pgn format specifications?

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  • pgn format specifications?

    Anyone have any definitive links for the specifications for pgn format? Of course, using Google I can search and find a lot of links to 'apparent' specifications. The devil is in the details: what are acceptable format(s) for embedded comments or sub-variations and the like?

    I suppose pgn is just an ad hoc notation and perhaps there is no proper specification? I was wondering what others have found for the best working definition?

    I recall sometimes copying a pgn for a game and attempting to feed it into various programs that *claim* to understand pgn, only to find that the program chokes on something or other. Of course, editing the pgn file is easy if annoying...
    ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

  • #2
    Re: pgn format specifications?

    http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/palvie...al/pgn.htm#pgn

    well hyperlinked....should be what you need.

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    • #3
      Re: pgn format specifications?

      Originally posted by Bill Evans View Post
      http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/palvie...al/pgn.htm#pgn

      well hyperlinked....should be what you need.
      thanks Bill.
      ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

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      • #4
        Re: pgn format specifications?

        Originally posted by Kerry Liles View Post
        Anyone have any definitive links for the specifications for pgn format? Of course, using Google I can search and find a lot of links to 'apparent' specifications. The devil is in the details: what are acceptable format(s) for embedded comments or sub-variations and the like?

        I suppose pgn is just an ad hoc notation and perhaps there is no proper specification? I was wondering what others have found for the best working definition?
        You should start with Wikipedia :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pgn and links there.

        http://www.saremba.de/chessgml/stand...n-complete.htm
        Standard: Portable Game Notation Specification and Implementation Guide
        Authors: Interested readers of the Internet newsgroup rec.games.chess
        Coordinator: Steven J. Edwards


        I don't think that there is a more official description. Maybe FIDE could push it into ISO :)

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        • #5
          Re: pgn format specifications?

          Originally posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post
          You should start with Wikipedia :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pgn and links there.

          http://www.saremba.de/chessgml/stand...n-complete.htm
          Standard: Portable Game Notation Specification and Implementation Guide
          Authors: Interested readers of the Internet newsgroup rec.games.chess
          Coordinator: Steven J. Edwards


          I don't think that there is a more official description. Maybe FIDE could push it into ISO :)
          Oops: rec.games.chess is a cesspool; looking for nuggets of value in there is a pretty hard job. I have given up even looking at the headers. In fact, rec.*.chess is a complete wasteland: sort of like the Ottawa Chess Club forum or these forums before registration became a requirement (although that didn't solve the problem completely) ...

          Thanks for the saremba.de link; I'll check it out.
          ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

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          • #6
            Re: pgn format specifications?

            Originally posted by Kerry Liles View Post
            Oops: rec.games.chess is a cesspool; looking for nuggets of value in there is a pretty hard job. I have given up even looking at the headers. In fact, rec.*.chess is a complete wasteland: sort of like the Ottawa Chess Club forum or these forums before registration became a requirement (although that didn't solve the problem completely) ...

            Thanks for the saremba.de link; I'll check it out.
            Maybe now your statements are right. But in 199x some of their writers managed to create PGN :)

            I looked into groups history - the oldest message about PGN+standard 1993 December:

            "The "format" is called Portable Game Notation. No database reads .PGN directly at present, nor frankly is there any DOCUMENTATION for this standard.
            There is a program call PGNREAD that attempts to address the standard as it has been (in ad hoc fashion) implemented. Any attempt I've made to use PGNREAD results in nothing happening; moreover, many of the PGNREAD archives available are crippled. Stephen J. Edwards, author of the Standard Algebraic Notation Toolkit (The san toolkit, available on my BBS) mentions the .PGN standard, in fact created it, but documentation of this "standard" is nonexistant.

            My general impression is that hell will freeze over before it is documented. Clearly documenting PGN is way way WAY down on sje's list of
            things to do.

            And as long as the "standard" definition resides more in sje's imagination than any other place, there will be scarcely any reason for any chess database to support it."

            http://groups.google.com/group/rec.g...a10e26aa93b82f

            Seems you read or thought in a similar way :)
            Last edited by Egidijus Zeromskis; Tuesday, 27th October, 2009, 09:38 PM.

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            • #7
              Re: pgn format specifications?

              Other lesser-known "standards" for PGN notation:

              1) Dates are in the form "YYYY.MM.DD".
              2) No accents in names or places (affects sorting).
              3) Last names and first names should not start with a lower-case character (e.g. Van Wely - not van Wely; De los Santos - not de los Santos, etc.). This also affects sorting.
              4) Draws should be shown as "1/2-1/2" - not "½-½". (not the ALT-171 character).
              5) Standardization of name spellings - e.g. "Korchnoi, Viktor" seems to be standard - but people tend to choose their own standards.
              6) Likewise - location spellings - e.g. "München" or "Munich" (and then removing the umlaut it becomes "Muenchen").
              7) Chinese/Vietnamese player names are another question - (e.g. "Ni Hua") - do you split it into first and last names, or leave them both in the last name field?
              8) Female players who take on the husband's name (and players - in general - who change names). I use the current name, with the old one(s) in parentheses (e.g. "Graf (Nenashev), Alexander", and "Bellin (Hartson, Miles), Jana")

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