In chess you write e4. In ÉCHEC O CUBE you write D5-E5. The logic differs because our pawns do not go on the squares: they lie down in the grooves. So we have to name the grooves, not the squares.
Crossings carry the names
Letters A to H follow the vertical grooves. Numbers 1 to 8 follow the horizontal grooves, with 1 at the bottom. A crossing is the point where a vertical groove meets a horizontal one. It is named by its letter and its number: D5.
You will notice that a 7x7 board has eight letters and eight numbers. That is normal: seven squares make eight grooves.
A pawn is named by its two ends
A pawn occupies a groove between two crossings. So it is written with both crossings, separated by a dash.
- D5-E5: a pawn lying horizontally, between crossings D5 and E5.
- D5-D6: a pawn lying vertically, between D5 and D6.
The letter changes for a horizontal pawn. The number changes for a vertical one. Once you have seen it, you never mix them up again.
A red pawn has only one name
A red pawn does not lie in a groove: it sits on a crossing. So it is written with a single reference: F3.
A cube is named by its diagonal
To designate a closed square, you give its south-west corner and its north-east corner. A cube written D4-E5 is the square whose bottom-left corner is D4 and whose top-right corner is E5.
What it is actually for
Three things.
Replaying a game. The app keeps a log of every move in official notation. You will find it in the menu, during play. It is your memory.
Discussing a position. In the Chat Blog, saying "I lost because I put my dark pawn on D5-E5 instead of E5-E6" is infinitely more useful than "I played badly in the corner". That is how a group of players becomes a real community.
Playing in tournaments. In FEOC competition, the game sheet is kept in official notation. That is what settles a dispute and archives the games.
An exercise
Open a game, play ten moves, then open the log. Try to rebuild the board in your head from the notation alone, without looking. If you can do it, you understand the geometry of this game better than most players.
ÉCHEC O CUBE — invented in Quebec in 1999. To play: jeu.echecocube.ca
0 comments