BRAILLE CHESS CODE AND LAYOUT
2015
c
UKAAF
Previous BAUK edition
CONTENTS
Intro duction
General
Abbreviations
Notation
a Algebraic notation
b Descriptive notation
Layout
Diagrams
Problems
Example
INTRODUCTI ON
This co de has b een formulated to facilitate transcription from print into
braille and also for use by blind players when writing annotation In this
edition an adjustment has b een made to the co de so that it sits b etter within
Uni ed English Braille UEB do cuments where the indication of capitals is
the norm Namely
a the use of dot b efore piece and square names has b een replaced by
dots
b the sp ecial chess abbreviations listed in Miscellaneous are now case
sensitive so that for example Black with a capital letter is dot bk
When writing down chess moves and annotation as distinct from tran
scription from print the minimum amount of co ding should b e used when
de ning moves
Terms used in this co de
Move This usually consists of the name of the piece and the square to which
it is moving e g Qa
Game move A move made by a player within the course of a game usually
denoted by b old print and preceded by the move numb er e g Ke
Analysis Text and moves in ordinary print which are a comment on the
game taking place by one of the players or someone else
BRAILLE CHESS CODE AND LAYOUT
GENERAL
Dots precedes the name of a piece pawn or square except within
game moves it also precedes isolated unnumb ered moves where no colour is
sp eci ed by the text of the analysis
When writing analysis or if print di erentiates black and white moves
isolated unnumb ered moves should b e preceded by dots for black or dots
for white
When a series of one or more numb ered moves o ccurs within analysis the
rst move numb er is followed by a space as are all move numb ers and then
the rst move is preceded by dots if it is black representing print s dots
but nothing if it is white
Each move numb er is written as a lower numb er without a numeric
indicator e g
f
!
This applies to b oth game moves and moves within analysis
sign is used to separate chess moves piece abbreviations and The
square names from immediately following punctuation apart from a bracket
The abbreviations listed in are not counted as part of a move so do not
sign e g need to b e separated from any following punctuation by a
e
a
e
!
ABBREVIATIONS
Pieces
These abbreviations stand for b oth the symb ol and the word with or
without initial capital
king or King
!
bishop or Bishop
!
pawn or Pawn
!
queen or Queen
!
ro ok or Ro ok
!
Knight or knight
!
The plural is expressed by doubling the sign e g for pawns
Abbreviations and symb ols used in moves
Attack
Counterplay
1 1
Draw if it o ccurs at the end of a game
2 2
Will lead to a draw if it o ccurs in the
middle of a game
En Passant
With the idea
With initiative
X Mate
=
+
Plus With Advantage This represents
all the various degrees of advantage
With Equality
Resigns this replaces print s usual metho d
of showing resignation where
black resigns and where white resigns
Unclear p osition
Go o d Move and Excellent Move
Bad Move and Very Bad Move
Interesting or Risky Move
Dubious Move
Within analysis an oblique stroke is substituted for the word or b etween
moves The oblique stroke should b e unspaced
The following is a list of other print symb ols which may app ear but for
which there are no sp ecial braille chess co de signs For these the meaning must
b e written out in words
1
comp ensation for the material
> strong su cient
< weak insu cient
b etter is
weaker is
only move t
development advantage
The following abbreviations may b e used by blind players when writing
notation
p erp etual check
Notes
All abbreviations in this list except for the resigns sign and with the
idea sign are brailled immediately after the move e g
e X
!
d
!
The resigns sign is unspaced from the previous move when the player
of the last move resigns this is relatively unusual otherwise it is spaced
The sign is to b e followed by the move s suggested by the
idea without intervening space the moves b eing preceded by the symb ols dots
or white or black or dots if print do es not sp ecify the colour
In cases where a player loses b ecause of time the braille should follow
print in the indication of this e g
h T
!
Note when two signs from list o ccur consecutively only one
sign is needed e g
e
!
Knight moves to the E square go o d move with advantage
Miscellaneous
black Black
championship Championship
game Game
grand master Grand Master
International Master international master
Move move
Square square
Tournament tournament
Variation variation
White white
Abbreviations except the one for king are used to form longer words in
dgm sqd a chess context e g dots qside en
The abbreviations listed in should only b e used when their original
chess meaning is intended e g not Bk Sea Mr Wht mvs house
NOTATION
Two metho ds of chess notation are describ ed in this section A Algebraic
Notation and B Descriptive Notation The metho d used dep ends on which
metho d print uses
A Algebraic Notation
Squares are counted from white s side of the b oard ranks numb ered from
to white to black les lettered from A to H left to right from white s
p oint of view
Piece moves normally consist of three symb ols the name of the piece to
b e moved the letter of the le without grade indicator and the numb er of
the rank written as a lower numb er without a numeric indicator The name of
the square is that to which the piece is moving e g
f
!
