As far as I can recall no great GM recorded in Algebraic. Chess Notation was in the recorded in descriptive notation. English, French, Spanish, Russian
and a host of others.
If you look at a copy of PCO (1948) and many other chess books of the time
there was always a page on chess notation in about 10-15 languages.
When Rubenstein played a 9 year old Reshevsky (or younger) the game was recorded in Yiddish. The only source for the game.
As has been discussed on this site before Algebraic came into use in 1976. And not without an argument. Many U.S. players, OTB, and Postal argued against the change.
I wrote an article in the early 1970's on converting to Algebraic notation and to say the least, "All Hell Broke Out".
The argument for Algebraic notation was that when reading a Chess Book in Descriptive notation the wrong position would turn up. For Instance in books by Fine, Reinfeld, Botvinnik the move P-B4 may have been indicated. Well there are in certain circumstances two possibilities for a P-B4.
When I read the Zurich Chess Magazine, Algebraic notation was used. It was easy to understand. One move and only one move was possible.
Fischer used English Descriptive Notation, as I did, and thousands of other USA players at the time. That was the first and only notation learned.
Note that Dover still has reprints with the English Descriptive notation.
If you read German, Dutch, or Russian chess books during the period, their publications were in the descriptive notation of the respective language.
I still a book in Spanish authored by Botvinnik which used Spanish descriptive notation.

Algebraic was always my “second language” and I used to have a lot of chess books in German that used descriptive notation. The result is I often find myself recording games in a combination of English, German, algebraic and descriptive. I have a number of old books in Russian and they were always in algebraic. In the early days of international post card chess we used a numeric system: 1. 4244 7866 (1.d4 Nf6).

According to the ICCF
NUMERIC NOTATION FOR CORRESPONDENCE CHESS
Numeric is the Official notation standard for all events, postal and email
organised (organized) by the ICCF. (ICCF - The International Correspondence Chess Federation)
Board:
See Mark Lowery's Exciting World of Chess - Numeric Notation (ICCF Correspondence Chess)
Numeric guide (up to XP)
Your Guide to ICCF Numeric Notation - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com
In the post card era using Numeric, I made errors, my opponents made errors. I was never a fan.
Steinitz probably used Numeric in post card games and got arrested for sending coded messages.
Wikipedia indicated that Numeric Notation is the official notation of ICCF since Algebraic chess notation may cause confusion.
Possibly ECO and Sahovski the publisher have the right idea. Algebraic notation, with figurine piece designation.

Yeah, figurine algebraic is probably best, but I can imagine that it'd be hard to draw the little figures on your post cards.

--Fromper

Back who knows when I owned 2 rubber stamp kits with Chess Pieces and a
a larger stamp with a chess board.
When I played in CCLA the preferred method is Post Cards. But the organization did allow email. Games by PGN only if the Opponent agreed with an indication in print of the move made.
I was always searching for an error free system.

Hi All, new to this forum. In responce to the original post - there are two newer editions of "My System" in algebraic. The one I prefer is a new translation published by Quality Chess. I like the layout and inclusion of the games within the text rather than as an apendix. However, instead of investing in another book you could (as I have done) build a database in Chessbase or whatever database you have. Not all the games are in the big database but most of them are. Than it is a simple matter of reading the text of the book and playing through the games on your computer. I usualy (as in always) set up a board and play the moves on it as well. Good chess, and I hope this helps. I have other small databases for other books as well - its amusing to me to go through and find the games, sometimes frustrating too when the games aren't in the database.

Without investing in another work:
1. Print out the English Descriptive page from Wikipedia or some of the other websites.
2. Explanations of the Nimzovitch's Ideas can be found at the following.
http://www.ericschiller.com/pdf/Hype...ngStrategy.pdf
(Above basic concepts).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermodernism_(chess)
The games as edited by Reinfeld (1958)
Hypermodern chess: Aron Nimzovich by Reinfeld
opening Hypermodern Theory:
How to Play Hyper Modern Chess | eHow.com
An easy read at an easy price:
Hypermodern Chess: As Developed in the Games of Its Greatest Exponent (Paperback)
by Fred Reinfeld (Editor)
(The games are easy to understand, even for beginners). Reinfeld taught chess for years at City College of NY. The going price-$3).
Some have posted the book in violation of the copy right. For $3 you can get your own copy.

If you are using the English, or Algebraic version, or the online games in Chessgames.com play the games over with TWO CHESS SETS. Recommended by Nimzovitch himself.
Recommended careful study of the the game:
Nimzovitch-Mattison which is in the book.
The following is the game with notes by Chernov. (Not in violation of copyright laws):
The Most Instructive Games of Chess ... - Google Books
Harvey's puzzles on Nimzovitch including the Mattison game:
Aaron Nimzowitsch's Winning Moves
A technical paper on Nimzovitch's ideas including the Mattison game:
Technical White Paper
An easy explanation of the Mattison game:
Begin Chess » Annotated Games
Note that the game is available also on Chessgames.com.