Chess Opening Theory/Organization

This page contains guidance for how to contribute to the Chess Opening Theory wikibook.

Each page in this book^[1] refers to one chess position. Each page title is unique, and includes the sequence of moves that reaches a given position. For example, the page Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5 refers to the position achieved after the following moves:

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bb5

On a technical level this exploits the mediawiki software's subpage functionality.

Because we use systematic page names, we can use relative wikilinks to navigate to different moves in a move order.

• Link to the next move: Relative wikilinks that start with a slash character / move deeper into the position (in other words, to a daughter page.

For example, on the page Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5,

[[/3...a6|3...a6]]

creates a link to Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6, the page for the move 3...a6 after all the moves already played to reach the current page.

• Link to previous move: Relative wikilinks can also move backwards in the move order using ../ (in other words, to a parent page).

For example, on the page Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5, in

[[../|previous move]]

the ../ links to Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6.

• These can be combined. For example, in

If White had played [[../3. Bc4|3. Bc4]] instead...

the text 3. Bc4 would like up one level and then down a path to a different third move for White.

Each unique position should have at most one page.

In chess there are usually are multiple ways in which the two players may arrive at a given position. This is called a transposition. For instance, the Blackmar-Diemer gambit is reached after 1. d4 d5 2. e4. It can also be reached by the move order 1. e4 d5 2. d4.

When transpositions arise, rather than have two different articles referring to the same position, rather than having two different pages with the same analysis, one move order should redirect to the other.

• Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...d5/2. d4 redirects to Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...d5/2. e4

Generally the less common move order should redirect to the most common move order for a given position.

It is impractical to produce redirects for every possible transposition proactively.

There are certain rules to follow for page names, and this means that we use certain notation throughout the book:

• Algebraic notation, not descriptive notation.

Nc3 instead of N―KB3.

• White moves are referenced as move number, period, space, move. The space prevents an unbroken string of characters in the page title becoming too wide for the page.

2. Nc3 instead of 2.Nc3.

• Black moves are referenced as move number, 3 periods, move, without spaces.

2...Nf6

• In page names only, indications of check (+), checkmate (#), or individual move strength (!, ??, etc) are not included because of Wikibooks restrictions on page titles.
• Checks (+) and checkmates (#) should always be indicated in notation in the page body.
• Castling is indicated using a capital letter "O" not a zero character.

O-O-O instead of 0-0-0.

At a minimum, each page should:

• Begin with a position infobox,
• Have a section for analysis for the position.
• End with the footer navbox (which will automatically include the new page in correct book category).

Other sections that are useful include a history section and a theory table section. Several templates normally accompany the theory table section. Here is an empty page that can be copy and pasted to help start a new page.

{{Chess Opening Theory/Position
|name=
|eco=
|parent=
}}
== [move] ==

=== History ===

== Theory table ==
{{ChessTable}}

{{ChessMid}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}
=== See also ===
{{Chess Opening Theory/Footer}}

The following explains some of these page parts.

Each page should have a {{Chess Opening Theory/Position}} (alias {{Chess Position}}) template at the top. This infobox is automatically populated with a board diagram that determines the position from the page title, a moves list that links to a Lichess analysis board, again determined from the page title, and the code for the position in FEN notation.

The infobox can be populated as follows:

• name= name of line, e.g. Exchange French.
• eco= ECO code and link to the correct page of the eco listing. The shorthand is Chess/ECOA for ECO volume A, Chess/ECOB for volume B, etc. e.g. [[Chess/ECOC|C01]]
• parent= link to parent position, e.g. [[../|French defence]]. More detail can be included if it is informative to show common transpositions by which the position may arise.

Optional fields are:

• responses= if there are lots of common responses to a position, it is sometimes useful to list the links here for ease of navigation. e.g.

|responses=<br>
* [[/3. exd5|3. exd5 · Exchange variation]]
* [[/3. Nc3|3. Nc3 · Paulsen variation]]
* [[/3. e5|3. e5 · Advance variation]]
* [[/3. Nd2|3. Nd2 · Tarrasch variation]]

• aka= sometimes useful if there are other common names for a position.

Some pages may have used extra fields that are no longer required in the current version of the template:

• moves= is deprecated as the moves list is generated from the page title automatically. However it can be overridden using this field if it should be required (this will also affect the illustrated board position).
• Extra fields like |rd|nd|bd|.... These were used to manually specify the board position. This is now determined automatically from the moves list and so these fields are legacy and no longer required. They can be removed if seen.

The meat of any page is the analysis of the position. This should explain the features of the position and discuss candidate moves.

The section title reflects the most recent move, e.g. == 3. Nd2 ==. If it is also the start of a new named position, that name is included in the heading too, == 3. Nd2 · Tarrasch variation ==. An interpunct character can be used to separate the position name from the title.

Notation must follow the notation rules above. If useful, annotations like ? and ?! can be included in prose (but never in page titles). This can be informative e.g. to illustrate a trap in the analysis.

Evaluation symbols at the end of lines can be included using the {{Chess/not}} template. e.g. {{Chess/not|++}} produces ±. This is advantageous over inserting the symbol directly as the template also include a tooltip explaining what the symbol means on hover.

For long analysis sections, it can be helpful to break up the analysis into subsections around different plans using third level headings (=== ... ===). It may be situationally useful to include illustrations of different positions, like the outcome of certain lines. The {{Chess/board}} template can help to do this (see instructions).

Analysis should be original prose, written by you. Do not copy analysis from copyrighted works. The moves themselves are not subject to copyright, but the analysis is.

Certain orthography conventions help to keep the book consistent. They include:

• White and Black: the players are "White" and "Black" as proper nouns. Their pieces are "white" and "black" as adjectives:
  • White's rook takes Black's queen.
  • The white rook takes the black queen.
  • The White rook takes black's queen.
• Squares: Write "e4-square" and "f-file" instead of "e4 square" and "f file".
• Spelling differences: Write "Defence" instead of "Defense".

See also: Chess/Opening theory table

The See also section can include:

• A link to a corresponding wikipedia page or section, using the Wikipedia template. e.g.

{{wikipeda|French Defence#Tarrasch Variation: 3.Nd2}}

• General reading (MCO, course books) not specifically cited in the page.
• A (small) number of links to external webpages if especially useful. These could go in an === External links === subsection.
• The chess footer template, {{Chess Opening Theory/Footer}}, which helps navigate to different parts of the book, and automatically includes the page in the Chess Opening Theory book category.

1. ↑ Excepting meta-pages, like this one.