PDN - Portable Draughts Notation
PC SOL
For my new program SAGE 4000 I have implemented a new database format called PDN -
Portable Draughts Notation - based on the Chess Portable Chess Notation.
I suggest you get the PGNSTD.DOC from ics.onenet.net:/pub/chess/PGN ... for
a full tech spec - or I will upload it with a S4000 demo to Jon Schaeffers
WWW page at http://web.cs.ualberta.ca/~chinook
I hope this proposal will get round the mess of different formats
between programs - at the moment draughts programs cannot talk
to each other, and there is no easy way for players to EMAIL each other
games which can be readily imported into the users own program, without
tedious re-typing. In the Chess world PGN has revolutionised the
way game-info is used and published - players keep & exchange databases
with thousand of games.
Some simple samples are given below. In essence, after playing a game on
S4000 it can be annotated - either on individual moves, or in the "header"
detailing Players, Year, ELO, Result code, Event/other details -
and then exported to a PDN file - if the file already exists, the new
game is appended to the database. I can then be reloaded later - by
selecting the nth game from the database, or with more sophisticated
DB list/search functions. While playing the game, the PDN info is displayed
in the move-list window.
There are a few differences to the Chess format - moves are given in
standerd numeric notation - multijumps can either be specified
move-by-move (11x18 18x25) or in 1 go (11x25). Moves can be formatted
thus: 11-18, 11x18, 1118 - All legal possibilities. I suppose we
can support c3-e5 later too. Move numbers end in a '.'
to differenciate from game-moves. The 4 standerd result codes
"1-0" "1/2-1/2" "0-1" "*" (game unfinished)
are given from the aspect of the 1st side to move - Black in
english draughts, White in Italian (S4000 plays DAMA ITALIANA too).
The result code MUST appear at the end of the game - this is the
game-terminator. Comments appear in {} brackets.
If a game starts from a set-up position, a FEN header is given
with the position - ie..
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "W:WK4,30:B27,22."]
The FEN format must be "SIDE_TO_MOVE:W(pieces):B(pieces)."
A K indicates a king.
As I said, get the PGNSTD doc for full info on PGN. I welcome
feedback on this issue!
---------------------------------------------------------------
SAGE4000 is out now! It looks really good, with 256 colour graphics,
picture-button controls for most functions, sprite animation, separate
move-list analysis/clock/board windows (resizable) game
comments/annotation, draughts true-type fonts for board - printing,
powerful opening book-database which can contain set-up positions and
auto-find transpositions (& sides-reversed pos). If you want to
improve the book, a simple add-line-to-book function exists,
and the ability to mark each move ?,<,=,>,! (weak to strong,
5 grades).
It can automatically analyse complete games move-by-move, saving the
results in a text file. It can analyse sets of EPD positions,
again posting the results (best line, eval) to a file.
SAGE supports PDN (Portable Draughts Notation) Database format -
a new way to annotate/store large numbers of games via simple
text files. Analysis (bestline/eval) can be spooled to a txt file
while you play. Tournement style White/Black clocks are give,
together with ability to set play-level in secs/move or x moves
in x time.. Multi-lingual support is built in.
All functions are implemented with a terrific user interface
- most are available with a simple mouse-click on a picture-icon
button.
Playing strength is substantially improved over older versions -
SAGE4000 recently won the SamCohen event, and has a good track
record against the worlds top players.
SAGE plays both English and Italian draughts up to Master strength,
and costs 37 pounds or $59 US fully inclusive.
PC SOLUTIONS: PO BOX 954, BOURNEMOUTH BH7 6YJ, ENGLAND
EMAIL: 10064...@compuserve.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DRAUGHTS MAGAZINE/NEWLETTER WRITERS - CAN YOU PUBLISH THE ABOVE?
Please also forward to other interested parties..
----------SAMPLE PDN FORMAT FILE - TEST.PDN -----------------------------------
[Event "Double Corner Dyke"]
[Black "Jordan,A"]
[White "Tesheliet,F"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 9-14 22-17 2. 11-15 25-22 3. 15-19 {Forms the Double Corner Dyke, With
black aiming to occupy sqr 19, attacking white's double corner.} 23x16
4. 12x19 24x15 5. 10x19 17x10 6. 6x15 21-17 7. 5-9 29-25 8. 8-12 25-21
9. 7-10 17-13 10. 1-6 {It seems unwise to abondon the key back row sqr 1,
but it is necessary to prevent 13-9..} 27-24 11. 4-8 32-27 12. 9-14
27-23 13. 3-7 23x16 14. 12x19 22-17 15. 7-11 26-23 16. 19x26 30x23
17. 8-12 24-20 18. 15-18 23-19 19. 11-15 20-16 20. 15x24 28x19 21. 2-7
31-26 22. 18-23 26-22 23. 23-27 16-11 {! a really beautiful escape}
24. 7x23 22-18 1/2-1/2
[Event "Demo Game"]
[Black "Seton,J"]
[White "Wyllie,J"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. 11-15 24-20 2. 8-11 28-24 3. 4-8 23-19 4. 15-18 22x15 5. 11x18 32-28
6. 10-14 26-23 7. 9-13 19-15 8. 7-11 31-26 9. 2-7 26-22 10. 13-17 22x13
11. 6-9 13x6 12. 1x26 30x23 13. 11-15 25-22 14. 18x25 29x22 15. 7-10
23-19 16. 5-9 22-17 17. 9-13 20-16 18. 13x22 16-11 19. 22-26 11x4
20. 26-31 4-8 21. 3-7 8-3 22. 31-26 19-16 23. 12x19 27-23 24. 26-22
23x16 25. 22-18 3-8 {For the benifit of spectators, Wyllie plays out the
nice end shot - can you see it?} 26. 7-11 16x7 27. 15-19 24x6 28. 14-17
21x14 29. 18x4 28-24 30. 4-8 24-19 31. 8-11 19-15 32. 11x18 1-0
[Event "Andersons 1st position trunk"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "W:WK4,30:B27,22."]
1. 4-8 27-32 2. 8-11 32-27 3. 11-7 27-23 {etc to Black win..} 1-0
--
PC SOLUTIONS - PO BOX 954, BOURNEMOUTH BH7 6YJ, ENGLAND
EMAIL 10064...@compuserve.com