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Subject: Re: File name extensions

Author: Steve Coladonato

Date: 11:57:49 11/14/00

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On November 14, 2000 at 14:13:42, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On November 14, 2000 at 07:57:57, Steve Coladonato wrote:
>
>>On November 14, 2000 at 07:54:40, Vincent Lejeune wrote:
>>
>>>On November 14, 2000 at 07:34:44, Leen Ammeraal wrote:
>>>
>>>>Can someone please explain the file name extensions
>>>>.pgn and .fen to me? Are they abbreviations?
>>>>Leen Ammeraal
>>>
>>>PGN = Portable Game Notation
>>>FEN : I don't remember well , sorry
>>
>>FEN is "Forsyth-Edwards Notation"; it is a standard for describing chess
>>positions using the ASCII character set.
>>
>>Taken from: http://www.rhrk.uni-kl.de/~wehner/chess/fentxt.html
>
>
>I am not sure where the "Edwards" in Forsythe-Edwards Notation came from.
>I used this notation in 1973.  I got it from a program named "Coko" written
>by Dennis Cooper and Ed Kozdrowicki.  That program played in the first ACM
>event in 1970.  I knew this form of notation as "Forsythe" back then.  The
>"edwards" might have come from Steven formalizing it into a specification?

The site that I referenced mentions Steven Edwards as the coordinator of the
standard and probably you are right that that is where the "Edwards" came into
the standard.  I don't know the history of all this but apparently Steven put
quite a bit of effort into documenting the standard and making the documentation
available.  Anyway, PGN, FEN, EPD are all great standards for the chess
community.  It's a wonderful thing to be able to watch the latest chess
tournaments on the internet and then have all the game moves available to you
through this suite of standards.



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