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Subject: Re: File name extensions

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 06:13:33 11/15/00

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On November 15, 2000 at 08:38:23, José de Jesús García Ruvalcaba wrote:

>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?
>
>Forsythe only did the position specification, it has been used since ages to
>write down adjourned position.
>The side to move, castling and en-passant rights, move number and 50-move rule
>ply counter are due to Edwards.
>José.


Castling and en passant were used in Coko in 1970.  I borrowed their code to
save/load positions and that was obviously a requirement for chess engines.
We didn't have the 50 move rule counter, etc, back then for sure.  But giving
castling and EP was used by everybody that shared such positions back then,
otherwise we would have had to avoid such positions totally.



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