When a TV show or movie talks about chess moves, they say things like "Move Bishop to Rook 7" which is using Descriptive Notation. But Descriptive Notation stopped being recognized officially in 1981, in favor of the now ubiquitous Algebraic Notation (with moves written more compactly like "Bh7")

submitted by magnora7 from en.wikipedia.org

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[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I play a lot of Chess, and I was watching Frasier, and they're playing chess and Niles says "Move the Bishop to Rook Seven" and I play a fair amount of chess, and I have no idea what that means. So I just found out about Descriptive Notation. And also that "Rook Seven" is not an actual square in Descriptive Notation either. So not only is the chess move in Fraiser using outdated notation, it's also not even a real description within that notation!

I have seen similar things in Brooklyn Nine-Nine when Captain Holt is playing chess. I guess Descriptive Notation sounds more dramatic to read aloud? It's just kind of a funny subtle thing I never realized until now.

[–]Tigerbitecrazy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Weird! I graduated in the 2000s and we always used that style of terminology for chess club in middle and high schools. Guess I need to brush up before I send my kid to school with the wrong info.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Really? You used Descriptive Notation in chess club in 2000? That's interesting. It does seem to have its advantages, it's easier to visualize the moves for me, and easier to spot mirrored structures in the beginning, but harder overall to keep everything organized it seems

[–]Tigerbitecrazy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

They say the Midwest is always behind the times but a decade seems a bit much. This is seriously the first I've heard of this style....granted, I haven't played in a competition in just over 2 decades so I can imagine things have changed a bit

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Interesting. I was very surprised to read it was discontinued officially in 1981, I would've expected 2001 or so given how often people seem to use Descriptive Notation in popular media.

[–]Tigerbitecrazy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm willing to bet the coaches we had were old-school and didn't want to adapt to a more efficient method.....less convoluted, at the very least.