Steno-Chess
Steno-chess (SC)
proposes itself to play with a series of simple chess instructions, assembled
in a character string.
Example of such a
string : ghLxLR3xo#
Here is the complete SC
instruction set (all the traditional
chess rules are kept):
a = occupy a square on the a-file (either capturing or not)
b = occupy a square on the b-file (either capturing or not)
c = occupy a square on the c-file (either capturing or not)
d = occupy a square on the d-file (either capturing or not)
e = occupy a square on the e-file (either capturing or not)
f = occupy a square on the f-file (either capturing or not)
g = occupy a square on the g-file (either capturing or not)
h = occupy a square on the h-file (either capturing or not)
1 = occupy a square on the 1-rank (either capturing or not)
2 = occupy a square on the 2-rank (either capturing or not)
3 = occupy a square on the 3-rank (either capturing or not)
4 = occupy a square on the 4-rank (either capturing or not)
5 = occupy a square on the 5-rank (either capturing or not)
6 = occupy a square on the 6-rank (either capturing or not)
7 = occupy a square on the 7-rank (either capturing or not)
8 = occupy a square on the 8-rank (either capturing or not)
P = play a Pawn (either
capturing or not)
R = play a Rook (either
capturing or not)
N = play a Knight (either
capturing or not)
L = play a Bishop (either
capturing or not L stands for the german Lδufer)
Q = play a Queen (either
capturing or not)
K = play your King (either
capturing or not; castling allowed)
x = make a capture (en
passant or not)
% = make an en passant capture
~ = play a move (a
legal move, of course as all moves here)
+ = put your opponents King in check (simple check, double check, discovered check, or by
promoting a pawn)
= = stalemate immediately
# = checkmate your opponents King (directly or by discovered check)
o = castle to the kingside
0 = castle to the queenside
r = promote a Pawn into a rook
n = promote a Pawn into a knight
l = promote a Pawn into a bishop
q = promote a Pawn into a queen
[One will keep in mind the difference between o and 0]
A string is read left
to right. Odd instructions are for White, even instructions for Black.
Now, let us look
again at the example on top of page. The string ghLxLR3xo#
should be read like this (in
absence of other indications, the string of instructions starts with the first
move) :
White has to
move a piece in order to occupy a square on file g (either capturing or
not)
Black has to
move a piece in order to occupy a square on file h (either capturing or
not)
White has to
move a Bishop (either capturing or
not; either giving check or not)
Black is forced
to make a capture somewhere on the board (x)
White has to
move a Bishop (either capturing or
not; either giving check or not)
Black has to
move a Rook (either capturing or not; either giving check or not)
White has to
move a piece in order to occupy a square on rank 3
(either capturing or not)
Black is forced
to make a capture somewhere on the board (x)
White has to
castle on the kingside (o)
Black has to
checkmate his opponent (#).
Steno-Chess is not a
new standard for describing chess positions; its aim is to
play with strings of instructions which may seem, at first glance, weird or
contradictory.
As one will quickly notice, the standard ASCII SAN notation (or even the Chess
Informants one) can lead
to several SC strings. For example, the short game:
1.g4 h5 2.Bg2 hxg
3.Bxb7 Rxh2 4.Nh3 BxB 5.0-0 Rh1#
... could produce,
among others, SC strings like ghLxxR3xo1,
45ghLxNLoh or ghLxLR3xo# (the
latter being the one which opens the page).
The aim of Steno-Chess,
in reality, is to play with the assumed blur of its own set of instructions.
How about, for
instance, trying to replay the following game? But take care: the seemingly
haziness attached to some moves disappears when you look further in the string.
Every move is forced, in fact and this is the beauty (?) of the exercise:
dg6LxgxK+x5Nx4+NxLgx+N1+x2xg+5ebxR6+dQNQg4~#
Something else. Nicolas
Graner (a friend of mine) warned me, when we had our first discussion about
SC:
With your system, it
is impossible to describe the move < 1.a3 > because the
notation < P > doesnt fit (too ambiguous there are eight possible pawns), neither
< a > (three
movements are possible, bringing a piece on the a file), nor
< 3 > (twelve
movements between Knights and Pawns fulfil the requirement of occupying
a square on the 3-rank)
Ive answered him
that SC are not to describe a game or a standard sequence of move (as we have seen), but to build
labyrinths through which only one path leads to the exit. Nicolass remark,
however, was still challenging me... So I tried yesterday (February 29th, 2004) to find SC
strings (the shortest ones) in order
to fix all the twenty white moves which
can open a real game.
Here is the (almost) full display. A single line should be read like
this: If you obey the string at the right of the arrow, you cannot play
another first move than the ASCII one at the left.
1.a3 > 3e2x
1.a4 > ab3x
1.b3 > be33
1.b4 > b~5
1.c3 > ?
1.c4 > cb5x
1.d3 > 3gK+
1.d4 > dex
1.e3 > 3f+
1.e4 > 4f+
1.f3 > 3~~#
1.f4 > 4Nf+
1.g3 > gd23
1.g4 > g~5
1.h3 > 3d2x
1.h4 > hg5x
1.Na3 > a~1
1.Nc3 > c~1
1.Nf3 > f~1
1.Nh3 > h~1
Here is (march 4th, 2004) the same exercise
for the first twenty black moves:
1. ...a6 > NaNx
1. ...a5 > bax
1. ...b6 > ab5x
1. ...b5 > abx
1. ...c6 > ?
1. ...c5 > bcx
1. ...d6 > c6+
1. ...d5 > cdx
1. ...e6 > ~6~#
1. ...e5 > dex
1. ...f6 > ?
1. ...f5 > efx
1. ...g6 > hg5x
1. ...g5 > fgx
1. ...h6 > NhNx
1. ...h5 > ghx
1. ...Na6 > eNx
1. ...Nc6 > ~c~8
1. ...Nf6 > ~f~8
1. ...Nh6 > dNx
We will leave to the
reader the pleasure of finding the 4-symbol strings above which were
replaced by < ? >. Answers will be posted soon here...
We would be delighted
if some composers should adopt the Steno-Chess notation. This would
enrich the beautiful domain of no-diagram chess (link in French).
__________
Thanks to Gilles Esposito-Farθse for his
remarks and for suggesting me the %
symbol. Many thanks too to Mario Richter who suggested me a lot of
improvements in the English notation of promoted pieces and for allowing the King
to castle when it has to obey the K
instruction! Mario checked and corrected a lot of the above strings
thanks again! Thanks too to Olivier Pucher for the = symbol and for his enthusiasm in playing with
SC strings (see here).
Finally, thanks to Antoine Fourriθre for having recorded SC on the ChessVariants
server and for having re-worded in good English the above rules!
[Last update of this page : march 9th,
2004]
French original of this page, click there.
Main page of this site (in French), here.