Play Descriptive Notation Chess Online

Ah, Descriptive Notation Chess—if you’ve ever stumbled across an old chess book and wondered why the moves read like cryptic poetry ("Pawn to Queen’s Rook 4"?), this MS-DOS relic is your time machine. No sleek graphics, no AI opponents trash-talking you—just green or amber text on a black screen, and moves that sound like they’re straight out of a 1920s tournament.

I’ll admit, it took me a few tries to stop mixing up "King’s Knight" and "Queen’s Bishop," but there’s something oddly satisfying about playing chess the way your grandpa might’ve learned it. The game doesn’t hold your hand, but that’s part of the charm—you’re basically communing with chess history, one clunky keyboard input at a time. Perfect for when you want to feel scholarly while your computer fan whirs like it’s 1985.

Just don’t blame me when you start absentmindedly describing your sandwich as "Bread to Plate’s Center 1."

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".