Chessbase.com has a story about some of Bobby Fischer’s handwritten game notes for the super 1970 blitz tournament.
chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8472
The notes are in algebraic notation. I’ve only seen some of his old scoresheets (e.g. vs Donald Bryne etc.), but they are in descriptive notation. When did Bobby start using algebraic?
Arthur Holmer
Do you wonder who stole those notes?
That’s an interesting question. I don’t have any idea, but Frank Brady on pp. 64-65 of his Endgame book (Fischer Biography) talks about how David Lawson (the top Paul Morphy biographer) managed to “obtain” the original Bryne-Fischer scoresheet by some wining and dining. After reading that account, I would not be surprised at any story of the path these notes have taken though the years.
Arthur Holmer
Who now has the Florijan Mićković sculpture?
Wow, there’s one I never heard of-I had to Goggle it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florijan_M … kovi%C4%87
I was just wondering when he started using algebraic. I noticed he used “:” for a capture in some moves, instead of “x”. In looking over my old scorebooks, I made the transition to algebraic in June of 1976, I used the “:” until April of 1977 and then switched to “x”. I played in my first tournament in December 1974 with descriptive notation. Until 1972, I had never heard of tournaments, notation or USCF-anything. A first Sunday of the Month Quad by Glenn Petersen in NJ changed everything.
A.
I first met Tony Santasiere in 1961 when he gave a simul at the Pgh Chess Club. Before the simul he gave a talk and showed us the win he had over the then 14-yr-old Bobby Fischer at the West Orange Open in 1957. Then he showed us Fischer’s own scoresheet he picked up off the floor when Fischer wadded it up and tossed it. If it exists today, who knows? Santasiere died several years ago.
It stands to reason that he used algebraic because he was writing to notes for a Yugoslav, not for an American.
I would imagine Fischer only used algebraic notation if the notes were intended for someone not familiar with descriptive notation.
From what I’ve read over the years, Fischer prefered descriptive notation over algebraic. I would think it was more out of habit to prefer the notation he learned when he was younger.