Editing Incubator escapee wiki:WikiProject Chess (section)

==Conventions==

===Capitalization===
* The names of pieces (king, queen, rook, etc.) are not capitalized (except when the first word of a sentence).
* The words "white" and "black" are capitalized only when they are used as substitutes for player names, e.g. "... captured White's rook" and "the black queen ...".
* Following our sources, chess opening names are capitalized as proper nouns, e.g., "[[King's Gambit]]", "[[Nimzo-Indian Defence]]", and "[[Dragon Variation]]".
*In quotations, the capitalization used in the source is followed, even if different from the above conventions.

===Notation===
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When describing moves, use short form English [[algebraic notation (chess)|algebraic notation]], and include [[Template:Algebraic notation]]. Thus, only the destination square is indicated, not the original square except for disambiguation purposes, e.g. Kf1, not Kg1-f1. Castling is indicated by 0-0 or 0-0-0, not O-O or O-O-O. Captures are indicated by the letter "x" rather than a [[multiplication sign]] ("×") or other indicator such as a colon (":"). Pawn captures include the "x" sign and name the destination square even in cases where there is no ambiguity, e.g. exd5 rather than exd or ed. Checks are indicated by "+" ([[plus sign]]), and checkmates by "#" ([[number sign|hash sign]]). There are no symbols specifically for [[discovered check]] or [[double check]]; simply use "+" for these. Promotions are indicated by "=" ([[equals sign]]), e.g. h8=Q. Be cautious with the use of [[chess annotation symbols]] (e.g. !, ?, ??), or any other editorial comment on a move. If challenged, an annotation needs a source, or else it may be removed.

Chess games with little or no commentary may be formatted as a dense block, [[Portable Game Notation|PGN]] style. In the case when there is significant commentary (such as in [[Immortal Game]]), moves are written in boldface, and the annotations/commentary are most usually started in a separate indented paragraph for readability. The leads of openings articles have commentary outdented and moves indented (as in [[King's Gambit, McDonnell Gambit]]), and occasionally an article uses this formatting as well (e.g. [[Ruy Lopez, Noah's Ark Trap]]). An article with massive annotations/commentary (such as [[Kasparov versus the World]]) is best presented without any indenting. Due to [[MOS:ACCESS|accessibility concerns]], it is recommended to use [[Wikipedia:DLIST|description list]] formatting to keep the HTML output clean.

===Scores and half points===
For match or tournament scores, follow the formatting conventions at the [[Chess scoring]] article, using a minus sign (−; <code>&amp;minus;</code>) instead of hyphens or dashes (see [[MOS:MINUS]]).

Use ½ to denote the scoring for a drawn game, rather than .5, 0.5, 1/2, {{frac|1|2}}, or {{sfrac|1|2}}.  The first of these is generally used in print books and magazines.  [[MOS:FRAC]] generally discourages the use of "precomposed fractions" such as this one, but makes an exception for articles in which ½ is the only fraction used, such as most chess articles.

===Opening nomenclature===
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In naming chess openings and variations, particularly obscure ones, beware of using "internet names" or local names. Addition of "meme openings" to articles is discouraged. Generally only names that have been published in reliable sources (e.g. ''[[Modern Chess Openings]]'') should be used. For the more obscure or unconventional openings, some of which have acquired multiple names, a reliable source for the name should be provided.

===Ratings===
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Published FIDE ratings are given priority and may be included in a player's Infobox. Exceptionally, if a FIDE rating is unavailable, then a national federation's rating (e.g. [[United States Chess Federation|USCF]]) may be used. Unofficial live chess ratings, such as those published by the site [http://2700chess.com 2700chess.com] and unofficial historical ratings such as those published by the sites [http://chessmetrics.com chessmetrics.com] and [http://edochess.ca edochess.ca] are considered [[WP:SPS|self-published]] and should not be included in a player's Infobox. They are not normally mentioned in articles, as this is potentially [[WP:UNDUE|undue weight]].

===Notability of chess players===
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Articles on chess players should meet the [[WP:GNG|general notability guideline]] (GNG) of significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.  That said, achievements of a chess player that make them likely to meet the GNG standard include:
# Has been awarded the title of [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (GM).
# Has participated in a [[World Chess Championship]], [[Women's World Chess Championship]] or [[Chess World Cup]].
# Has won a national or continental championship or women's championship.
# Has earned a team or individual medal at a [[Chess Olympiad]] or [[Women's Chess Olympiad]].
# Has written one or more notable books on the game
# Has significantly contributed to the development of chess in their country
# Has made a significant contribution to chess theory
# Has coached a high level chess player

Failure to meet these criteria does ''not'' mean an article must be deleted; conversely, meeting any of these criteria does ''not'' mean that an article must be kept. The article should provide reliable sources showing that the subject meets the general notability guideline or [[:Category:Wikipedia notability guidelines|other topic-specific notability guidelines]]. This section is intended as a rough guide to notability, and has little weight in deletion discussions.

===Engine analysis===
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Analysis by a [[chess engine]] is [[WP:OR|original research]] and cannot be used on Wikipedia. This includes engine analysis generated by posting games or positions on sites such as lichess.org. 

In general, a move's merits should be described in human terms. For example, write "White has an advantage due to the lead in development and weak black d-pawn", not "Stockfish evaluates this position at +1.2". Engine evaluations do not represent the absolute truth, only one engine's assessment of a position on a particular piece of hardware with particular settings after analysing a particular number of nodes. However, if a [[WP:RS|reliable source]] refers to engine analysis, this can be used.

===Pronouns===
Chess literature has traditionally used the masculine third person pronoun when referring to an impersonal or hypothetical player, e.g. "Black should play ...d5 to free his king's bishop.". This style of writing is increasingly considered dated. However, editors are encouraged to consider alternatives to simply substituting they/their/them where he/his/him occur, as this tends to distract attention from the point being made.

===Medal Tables in a player's infobox===
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Placing medal tables in a chess player's infobox (or even just adding a medal table alone) is discouraged. It would be a form of [[WP:OR|original research]] as it would use Wikipedia's editorial voice to elevate medals to a level of [[WP:UNDUE|undue]] importance in Wikipedia that they don't have in the real world. Although chess players who win medals value them, credentials and other criteria for judging a player's success and strength tend to run to FIDE title, ratings, championships won, etc.

Using medals from the [[Chess Olympiad]] illustrates somes flaws this approach:
* A team medal earned in a team event may not reflect the player's performance. For example, if he fell sick and only played one game, he still gets the medal. 
* A board prize earned in a team event may have been earned by facing a weak field. For example, [[Thai Dai Van Nguyen]] won an individual gold medal for second board in the [[45th Chess Olympiad]] where out of ten opponents, only one was rated higher than 2600.

Medal tables can also be bloated which could lead to a subpar viewing experience especially when viewing on a mobile phone.

Finally most of the strongest tournaments do not award medals at all.

A better alternative is creating a "notable tournaments won" section or summary in the article's body to highlight a player's achievements. Examples of this include [[Vasyl Ivanchuk#Notable tournament victories]] and [[Alexander Alekhine#Summary of results in competitions]]. The regular table format allows inclusion of a lot more information and in a format that is easier to understand. Placing a potentially large table near the end of an article is much better than putting it at the top and before the article body.