[Retros] Re: Steno-Chess notation

[Mario Richter]

Hello,


Andrew wrote:

> ... one obvious idea is to allow the

> possibility to have *no* symbols from the SAN notation for certain moves,

as

> well as just a single symbol. This avoids the composer having to give

> redundant information in some cases. The "blank" might be denoted by a

> period, which I think is otherwise an unused character.


Wouldn't that just re-introduce Eric's "~"-symbol?


>

> For example:

> .33#


Do you mean .63#  ?



>

> If the steno notion is to achieve any kind of longevity, Francois

Labelle's

> modification of Eric's original idea seems highly desirable.


Why?

IMHO it depends on which formalism fits best the goal of allowing the
composer
to provide sound and correct problems which are then enjoyed by the solvers.

Regarding Francois Labelle's original proposal:

> "For every move, write exactly one symbol from its Standard Algebraic

> Notation.",


This truely is a short definition, but it's complexity is only hidden
by referring to another rather complex definition.

(One should not forget that SAN does allow strings like "Re3-g3" [in a
position
with e.g. Re3 Rh3 Rg8 Rg1], so following Francois's suggestion an 'e' in a
steno string could also mean "a piece moving from file 'e'", a '-' could
stand for other moves than castling ... )

Just one more thought: Eric's definition is immune against changes
in the SAN specification ...



Two real life jokes:

Number 1:

I visted the link given by Eric
(http://www.cetteadressecomportecinquantesignes.com/StenoFE.htm)

and because I do not speak french, I tried to use some freely available
translating tool for translation.

So here is what translate.google.com thinks "Échecs-Sténo" means:

in english: Failure-Shorthand writing

in german: Mißerfolge-Stenographie

(Does somebody have a suggestion for a usable translation tool?)

Number 2:

To assure myself that I have correctly remembered the SAN basics
I started a google search for standard algebraic notation.
As usual the first 10 or so links were not really helpful,
but amongst them was this site:

web.mit.edu/taoyue/www/tutorials/chess/chess-parallel.html

where one can read:
"... 'Cylindrical Chess,' was invented by Stephen Healey, a student at John
P. Stevens High School in Edison, New Jersey from September 1994 to June
1998. Mr. Healey is currently engaged in obtaining trademark on this
concept."



Hoping not to have spread panic amongst you fairy chess composers

mario