PGN Files

It is now possible to display individual chess games on the web site. Games are stored electronically in PGN (Portable Game Notation) format as described below, an example of which can be seen here. Games are found by clicking on the result from the relevant match card, crosstable or summary page. The game player uses Javascript technology, so if your browser doesn't support Javascript (perhaps it's disabled?), you will just be offered the opportunity to download the PGN file). If anyone wishes to submit PGN files for any of the games on the web site, they should send them to me (and it's probably the tidiest way to hold on to those past games!!).

PGN files are usually created using a chess program such as Fritz or Chessmaster. It is also possible to download games from Internet chess sites such as GameKnot. Additionally, PGN files can be manually created with a regular text editor. The following is an example of the text that you might type into the text editor:

The above game can be viewed and downloaded here for reference. It shows the seven mandatory tags in the correct order at the top where "-" indicates no value and dates are written in YYYY.MM.DD format. A blank line is entered above and below the move list. Moves are entered in standard algebraic notation (see the BCF's FIDE Laws of Chess - Apendix E for details), and the last move is the game result (use "1/2-1/2" for a draw). Multiple games may appear in a single PGN file.

Adding annotations to the PGN file is encouraged where they are the annotations of the player rather than from a computer. It's always interesting & educational to know the thoughts behind some of the more unexpected moves...

For the technically minded, a PGN specification can be found here.