ICCF numeric notation is the official chess notation system of the

International Correspondence Chess Federation International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was founded on 26 March 1951 as a new appearance of the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA), which was founded in 1945, as successor of the Internationaler Fernschachbund (IF ...

. The system was devised for use in international correspondence chess to avoid the potential confusion of using algebraic notation, as the

chess pieces A chess piece, or chessman, is a game piece that is placed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. It can be either white or black, and it can be one of six types: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn. Chess sets generally come with s ...

have different abbreviations depending on language. In ICCF numeric notation, each square of the chessboard has a two-digit designation. The first digit is the number of the ; files are numbered 1 to 8 from left to right from White's point of view. The second digit is the ; ranks are numbered 1 to 8 from nearest to farthest from White's point of view. Each move is denoted by either four or five digits: the first two digits denote the square the moving piece leaves; the following two digits denote the square at which the moving piece arrives; and, where applicable, the fifth digit denotes the piece of

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

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In numeric notation, each square is designated with a two-digit number via a coordinate system. The first digit describes the file and the second digit the rank. Files are numbered 1 to 8 from White's left to White's right, and ranks are numbered 1 to 8 from White's near side to White's far side. A move is defined by pairing two square designations together, one for the starting square and one for the ending square. For example, the move that would be written ''1.e4'' in algebraic notation would be written ''1. 5254'' in numeric notation: the

pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pawn, Oregon, an his ...

starts from square 52 (file 5, rank 2) and moves to square 54 (file 5, rank 4). Numeric notation does not specifically mark the type of moving piece, , or checks; every move is written as four digits unless resulting in promotion. For promotion, a fifth digit is added to the move's notation: 1 for

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, 2 for

rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

, 3 for

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

, and 4 for

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

. For instance, a pawn on f7 moving to f8 and promoting to a rook would be written as ''67682''. A variant four-digit notation where the ending rank is omitted (because it is always 8 for White and 1 for Black) also exists (e.g. ''6762''); however, this is considered confusing and contradicts the standard. Castling is written using the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

's start position and end position. Castling is written as ''5171'' for White and ''5878'' for Black, and castling is written as ''5131'' for White and ''5838'' for Black. The rook's start and end positions are implied.

History

German professor J. W. D. Wildt of Göttingen devised numeric notation circa 1803. Johann Koch used the system 25 years later; the system is sometimes named after him. Ivan Savenkov supported its use in 1877, and it bears his name in Russia.

References

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External links

ICCF Laws of Correspondence Chess
{{chess Chess notation Correspondence chess

Details

History

See also

References

External links