Seemed like there had to be a win

Originally posted by erikido
I tried to understand that. But, I didn't get it at all. I didn't really understand after seeing the example either

I think maybe I left out an important part.

between each / is a rank on the board starting from the 8th rank. 8/ thats the first thing in the fen string means the back rank(8th) is empty.

so far the board looks like this.



now 8/p7/ means that the 8th rank is empty and there is a black pawn on the a file of the seventh rank.

the board looks like this



now 8/1p6/ means the 8th rank is empty and there is a pawn on the b file of the second rank. There is 8 empty squares on the 8th rank and there is 1 empty square on the 7th rank then a black pawn then 6 empty squares.

the board looks like this



8/2p5/ puts the pawn on the c file 8/3p4/ on the d etc etc. There there must be seven forward slashes in the string(there is still one rank left after the last slash and on rank before the fisrt one) and every square must be accounted for. The amount of empty squares on a rank before or after a piece are designated by numbers 1-8.

1- one empty square 2-two empty squares etc etc. These numbers are broken up by pieces. If there are 3 pawns on a rank then the rest of the numbers should add up 5 because 8 subtract 3 is equal to 5.

8/p1p1p3/ or 8/ppp5/ or 8/5ppp/ or 8/p2p3p/ so in between each forward slash eight squares should be acounted for and there should be seven forward slashes to account for the eight ranks(one rank comes after the last forward slash and one comes before the first one).

You always fill in from whites point of view as in the back of the board is the 8th rank and the left is the a file.

p - black pawn
r - black rook
n - black knight
b - black bishop
k - black king
q - black queen

P - white pawn
R - white rook
N - white knight
B - white bishop
K - white king
Q - white queen

Notice the piece designations are exactly the same as in a pgn except that they are case sensitive. Black pieces are designated by lowercase letters and white pieces by uppercase letters.

I will now set up a game of checkers using pawns.



now try to set up that board using the fen tags [ fen ] [ / fen ] without spaces.

Originally posted by tomtom232
I think maybe I left out an important part.

between each / is a rank on the board starting from the 8th rank. 8/ thats the first thing in the fen string means the back rank(8th) is empty.

so far the board looks like this.

[fen]8/8/8/8/8/8/8/8[/fen]

now 8/p7/ means that the 8th rank is empty and there is a black pawn on the a file of the seventh ...[text shortened]... 1P1P1[/fen]

now try to set up that board using the fen tags [ fen ] [ / fen ] without spaces.

Thanks, I think that is starting to make more sense now. I will have to go over a few examples on my own to start getting it though.

Originally posted by erikido
Is there a way to get a fen from the middle of one of your games. I went into my game and where it says info I see I can get the pgn or fen(but the fen is only for the final position it seems)

Creating a FEN string isn't a very difficult concept. Maybe this link will help:

http://www.chessville.com/Reference_Center/FEN_Description.htm



However, to answer your question, there is a way to get a FEN string from the middle of an RHP game if you're logged in to RHP, and no PGN viewer downloads are required. (It's a little convoluted, but it works.)

There are two ways to do it:

1) While looking at the game screen, right-click anywhere on the screen, then click on the "View Page Source" link. Next, you'll find a screen full of gobbledygook source information. But you'll also see a complete list of FENs for every move in the game so far. However, it can be a little confusing to determine just which FEN is which, since the Fullmove counter can be confusing.

So an easier way is:

2) While looking at the game screen, in the "Game history" section, click on the move that you're interested in. (Notice that the position for that move will appear on the board.)

Next, click on the "Start game from position" link. A new window will appear for starting a new game from that position. HOWEVER, you're NOT going to start a new game.

Instead, just right-click on the screen, then click on the "View Page Source" link. Again, you'll see some gobbledygook source information. But this time, you won't see a complete list of FENs for all the moves. If you look long enough, you'll eventually find the FEN for only that one move. It's actually listed twice; The first time it's inside single quotes, and the second time it's between double quotes. (After a few tries, you should be able to find the FEN quickly without any effort.) Just copy-and-paste, and you're done.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Creating a FEN string isn't a very difficult concept. Maybe this link will help:

http://www.chessville.com/Reference_Center/FEN_Description.htm



However, to answer your question, there is a way to get a FEN string from the middle of an RHP game if you're logged in to RHP, and no PGN viewer downloads are required. (It's a little convoluted, but it w the FEN quickly without any effort.) Just copy-and-paste, and you're done.

I just noticed an even easier way:

3) While looking at the game screen, in the "Game history" section, click on the move that you're interested in. (Notice that the position for that move will appear on the board.)

Next, click on the "Start game from position" link. A new window will appear for starting a new game from that position. HOWEVER, you're NOT going to start a new game.

Instead, click on the link on the left side of the page named "Set up your own board". You'll see a new screen with the FEN for the move that you chose.

Piece of cake.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
I just noticed an even easier way:

3) While looking at the game screen, in the "Game history" section, click on the move that you're interested in. (Notice that the position for that move will appear on the board.)

Next, click on the "Start game from position" link. A new window will appear for starting a new game from that position. HOWEVER, you're N ...[text shortened]... d". You'll see a new screen with the FEN for the move that you chose.

Piece of cake.

Okay, thanks for that. good to know.