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John Cordes wrote:

Also, it would
be even better if I there was a command line utility which could do this
running under Linux. Any ideas, anyone?

Luddite*

Not aware of anything, can't see a SCID option, many of the Linux
programs accept descriptive and turn it into algebraic....

I'd write it in Perl using Chess::PGN if it were a one off.

The only big issue is disambiguating I think, as Nb5 and Ng5 are
disambiguated as QN-N5 and KN-N5 because only one Knight could do that
(the squares are different colours to start with). I think it is
impossible to generalise the KN v QN thing, and might be better to
settle for N/QB3-N5 yuk or N-QN5 (better).

Also is there agreed method on how to disambiguate as Fischer use to use
N/2-B3 if two Knights coud make the Bishop's third square, leading to
the delightful N/5xP/6

Or with two N's on the 5th and 2+ pawns on the 7, you could even get
N/KB5xP/KN7+

Maybe Staunton had it right, "and by playing his King's Knight to it's
third square the player of the white pieces obtains a decisive
advantage" (versus N2g3± ).

Anyway if someone has a reasonably agreed definition to work from for
English Descriptive Notation I'll have a stab at it, I need the coding
practice in Perl.

Simon

* I still annotate my games in English Descriptive Notation, FIDE rules
indulge me in this for as long as I don't enter "serious" competitions,
although I tend to disambiguate rather erratically (and too often).
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John Cordes wrote in message ...
I'm looking for a simple way to convert from algebraic notation (a full
or partial game) into descriptrive notation (other than 'by hand', so to
speak, which I *can* do when necessary).

The only way I've found to do it so far is by pasting the PGN into
CM9000 and using CM to convert to descriptive, then copy/paste the
descriptive back out; overall, a rather painful process. Also, it would
be even better if I there was a command line utility which could do this
running under Linux. Any ideas, anyone?

Thanks,
John Cordes

P.S. Although I am indeed a chess dinosaur, having been brought up on
descriptive notation, I have thoroughly converted to algebraic; this is
not for me, honest!

There is a relatively simple way using Chessbase 8.

1. Install your generic print to text print driver.

2. On the menu , select TOOLSOPTIONSNOTATION and select 1.P-Q4

3. Select your "GENERIC/TEXT ONLY" as your printer. Be sure to have
it set up as print to "one" column.

Print as many games as you want in the descriptive notation to text
file. What follows below is a short list of 9 games printed using
that format and just copying and pasting here..

ChessBase 8.0 Printout, Michael Byrne, 9/3/2003
1

A01
Simagin,V
Sokolsky,A
corr 1/1
1966
1.P-QN3 P-K4 2.B-N2 N-QB3 3.P-K3 P-Q3 4.P-QB4 P-KN3 5.P-N3
B-N2
6.B-N2 N/1-K2 7.N-QB3 B-K3 8.N/1-K2 P-Q4 9.P-Q3 Q-Q2
10.N-R4
P-N3 11.N-B4 0-0 12.NxB QxN 13.N-B3 P-K5 14.P-Q4 P-B4
15.PxP
N/KxP 16.NxN QxN 17.0-0 R/R-K1 18.R-B1 R-B2 19.P-B3 B-R3
20.R-B3
N-Q1 21.PxP PxP 22.Q-B2 P-B3 23.B-B1 R/1-B1 24.RxR QxR
25.Q-K2
Q-K2 26.Q-B4+ K-R1 27.R-B2 R-B4 28.R-K2 R-B1 29.B-N2 B-N2
30.Q-B2 R-K1 31.R-B2 P-KN4 32.B-KR3 Q-N5 33.K-N2 Q-N4
34.B-Q7
R-K2 35.P-Q5
1-0


A02
Weis
Wirz
Zuerich 1/2
1966
1.P-KB4 P-K4 2.PxP P-Q3 3.N-KB3 P-KN4 4.P-K4 P-N5 5.B-B4
PxN
6.QxP B-K3 7.BxB PxB 8.0-0 Q-K2 9.PxP PxP 10.Q-B3 N-Q2
11.RxB+
NxR 12.QxR N-B3 13.P-Q3 0-0-0 14.B-R6 P-Q4 15.N-B3 Q-B4+
16.K-R1
N/1-Q2 17.Q-N7 R-N1 18.Q-B7 Q-B7 19.B-N7 P-KR4 20.PxP P-R5
21.PxP P-R6 22.PxN+
1-0