Ro ok to the F square
If print intro duces a hyphen b etween the piece and the square to which it
moves the hyphen is omitted
Moves where a piece makes a capture indicated in print by a cross
have dots inserted b etween the name of the piece and that of the square
the dots sign is not inserted when the print makes no sp ecial indication of
capture Checks indicated in print by a plus sign are shown by inserting
dots in the same place Similarly dots are used when a piece b oth
captures and checks e g
f
!
Ro ok captures on the F square and gives check
Pawn moves are shown thus
d
Pawn is moved to the D square
cd
Pawn on the C le captures on the D square
cd
Pawn on the C le captures to the D le
Braille follows the print as closely as p ossible in all these cases Thus when
a capture sign is shown in print e g a you would braille the following
c d
When a pawn captures en passant the symb ol is used after the
move e g
c d
Checks given by a pawn move are shown thus
f
Pawn moves to the F square and gives check
Pawn promotion is shown thus
g
!
Pawn moves to the G square and promotes to a queen
e
!
Pawn moves to the E square and promotes to a knight
The following type of pawn move may also need to b e shown
d e
!
Pawn on the D le takes on the E square promotes to a queen and gives
check
Where two similar pieces can move to the same square it is necessary to
sp ecify which piece is b eing moved e g
ce
!
Knight on the C le moves to the E square
b c
!
Knight on B moves to C
c
!
Knight on the st rank moves to c
If the piece b eing moved in the ab ove example were capturing a piece the
move would b e shown thus
b c
!
There are no abbreviations for double check or discovered check They
must follow the move and must b e in round brackets
Castling is shown as follows
Move white castles kingside black castles queenside
Print s various metho ds of referring to pawns and pieces on sp eci c les
and squares can b e abbreviated and made consistent Thus
b pawn or b pawn
queen s pawn
b pawn b p
When print inserts a hyphen b etween squares or b etween one square
and another within a move they should b e brailled thus
the diagonal a g
black s move g g
B Descriptive Notation
This notation has b een sup erseded by algebraic notation in print These
notes will enable anyone not familiar with descriptive notation to read braille
previously transcrib ed Some knowledge of algebraic notation will b e necessary
Extra Abbreviations
bishop or Bishop
knight or Knight
These are used in place of l and s of the algebraic notation Note in
transcriptions prior to dot would have b een used instead of the dots
sign in the ab ove abbreviations as with the other piece abbreviations listed
in
The squares are counted indep endently from white s p osition and from
black s p osition This means that each square has two names
The Board
The side of the b oard to the right of white s king to the left of black s
is known as the king side the side of the b oard to the left of white s queen
to the right of black s is known as the queen side This always applies even
when b oth kings and queens have left their initial p ositions after the start of
the game
The vertical lines les are named according to the pieces that stand on
their initial squares as the b oard is set up for the start of a game They are
from left to right for white and inversely for black the queen s ro ok s le the
queen s knight s le the queen s bishop s le the queen s le the king s le
the king s bishop s le the king s knight s le the king s ro ok s le Note that
in texts these are usually written as
QR le QI le QB le Q le K le KB le KI le KR le
The horizontal lines ranks are numb ered from one to eight counting
from white s rst rank in white s case and from black s rst rank in black s
case
Print has a hyphen b etween the piece pawn b eing moved and the square
to which it is moved Dot represents the hyphen but it has not always b een
present E g
P K
Pawn to king
Print has a cross b etween the piece pawn making a capture and the
piece pawn b eing captured x represents a capture the grade indicator is
omitted E g
P P
Pawn captures pawn
The following symb ols represent various types of check and app ear at
the end of a move
check
discovered check
double check
Pawns adopt the name of the le on which they stand a capture will thus
alter the name to that of the le onto which the pawn captured Quali cation
of pawn moves is often necessary e g PKB instead of PB b ecause PQB was
also p ossible in that p osition Varying degrees of quali cation b ecome necessary
dep ending on the p osition e g IP P instead of simply P P b ecause another
P P capture is p ossible elsewhere KIP P instead of IP P b ecause QIP P is
p ossible on the other wing KIP RP would b e necessary if b oth KIP BP and
QIP RP were p ossible Quali cation may also o ccur at the p oint of capture
e g P BP or P QBP
Quali cation of piece moves is often necessary e g IKB instead of IB
b ecause IQB was p ossible KRQ instead of RQ b ecause QRQ was p ossible
The former shows sp eci cation of the square to which the piece is moving while
the latter sp eci es which piece is moved
Castling may app ear as follows
castles to whichever side is legal
castles kingside
castles queenside
LAYOUT
The title of a game is centred with v for versus or a dash b etween the
names of the players following print if appropriate The venue if present and
the op ening are also centred on the same line if space allows
A new line starting in cell running over into cell is taken when print
takes a paragraph this normally only o ccurs in analysis
Game moves are brailled starting in cell with runovers also in cell More
than one pair of numb ered moves may b e brailled on one line If the game is
b eing taken up after analysis with black s move then the move numb er is given
followed after a space by dots A full stop is not needed after the move
numb er E g
::: g
!
