot: castling kindside is O-O and castling queenside is O-O-O. So you don't think I've lost my mind when I post those.

so, again, again, white or black?

 

[Zcylen]

I made a drawing in my notebook and start playing in coordenates

ok, I thought I said white
here we go with another example ok, once Im sure we coud star a game!

But I have a question, if Im playing blacks and I move a pawn will it be e6?
and a knight will be nf6?
how do I specify in the notation if Im white or black?
thanx!






here's how we do it in spanish:
the pieces in king's side are king's piece and so with the queen ex:
if the pawn in front of the king moves one tile ahead its
KP-3K

K ->king's P-> pawn 3 ->the third tile K->in king's file

if the same pawn goes 1 tile ahead it would be
KP-4K

see? easy!
another one, lets say you move the pawn in fron of the rook on king's side (stupid move)
the notation would be :
KP-3KR
K->king's P->pawn 3->at the third tile K-> of king's R-> rook

King - Rey
Queen - Reyna
Bishop - Alfil
Knight - Caballo
Rook - Torre
Pawn - Peon

see you space cowboy!

 

[cgannon64]

Originally posted by Zcylen
But I have a question, if Im playing blacks and I move a pawn will it be e6?
and a knight will be nf6?
how do I specify in the notation if Im white or black?
thanx!

No need to specify if you are white or black. For example, the first few moves of a game would look something like this:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6

As you can see, the second set of notations is black, the first is white. Here is what the board looks like, from white's point of view:

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
...A...B...C..D..E..F..G...H

So, as you can see, black's moves are all written from white's point of view. So lets get started!

hope that diagram comes out

 

[Zcylen]

ok cgannon!

Im ready, I was out this weekend but now I ready to play.
tonight I'll post my first move, I'll be whites
lets play

 

[cgannon64]

One last thing I forgot: when taking a piece, but an x after the letter. So a knight taking a piece on e5 would be: Nxe5.

 

[Zcylen]

ok, sorry.
I was supposed to made my first move and post but yesterday I went to the astronomy society in my city and I saw a special conference about the challenger and the columbia (very interesting)
I arrived home at midnight and I felt sleepy

do we start the game in this thread or in a new one?

 

[cgannon64]

Originally posted by Zcylen
ok, sorry.
I was supposed to made my first move and post but yesterday I went to the astronomy society in my city and I saw a special conference about the challenger and the columbia (very interesting)
I arrived home at midnight and I felt sleepy

do we start the game in this thread or in a new one?

Let's just start in this one...

I'm eager to play, especially since I've 'apparently' lost in my other game...

 

[bengood22]

The type of notation he is describing is descriptive notation, it used to be used almost exclusively, and you'll see a lot of players 50 or older still use it. P-K4 P-K4 N-KB3 and so on. Incidentally I came across a chess book in Spanish written by Alekhine about an international tournament in Madrid in 1943. While it wasn't easy to follow I eventually caught on. The trick with Spanish is that the adjectives come after what they are modifying. P4R (peon 4 rey, pawn 4 king) instead of P-K4 (pawn to king four), and it gets more confusing when you have to specify the queenside or kingside like C3AR (caballo 3 amenaza rey, knight to king bishop 3)

 

[Algernon Pondlife]

Leave us over-fifties alone.

quote from Chess by R F Green, 1894 edition:

"German Notation"
1.e2-e4 1. e7-e7
2. Ktg1-f3 2. Ktb8-c6
3. Bf1-c4 3. Bf8-c5
4. Bc4-f7 (with two "+" signs one above the other)
4. Ke8-f7:

"English notation"
1. P to K4, P to K4
2. Kt to KB3, Kt to QB3
3. B to B4, B-B4
4. B takes P (ch), K takes B

Alright I admit he then discusses shorter forms, but this looks good and I have seen longer forms as well.

Spain, England (and to an extent Scotland and presumably Wales) and the USA soldiered on somewhat alone for many years with descriptive while the rest of the world used algebraic. The barriers started to come down in this country in the mid to late sixties. I swithced to algebraic probably around '75 I think. It eventually becomes the easier notation to use becuse there is less potential for ambiguity.