A03
Szilagyi,P
Trincardi,T
Reggio Emilia 1/3
1965
1.P-KB4 P-Q4 2.N-KB3 P-QB4 3.P-K3 P-KN3 4.B-N5+ B-Q2 5.Q-K2
N-KB3 6.P-QN3 B-N2 7.B-N2 0-0 8.BxB N/BxB 9.BxB KxB
10.P-B4 PxP
11.PxP N-QB3 12.N-B3 P-K4 13.P-B5 N-B3 14.0-0 P-KR3
15.R/R-N1
P-N3 16.P-Q3 Q-Q2 17.P-K4 PxP 18.N-Q5 P-B5 19.P-N3 PxP
20.NxN
KxN 21.P-Q4 K-N2 22.P-Q5 N-Q5 23.NxN BPxN 24.Q-R5 P-B3
25.R-N3
R-KN1 26.RxP/3+ K-R2 27.RxP
1-0


A03
Canal,E
Paoli,E
Reggio Emilia 1/4
1965
1.P-KB4 P-Q4 2.P-K3 P-K3 3.N-KB3 P-QB4 4.P-QN3 N-KB3 5.B-N2
B-K2
6.B-N5+ B-Q2 7.B-K2 0-0 8.0-0 P-QN4 9.N-K5 P-QR4 10.R-B3
N-K5
11.R-R3 P-B3 12.NxB QxN 13.P-R4 P-N5 14.B-N5 Q-B1 15.Q-R5
P-R3
16.Q-N6 K-R1 17.P-Q3 N-Q3 18.N-Q2 NxB 19.R-KB1 N-Q3 20.RxP+
PxR
21.QxRP+ K-N1 22.Q-N6+ K-R1 23.R-B3 P-K4 24.P-B5
1-0


A03
Szilagyi,Gy
Bolbochan,Ja
Tel Aviv 1/5
1966
1.P-KB4 N-KB3 2.N-KB3 P-B4 3.P-K3 P-KN3 4.P-QN3 B-N2 5.B-N2
0-0
6.B-K2 P-Q4 7.0-0 N-B3 8.Q-B1 P-N3 9.N-B3 B-N2 10.N-Q1
P-Q5
11.P-Q3 B-KR3 12.P-N3 P-K4 13.PxQP BPxP 14.N-K1 PxP 15.PxP
N-Q4
16.N-N2 R-K1 17.Q-Q2 Q-Q3 18.B-N4 P-B4 19.B-KR3 R/R-Q1
20.P-R4
B-N2 21.B-R3 Q-Q2 22.N-N2 R-K6 23.NxR PxN 24.Q-K1 N-Q5
25.R-B1
N-QB6 26.B-N2 N/5-K7+ 27.K-R1 BxB+ 28.KxB Q-B3+ 29.K-R3 NxR
30.QxN/1 P-K7 31.R-B2 R-K1 32.Q-K1 R-K6+ 33.K-R4 B-B3#
0-1


ChessBase 8.0 Printout, Michael Byrne, 9/3/2003
2

A04
Bolbochan,Ju
Garcia,Rai
Mar del Plata 1/6
1966
1.N-KB3 P-KB4 2.P-KN3 N-KB3 3.B-N2 P-KN3 4.P-N3 B-N2
5.B-N2 0-0
6.0-0 P-QR4 7.P-QR3 P-Q3 8.P-Q4 P-B3 9.N/1-Q2 N-R3
10.P-K3 B-Q2
11.Q-K2 Q-B2 12.P-K4 PxP 13.NxP R/R-K1 14.R/R-K1 NxN
15.QxN/K
B-B4 16.Q-K2 Q-B1 17.N-N5 P-R3 18.N-K6 BxN 19.QxB+ QxQ
20.RxQ
K-B2 21.R-K2 N-B2 22.P-QB4 P-R5 23.PxP P-K3 24.B-QB3 N-R3
25.R-N1 R-K2 26.R/2-N2 P-B4 27.RxP BxP 28.BxB PxB
29.R/7-N6 N-B4
30.RxP P-Q6 31.K-B1 R-R2 32.R-N5 K-K2 33.R-Q4 R-B1
34.P-R5 R-Q2
35.RxR+ NxR 36.B-K4 P-Q7 37.K-K2 RxP 38.BxP R-Q5 39.K-Q1
K-Q3
40.B-B2 K-B3 41.R-N4 R-Q3 42.P-R6 K-B2 43.P-R7
1-0


