Answers.Body: <p>AFAIK, Edward Lasker (not Emmanuel) Lasker was the only master player resident in the USA to publish in Algebraic before the 1970s, substituting English initials for the German he would have used before immigrating. Not only are Bobby Fischer's books in Descriptive, so are his scoresheets.</p>
  
  <p>I don't know about 18th Century usage, but I have read 19th Century British works that use a descriptive <em>phrase</em> like "King to his third square" for K-K3, either Ke6 or Ke3 (the color being obvious by whose turn it is to play). The transition from phrasing to a strictly symbolic Descriptive notation, I can't help with.</p>
  
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Andrew Lazarus
Answers.Body: <p>Descriptive notation was just the easy shorthand for writing out the moves in detail or even starting to abbrev them until the minimal amount of description remained. </p>
  
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Body: <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_notation_%28chess%29" rel="noreferrer">Algebraic Notation</a> is the modern standard for recording chess games. It is easily human-readable, yet it can be parsed by computers without difficulty.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_notation" rel="noreferrer">Descriptive notation</a> predates algebraic significantly. Essentially all English-language chess literature from 1960 or earlier records moves descriptively. The Wikipedia article doesn't provide sources for who developed this notation or when it emerged. There's an unsubstantiated reference on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_notation" rel="noreferrer">Chess Notation</a> Wikipedia page to 18th century usage, and it claims that Philidor's defeat of Philip Stamma stunted the growth of algebraic notation. Hence the question:</p>
  
  <p><strong>Is there any history as to when descriptive chess notation emerged, and who developed it?</strong> </p>
  
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Comments.Text: "Essentially all chess literature from 1960 or earlier records moves descriptively." - I have a book of studies by Grigoriev printed in 1954. No descriptive notation... You must be referring to "chess literature in English". I am curious what notation Capablanca used when writing down his moves though!
Comments.UserDisplayName: Joe
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Comments.Text: You have a point. I've made that change. As to Capablanca, I don't know what he used to record his games, but note that in his [Chess Fundamentals](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33870) he uses descriptive notation.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Jonathan Garber
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Comments.Text: Which 'descriptive notation'? I am sure every language (and maybe region) had its own.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
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Comments.Text: Perhaps. The Wikipedia page refers to English and Spanish descriptive notation. I'll do some digging tonight and see whether I can turn up any others to narrow the question a little.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Jonathan Garber
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Comments.CreationDate: 2020-02-19T18:56:15.390Z
Comments.Text: Every language had its own notation based on that languages names of the pieces.  In English B-N5 would be A-C5 in spanish with alfil for bilshop and caballo for horsie. D would be dama R would be Rey and T for Rook.
Comments.UserDisplayName: edwina oliver
Tags: <history><notation>
Title: What is the origin of descriptive notation?
ThreadText: # What is the origin of descriptive notation?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2013-01-11)
  
  [Algebraic Notation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_notation_%28chess%29) is the modern standard for recording chess games. It is easily human-readable, yet it can be parsed by computers without difficulty.
  
  [Descriptive notation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_notation) predates algebraic significantly. Essentially all English-language chess literature from 1960 or earlier records moves descriptively. The Wikipedia article doesn't provide sources for who developed this notation or when it emerged. There's an unsubstantiated reference on the [Chess Notation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_notation) Wikipedia page to 18th century usage, and it claims that Philidor's defeat of Philip Stamma stunted the growth of algebraic notation. Hence the question:
  
  **Is there any history as to when descriptive chess notation emerged, and who developed it?**
  
  **Tags:** history, notation
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: "Essentially all chess literature from 1960 or earlier records moves descriptively." - I have a book of studies by Grigoriev printed in 1954. No descriptive notation... You must be referring to "chess literature in English". I am curious what notation Capablanca used when writing down his moves though!  
  > **username_0**: You have a point. I've made that change. As to Capablanca, I don't know what he used to record his games, but note that in his [Chess Fundamentals](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33870) he uses descriptive notation.  
  > **username_2**: Which 'descriptive notation'? I am sure every language (and maybe region) had its own.  
  > **username_0**: Perhaps. The Wikipedia page refers to English and Spanish descriptive notation. I'll do some digging tonight and see whether I can turn up any others to narrow the question a little.  
  > **username_3**: Every language had its own notation based on that languages names of the pieces.  In English B-N5 would be A-C5 in spanish with alfil for bilshop and caballo for horsie. D would be dama R would be Rey and T for Rook.  
  
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  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2013-01-14. Score: 8
  
  AFAIK, Edward Lasker (not Emmanuel) Lasker was the only master player resident in the USA to publish in Algebraic before the 1970s, substituting English initials for the German he would have used before immigrating. Not only are Bobby Fischer's books in Descriptive, so are his scoresheets.
  
  I don't know about 18th Century usage, but I have read 19th Century British works that use a descriptive *phrase* like "King to his third square" for K-K3, either Ke6 or Ke3 (the color being obvious by whose turn it is to play). The transition from phrasing to a strictly symbolic Descriptive notation, I can't help with.
  
  
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  ### Answer by username_3 on 2020-02-20. Score: 0
  
  Descriptive notation was just the easy shorthand for writing out the moves in detail or even starting to abbrev them until the minimal amount of description remained.
  
  
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