Black knight to g
Analysis is not to b e put in brackets but ends with a full stop after normal
English text if the analysis ends with a chess move then no full stop is needed
Where print uses brackets within annotation then braille should do the same
A further level of brackets should b e brailled as square brackets In complex
annotations with several layers of brackets an op ening and closing short dash
may b e used for clarity to replace the rd level of brackets
DIAGRAMS
Diagrams are brailled using the Forsyth system The p ositions of the pieces
and pawns are given rank by rank with a space separating each rank starting
from the A square and nishing at the H square Pieces and pawns are
indicated by their abbreviations see list black pieces b eing distinguished
by the addition of dot in the same cell The numb er of vacant squares on each
rank is shown as a lower numb er without the numeral sign Where more than
one empty rank o ccurs consecutively the numb er of vacant squares is shown as
one group E g at the start of the game the p osition would b e
Diagrams are laid out as follows
If the diagram o ccurs during the main game the word Diagram or Dia
gram n followed by a colon is brailled in cell
The diagram itself starts in cell of a new line with runovers also in cell
All diagrams are reproduced in chess b o oks
Text resumes on the next line following the rules given in x
Where helpful diagrams are numb ered within a game
PROBLEMS
An intro ductory comment to a problem is brailled as a paragraph and the
p osition and numb er of the problem if present is in cell with runovers in
cell
A dot s separator i e a centred line consisting of dot dots then
dot signs is used to separate the problem from the solution
The solution is brailled as a line paragraph or paragraphs
When a solution ends with a move a full stop is not needed
EXAMPLE
This is example given in braille in b oth the algebraic notation P and
in the descriptive notation P
RG
Velimirovic Miralles
Vrsac
e e f f e d f e d f d
! ! ! ! ! !
e ::: d is safer c c c This move gives White
! !
a space advantage Black should try ::: c planning b d e and
! !
f which is the way Petrosian and Smyslov sometimes handled this p o
!
sition d f d d Black s idea lo oks awkward perhaps
! ! !
::: d d b d was a b etter try a f
! ! ! ! !
f h d ::: g is weak g g f
! ! ! ! ! ! !
fe b f g g h e e g
! ! ! ! ! ! !
fe fe e White s queen will prove stronger than Black s
! ! !
ro oks Even ::: f e f f ad g f g h
! ! ! ! !
e e f e g or ::: d g e f h
! ! ! ! ! !
f e and the sacri ce on g yields nothing ::: g e with a
! !
strong initiative don t seem b etter e e g g
! ! ! !
Black cannot connect the ro oks with ::: ae b ecause of b d
! ! !
g g f e e f b An attempt to ac
! ! ! ! ! !
tivate Black s pieces On ::: d it is p ossible to play f e
! ! !
f b f f f b g d h h
! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
g threatening e f d h e f
! ! ! ! ! ! !
e e There is no other defence against b h f t
! ! ! !
f f e e f e g
! ! ! ! !
The invasion of the queen is decisive On ::: f h g g
! ! ! !
f e f ::: e f mate e and White
! ! ! ! ! !
wins ::: a e h e g d b g
! ! ! ! ! !