A05
Petrosian,T
Spassky,B
Moscow (m/14) 1/7
1966
1.N-KB3 N-KB3 2.P-KN3 P-QN4 3.P-QR4 P-N5 4.P-Q3 B-N2
5.P-K4 P-Q3
6.B-N2 N/1-Q2 7.0-0 P-K3 8.P-R5 R-QN1 9.N/1-Q2 B-K2
10.N-B4 0-0
11.R-K1 P-QR3 12.B-B4 B-R1 13.Q-K2 R-K1 14.P-R3 B-B1
15.N/4-Q2
P-N3 16.B-N5 P-R3 17.B-K3 B-KN2 18.K-R2 Q-K2 19.R-R2 K-R2
20.N-KN1 P-Q4 21.P-KB4 P-K4 22.PxKP QxP 23.P-Q4 Q-K3
24.P-K5
N-K5 25.R/2-R1 P-QB4 26.NxN PxN 27.P-B3 PxBP 28.NPxP PxP
29.PxP
P-B3 30.PxP NxP 31.R/R-N1 N-Q4 32.Q-Q2 RxR 33.RxR Q-Q3
34.N-K2
Q-R6 35.B-N1 Q-Q6 36.Q-K1 B-QB3 37.R-Q1 Q-R6 38.N-B4 NxN
39.PxN
B-N4 40.B-K3 B-Q6 41.P-R4 Q-Q3 42.P-R5 P-N4 43.Q-N3 BxP
44.BxB
QxB 45.PxP Q-K4 46.QxQ RxQ 47.PxP RxP/QR4 48.K-N3 R-KN4+
49.K-B2
P-R4 50.R-QR1 KxP 51.B-R1 RxP 52.K-K3 B-B7 53.R-QB1 R-R6+
54.K-Q4 P-R5 55.BxP BxB 56.KxB P-R6 57.K-Q4
½-½


A04
Botvinnik,M
Petrosian,T
Moscow 1/8
1966
1.P-K4 P-QB4 2.N-KB3 P-Q3 3.P-Q3 P-KN3 4.P-KN3 B-N2
5.B-N2 N-KB3
6.0-0 0-0 7.N/1-Q2 N-B3 8.P-QR4 P-N3 9.N-B4 B-N2 10.B-Q2
Q-B2
11.R-K1 R/R-N1 12.Q-B1 R/B-K1 13.B-B4 R/N-Q1 14.P-R3 Q-B1
15.B-R6
P-Q4 16.PxP NxP 17.BxB KxB 18.N/4-K5 N-B3 19.Q-B4 NxN
20.NxN
R-Q5 21.BxB QxB 22.Q-K3 R/1-Q1 23.R-K2 P-K3 24.P-N3 P-KR4
25.R/1-K1 R-KR1 26.P-R4 R-QB1 27.Q-N5
½-½

Good Luck!

Michael Byrne wrote:
John Cordes wrote in message ...
I'm looking for a simple way to convert from algebraic notation (a full
or partial game) into descriptrive notation (other than 'by hand', so to
speak, which I *can* do when necessary).

There is a relatively simple way using Chessbase 8.
1. Install your generic print to text print driver.
2. On the menu , select TOOLSOPTIONSNOTATION and select 1.P-Q4
3. Select your "GENERIC/TEXT ONLY" as your printer. Be sure to have
it set up as print to "one" column.
Print as many games as you want in the descriptive notation to text
file. What follows below is a short list of 9 games printed using
that format and just copying and pasting here..

ChessBase 8.0 Printout, Michael Byrne, 9/3/2003
1

A01
Simagin,V
Sokolsky,A
corr 1/1
1966
1.P-QN3 P-K4 2.B-N2 N-QB3 3.P-K3 P-Q3 4.P-QB4 P-KN3 5.P-N3
Good Luck!

Thanks. Unfortunately (for a variety of reasons) I don't have CB8 (yet).
I do have CB7; may have a look and see if that works there.

My real need is to have something simple and fast to just translate a
game line quite often; I don't have a collection of games that need
converting.

John Cordes

John Cordes wrote in message ...
Michael Byrne wrote:
John Cordes wrote in message ...
I'm looking for a simple way to convert from algebraic notation (a full
or partial game) into descriptrive notation (other than 'by hand', so to
speak, which I *can* do when necessary).

There is a relatively simple way using Chessbase 8.
1. Install your generic print to text print driver.
2. On the menu , select TOOLSOPTIONSNOTATION and select 1.P-Q4
3. Select your "GENERIC/TEXT ONLY" as your printer. Be sure to have
it set up as print to "one" column.
Print as many games as you want in the descriptive notation to text
file. What follows below is a short list of 9 games printed using
that format and just copying and pasting here..

ChessBase 8.0 Printout, Michael Byrne, 9/3/2003
1

A01
Simagin,V
Sokolsky,A
corr 1/1
1966
1.P-QN3 P-K4 2.B-N2 N-QB3 3.P-K3 P-Q3 4.P-QB4 P-KN3 5.P-N3
Good Luck!

Thanks. Unfortunately (for a variety of reasons) I don't have CB8 (yet).
I do have CB7; may have a look and see if that works there.

My real need is to have something simple and fast to just translate a
game line quite often; I don't have a collection of games that need
converting.

