Shogi SFEN
MacShogi offers no feature to edit the board, which makes position reproduction difficult. A web search revealed a FEN-like format for Shogi (SFEN hereafter), a great improvement over images or even text diagrams. Consider the following example. (For those unversed in Shogi, the Kings usually do not end up this close, which is mostly a testament to my poor 詰 [つめ: tsume] skills (the opposing King fled from a decimated Mino-Gakoi castle).)
Gote (w): 3P L N R 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ---------------------------------------------- | Lw | Nw | Sw | | | | | | Lw | a ---------------------------------------------- | | Gb | | | | | | | | b ---------------------------------------------- | | Pw | Pw | Pw | Pw | | | | | c ---------------------------------------------- | Pw | | | | | Rb | | | Pw | d ---------------------------------------------- | | | Bb | Pb | | | | Pw | | e ---------------------------------------------- | Pb | Sb | | | | | | Pb | Pb | f ---------------------------------------------- | | Kw | Sb | | Pb |+Pw | | | | g ---------------------------------------------- | | Gb | | Gb | | | | | | h ---------------------------------------------- | Lb | Nb | | Kb | | | | Nb |+Bw | i ---------------------------------------------- Sente (b): 2P S G
Using Shogi SFEN, the position above would become:
lns5l/1G7/1pppp4/p4R2p/2BP3p1/PS5PP/1kS1P+p3/1G1G5/LN1K3N+b w GS2Prnl3p 1
A SFEN to board display conversion program would help display games, plus parsers to convert ASCII diagrams into SFEN. There exist Japanese sites that allow game replay, though these are all in Japanese. Time to start learning a new language or two…
In contrast, Java Shogi Board uses the FEN notation [FEN "1nn6/2S+P1+L1P1/kgs4+R1/1lpP2pp1/KP2Sp3/l1P3P1p/+b1N1SP3/4G3R/3G3N1 200011 0/4000000 s 55"]. I dislike this format, as the pieces in hand are not clear from the magic numbers.
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