Scope and limitations
What the reference covers, what a record claims, and what stays outside its guarantees.
ChessGrammar currently publishes records in the Tactics and Mates domains. The other domains shown in the catalogue are reserved and have no published records.
Open and reserved domains
The map of domains lists what the reference intends to describe. A domain is open when its grammar is written and its records are published. A domain is reserved when it has a place on the map but no published record.
The catalogue shows which domains are open. A reserved domain has no publication date and is not a commitment. It marks a boundary that will be crossed when the conditions below are met.
Coverage by object
An open domain does not imply that its whole vocabulary is covered. Each object must have a formal definition, examples that satisfy it and a path of verification suited to what it claims.
If a notion is missing from the catalogue, we have not rejected it or judged it unimportant. It stays out of public claims until it meets those conditions.
What a record asserts
Each record presents the motif, its named variants and, where it is documented, its boundary with neighbouring objects. It shows the published examples and names each variant that has none. Verification provenance appears on the record when it is available. Lector64 documents the technical protocol.
The guarantee attached to a record never exceeds its claim. A condition present in a position, a result under best defence and a named form have different scopes, and each record says which one it makes.
What the reference does not guarantee
ChessGrammar does not guarantee:
- exhaustive coverage of every chess element or naming tradition;
- perfect recall, unless a record explicitly measures and claims it;
- identification of the best move or a global evaluation of the position;
- the difficulty, beauty, educational value or practical relevance of an object;
- permanence of a result beyond the edition to which it belongs.
The evidence attached to a record applies to the claim that the record states, within the edition in which it was checked.
Finite analysis and exact results
Some claims can be checked directly from the rules and the position. Others need a search under adversarial play and remain tied to the bounds declared by their protocol.
The reference keeps the two apart. A bounded result is not presented as unlimited knowledge, and an unresolved search is not treated as a refutation.
An explicit taxonomy, not a universal one
Chess literature does not always draw the same lines between neighbouring notions. ChessGrammar publishes one coherent taxonomy, whose definitions can be contested. It does not claim to do away with other naming traditions.
Conformance is judged against the definition published in the relevant edition. When a boundary moves, the edition records the change and its consequences.
Provenance of the examples
The examples published in the records are verified by Lector64, an independent engine that reads positions and games and produces structured data. ChessGrammar publishes the claims and their justification. The engine’s own site documents how it reaches its results.