John Cordes

This shoudl do the trick!

http://www.dfong.com/chessbd/index.html

it works very well with "dirty" text

Michael Byrne wrote:
John Cordes wrote in message ...
Michael Byrne wrote:
John Cordes wrote in message ...
I'm looking for a simple way to convert from algebraic notation (a full
or partial game) into descriptrive notation (other than 'by hand', so to
speak, which I *can* do when necessary).

My real need is to have something simple and fast to just translate a
game line quite often; I don't have a collection of games that need
converting.
John Cordes

This shoudl do the trick!
http://www.dfong.com/chessbd/index.html
it works very well with "dirty" text

Thanks again. I've followed up on your suggestion and installed Don
Fong's program; the downloaded program includes both ChessBD and SLICS.
I see that the ChessBD component is now freeware, as opposed to the
SLICS part.

I'm guessing that ChessBD is the program you're implying will do the
conversion from algebraic to descriptive notation. I have pasted a line
in algebraic notation into ChessBD and that much works fine. But after
looking through the help screens and trying various menu options I
haven't found a way to transform the notation to descriptive. Would I
have to write a little script and send it to ChessBD?

And then there's the problem of exporting the descriptive notation,
assuming the conversion can be accomplished; saving a file would be a
nuisance. The ChessMaster route is probably simpler.

Oh, for a Linux command line utility! Simon, are you still considering
writing something in Perl?

John Cordes

John Cordes wrote in message ...
Michael Byrne wrote:
John Cordes wrote in message ...
Michael Byrne wrote:
John Cordes wrote in message ...
I'm looking for a simple way to convert from algebraic notation (a full
or partial game) into descriptrive notation (other than 'by hand', so to
speak, which I *can* do when necessary).

My real need is to have something simple and fast to just translate a
game line quite often; I don't have a collection of games that need
converting.
John Cordes

This shoudl do the trick!
http://www.dfong.com/chessbd/index.html
it works very well with "dirty" text

Thanks again. I've followed up on your suggestion and installed Don
Fong's program; the downloaded program includes both ChessBD and SLICS.
I see that the ChessBD component is now freeware, as opposed to the
SLICS part.

I'm guessing that ChessBD is the program you're implying will do the
conversion from algebraic to descriptive notation. I have pasted a line
in algebraic notation into ChessBD and that much works fine. But after
looking through the help screens and trying various menu options I
haven't found a way to transform the notation to descriptive. Would I
have to write a little script and send it to ChessBD?

And then there's the problem of exporting the descriptive notation,
assuming the conversion can be accomplished; saving a file would be a
nuisance. The ChessMaster route is probably simpler.

Oh, for a Linux command line utility! Simon, are you still considering
writing something in Perl?

John Cordes


for what you want to do - the freeware version slics21a.zip works
better and simpler in my opinion -- it's at the pitt ftp site - search
"slics21a" on google and you should find it

from the help file
================================================== ================
outnotation (default: 0)
Controls move notation used for output by the program. If =1 moves are
output in english descriptive notation; if =2 moves are output
in algebraic notation. if =0 moves are printed in the same notation
that was used for the last input move. See also the innotation
variable.
================================================== ================
set the

outnotation=1

in CHESSBD.INI

the output is a little funky - not sure if it works for you or not,
the Chessbase 8 method works the best IMO ...you can just print one
gane or whole database at once.

best,

Michael

Michael Byrne wrote:
John Cordes wrote in message ...
Michael Byrne wrote:
I'm looking for a simple way to convert from algebraic notation (a full
or partial game) into descriptrive notation (other than 'by hand', so to
speak, which I *can* do when necessary).

My real need is to have something simple and fast to just translate a
game line quite often; I don't have a collection of games that need
converting.
John Cordes

for what you want to do - the freeware version slics21a.zip works
better and simpler in my opinion -- it's at the pitt ftp site - search
"slics21a" on google and you should find it

from the help file
================================================= =================
outnotation (default: 0)
Controls move notation used for output by the program. If =1 moves are
output in english descriptive notation; if =2 moves are output
in algebraic notation. if =0 moves are printed in the same notation
that was used for the last input move. See also the innotation
variable.
================================================= =================
set the

outnotation=1

in CHESSBD.INI

the output is a little funky - not sure if it works for you or not,
the Chessbase 8 method works the best IMO ...you can just print one
gane or whole database at once.

best,
Michael

I really appreciate all the suggestions you've made - it's been
instructive following up on them. However, I really don't find the
ChessBD / Slics2a route satisfactory. One can indeed get a file saved in
descriptive notation, but as you say the output is definitely 'funky'!

Short example: 1. P/K2-K4 P/K2-K4 2. N/KN1-KB3 N/QN1-QB3

This is not really suitable for my purposes, though it could certainly
be used as a check on manual translation.

John