Coordinate move notation

[Eli Bendersky]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Eli Bendersky at 24 February 2004 13:12:21:

For my chess program, I'm now considering various move notations. I'd like to keep a list of FENs with moves in a file, to test my move generation.
The best move notation for a program to understand is definitely coordinate:
e2-e4, a2-b3 (capture), a7-a8=Q (promotion), that's about it.
However, I'm concerned about the completeness of this representation. For instance, given a board and the last move in coordinate notation, is it possible to reproduce the previous board (i.e. Undo Move ?) I think not, because a pawn capture can be enpassant or not enpassant, it's not possible to know from coordinate notation. Is this right ?
Thanks
Eli

[Matthias Gemuh]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Matthias Gemuh at 24 February 2004 13:30:11:
Als Antwort auf: / In reply to: Coordinate move notation geschrieben von: / posted by: Eli Bendersky at 24 February 2004 13:12:21:

For my chess program, I'm now considering various move notations. I'd like to keep a list of FENs with moves in a file, to test my move generation.
The best move notation for a program to understand is definitely coordinate:
e2-e4, a2-b3 (capture), a7-a8=Q (promotion), that's about it.
However, I'm concerned about the completeness of this representation. For instance, given a board and the last move in coordinate notation, is it possible to reproduce the previous board (i.e. Undo Move ?) I think not, because a pawn capture can be enpassant or not enpassant, it's not possible to know from coordinate notation. Is this right ?
Thanks
Eli

BigLion + Taktix

[Omid David]

Geschrieben von: / Posted by: Omid David at 24 February 2004 13:51:48:
Als Antwort auf: / In reply to: Coordinate move notation geschrieben von: / posted by: Eli Bendersky at 24 February 2004 13:12:21:

For my chess program, I'm now considering various move notations. I'd like to keep a list of FENs with moves in a file, to test my move generation.
The best move notation for a program to understand is definitely coordinate:
e2-e4, a2-b3 (capture), a7-a8=Q (promotion), that's about it.
However, I'm concerned about the completeness of this representation. For instance, given a board and the last move in coordinate notation, is it possible to reproduce the previous board (i.e. Undo Move ?) I think not, because a pawn capture can be enpassant or not enpassant, it's not possible to know from coordinate notation. Is this right ?
Thanks
Eli

You have the same problem in other notations too. For example, in the move Nxd5, do you know which piece was captured on d5?!
I use only one simple coordinate notation, e.g., e2e4, e7e8q, etc. In order to undo a move, you have to save the needed info in history.