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never claimed its creation. His role was chiefly as a famous chess personality, arguably the best chess player in England at the time. Overall, it was a successful team. Jacques had the creative and technical skills, Cook, the connections to publish favorable articles and register patents, while Staunton had the credibility to popularize the new set.
In July of 1851, Jacques and Cook sponsored the first international chess tournament, held in London. They convinced Staunton to run the show, participate as a contestant and use his prestigious name to promote the new style of chess pieces.
Today, this set of playing pieces or a close variation, are really the only ones considered for tournament or casual play. Chess players everywhere recognize the contribution that was made apparent by Jacques creation. It was without doubt the best design of its time and a magnificent representation of the Victorian Age in which he lived.
Modern Variations
Fast-forward 150 years to the present. Any child has more access to information at their fingertips than a whole civilization of ancient times. Video games are often mastered in months and then collect dust. Yet, chess is still played daily by fans, who instead of growing bored, seem to enjoy it more as time passes. So, what’s the appeal of this game that can survive the electronic game era of the past twenty-five years?
When I ask children what they like best about the game, I often hear comments like,” moving the pieces around and eating the other person’s men”.
Many adults agree that handling the playing pieces is a large part of the enjoyment of chess. Then why not update these shapes?
Would anyone want to play sports today with tennis rackets, golf clubs, baseball gloves and shoes that were 150 year old designs?
Why should it be any different with chess equipment? Chessblocks are a universal style suitable for all ages and cultures. They transcend language using geometry, creating a design more fitting of the Computer Age, the 21st century and beyond.
Admittingly, the need to record games is usually left to tournament and club players. The majorities of chess players never feels the need to learn any method of notation and are happy just playing casual games. For those who do record their games, Geotation is for you. Not only is it simple to master, your opponents won’t know what those geometric symbols mean.
 Descriptive Notation
I’ve always thought that the descriptive method of notation was confusing and I often found myself going over text many times, trying to remember my place. The letters used to represent the pieces changed depending on the language and the names of the squares are based on the perspective of the player moving. Without neutral square designation, it makes it hard to mentally picture more than just a few moves ahead. Fortunately, a campaign to fade it out of existence has been going on since about 1980, by replacing it with the superior algebraic notation. Nowadays it seems to be used by the “old school” players, who were introduced to it in their youth. What really amazes me most is that anyone would still use it at all.
Algebraic Notation
This method has also been around a long time as well. In my opinion, it is a vastly improved method. Each square is clearly designated with a letter and number, that stays the same no matter which player is moving. The only weak part of the system is that letters are used to represent the chess pieces and they change depending on the language of the players.
Figurative Notation
Further improving on notation methods of the past, a picture of the chess piece designates instantly the piece being moved. It makes following along much easier, but is difficult for your average chess player to draw themselves.
Geometric Notation
The best of both worlds, this method combines algebraic and figurative notation, except that the Staunton style figures are replaced by universally recognized geometric symbols that can be drawn easily by anyone and remain the same in any language.
How Geotation Works
Nothing fancy, just a useable and simple method to make sense out of recording and diagramming chess games. It is a constantly evolving system that I expect to improve upon.
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