d e f d f c b a g
! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
d e d Black resigned
! ! #G4A4 ,EXAMPLE ( ,ALGEBRAIC ,NOTA;N4 ,VELIMIROVIC,-,MIRALLES ,VRSAC #AIHI "<#E"> 1 E4 E5 2 SF3 SF6 3 S;E5 D6 4 SF3 S;E4 5 D3 SF6 6 D4 LE7 6 -D5 IS SAF]4 7 C4 JJ 8 SC3 C5>86 ,? MV GIVES ,:T A SPACE ADVANTAGE4 ,BK %D TRY 8 -C6>1 PLANN+ ;SBD7>1 ;RE8 & ;SF8>1 : IS ! WAY ,PETROSIAN & ,SMYSLOV "S"TS H&L$ ? POSI;N4 9 D5 LF5 10 LD3 QD7 ,BK'S IDEA LOOKS AWKW>D,-P]H 10 -L;D3 11 Q;D3 SBD7 0 A BETT] TRY4 11 JJ SA6 12 L;F5 Q;F5 13 SH4 QD7 13 -QG4 IS W1K2 14 Q;G4 S;G4 15 SF5 RFE8 16 SB5>P 14 QF3 G6 15 LG5 SH5 16 L;E7 Q;E7 17 G3 RFE8 18 RFE1>6 Q_E1 ,:T'S ;Q W PROVE /R;G] ?AN ,BK'S ;RR>4 ,EV5 18 -QF6 19 SE4 Q;F3 20 S;F3 RAD8 21 G4 F5 22 G;H5 R;E4 23 R;E4 F;E4 24 SG5 OR 18 -QD7 19 G4 "<19 SE4 F5>6 20 Q;H5 F;E4>1 & ! SACRIFICE ON ;G6 YIELDS NO?+"> 19 -SG7 20 SE4>1 ) A /R;G 9ITIATIVE1 DON'T SEEM BETT]4 19 R;E1 R_E1 20 KG2 SG7 ,BK _C 3NECT ! ;RR ) 20 -RAE8 2C ( 21 SB5 RD8 22 G4 SG7 23 QF6 21 SE4 SE8 22 QF4 SB4
15 ,AN ATTEMPT TO ACTIVATE ,BK'S PIECES4 ,ON 22 -RD8 X IS POSSIBLE TO PLAY 23 SF3 RE2 24 KF1>6 R;B2 25 S^F6 S;F6 26 Q;F6 R^B1 27 KG2 RD7 28 H4 H5 29 SG5>1 ?R1T5+ 30 SE6 23 SF3>6 SD3 24 QH4 RE2 25 KF1>6 R;B2 26 QH6 F6 "
16 #G4B4 ,EXAMPLE ( ,DESCRIPTIVE ,NOTA;N4 ,VELIMIROVIC,-,MIRALLES ,VRSAC #AIHI "<#E"> 1 PK4 PK4 2 IKB3 IKB3 3 IXP PQ3 4 IKB3 IXP 5 PQ3 IKB3 6 PQ4 BK2 6 -PQ4 IS SAF]4 7 PB4 JJ 8 IB3 PB4>86 ,? MV GIVES ,:T A SPACE ADVANTAGE4 ,BK %D TRY 8 -PB3>1 PLANN+ ;QIQ2>1 ;RK1 & ;IB1>1 : IS ! WAY ,PETROSIAN & ,SMYSLOV "S"TS H&L$ ? POSI;N4 9 PQ5 BB4 10 BQ3 QQ2 ,BK'S IDEA LOOKS AWKW>D,-P]H 10 -BXB 11 QXB QIQ2 0 A BETT] TRY4 11 JJ IR3 12 BXB QXB 13 IKR4 QQ2 13 -QI5 IS W1K2 14 QXQ IXQ 15 IB5 KRK1 16 II5>P 14 QB3 PKI3 15 BI5 IR4 16 BXB QXB 17 PKI3 KRK1 18 KRK1>6 QXR>* ,:T'S ;Q W PROVE /R;G] ?AN ,BK'S ;RR>4 ,EV5 18 -QB3 19 IK4 QXQ 20 IXQ QRQ1 21 PKI4 PB4 22 PXI RXI 23 RXR PXR 24 II5 OR 18 -QQ2 19 PKI4 "<19 IK4 PB4>6 20 QXI PXI>1 & ! SACRIFICE ON ;KI6 YIELDS NO?+"> 19 -II2 20 IK4>1 ) A /R;G 9ITIATIVE1 DON'T SEEM BETT]4 19 RXQ RXR>* 20 KI2 II2 ,BK _C 3NECT ! ;RR ) 20 -QRK1 2C ( 21 II5 RQ1 22 PKI4 II2 23 QB6
17 21 IK4 IK1 22 QB4 II5 ,AN ATTEMPT TO ACTIVATE ,BK'S PIECES4 ,ON 22 -RQ1 X IS POSSIBLE TO PLAY 23 IKB3 RK7 24 KB1>6 RXP 25 IB6>* IXI 26 QXI RI8>* 27 KI2 RQ2 28 PKR4 PKR4 29 II5>1 ?R1T5+ 30 IK6 23 IKB3>6 IQ6 24 QR4 RK7 25 KB1>6 RXIP 26 QR6 PB3 "
18
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