programme PGN-Engine-Analyzer
22nd development version from 8th October 2024
ZIP file [6.7 MB]: PGN_Engine_Analyzer.zip
in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI click on the button 'English'
Preliminary note:
This article was written in the original in German. The English translation comes from the author too. A sufficient quality of
the translation cannot be guaranteed.
22nd development version from 8th October 2024
PGN-Engine-Analyzer -
a Windows programme that the world doesn't need,
at most some adventurous users
of chess engines and PGN files
1) Highlights:
generation of PGN engine analysis files with one or various games in a first step via communication with
chess engines, whose analyses are included in the new PGN files true to the original without
modification;
various user options concerning the generation of engine analyses separately for regular and null move
variations;
display of the progress of the engine analysis by current chessboard position and move information;
translation of variation moves from coordinate notation of the engine to standard algebraic notation in
PGN file during (!) engine calculation of the following move;
adjustable processor priority of the engine analysis;
display and modification of engine options along with restoration of default settings;
generation of PGN, browser as well as spreadsheet files with extensive game analyses based on
mathematical calculations in a second step, among others
probabilistic game results,
optimum rates,
relevant evaluation wins and losses,
automatic move evaluation symbols and
move colours, move field colours and coloured move arrows on the chess board depending on the choice of
the chess GUI opening the PGN file;
use of engine WDL values (probabilistic win, draw and loss rates of the respective positions which
originate from a WDL-capable engine such as Stockfish);
individual storage and transfer of all programme and engine options in separate files;
analysis information also on two (limited for one) user-selected arbitrary evaluations;
optional termination of Windows after completion of the (often time-consuming) addition of the engine
variations to the PGN file;
PGN_Engine_Analyzer.au3:
the script for AutoIt3; in order to start it either by double-clicking or
alternatively by AutoIt3.exe or AutoIt3_x64.exe an
AutoIt version 3 must
be downloaded;
PGN_Engine_Analyzer_x64.exe:
the executable programme for Windows 64bit systems;
PGN_Engine_Analyzer_x86.exe:
the executable programme for Windows 32bit systems;
PGN_Engine_Analyzer.par:
the file containing the programme parameters that are loaded at programme start if this file is located
in the directory of PGN_Engine_Analyzer_x**.exe or - if the PGN_Engine_Analyzer.au3 script is started
with AutoIt - in the directory of the AutoIt start programme; if PGN_Engine_Analyzer.par is not found in
the programme path, internal programme parameters are used;
in the folder 'PAR'-'English':
WDL_english.par and all_text_modules_english.par:
2 sample files with programme parameters and module explanation texts, divided into the sections
variation structure // position evaluation // move evaluation;
the parameters are transferred to the programme with the 'load' button at the bottom left of the
PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI and to the right of the text 'parameters';
the file WDL_english.par contains only a selection of text modules with focus on 'WDL',
the file WDL_english_0_c_a.par is identical to the previous one, but does not contain any comment
abbreviations,
the file all_text_modules_english.par however all available text modules;
PGN_Engine_Analyzer.html:
HTML file, which is opened in HTML mode automatically by the programme and modified for later viewing
and information retrieval and then saved (under a different name!) in the 'HTML' folder; it must be
located in the directory of PGN_Engine_Analyzer_x**.exe or - if the PGN_Engine_Analyzer.au3 script is
started with AutoIt - in the directory of the AutoIt start programme;
in the folder 'HTML': /games_analyses_WDL.html, which can exemplarily be viewed in the
browser for the purpose of examining the PGN analyses coming from PGN_Engine_Analyzer by clicking on the
link;
background.jpg: picture for the background colour in the HTML files; it must be in the directory in
which the HTML files to be viewed are located;
4 additional files which should not be modified; each HTML file created by PGN-Engine-Analyzer should be
saved in such a HTML folder with these 4 files to ensure correct display;
in the folder 'PGN'-'English':
games.pgn:
a PGN file of two games without any variations and analysis;
games_engine_variations.pgn:
PGN file generated by PGN-Engine-Analyzer of two games with 4 regular and one null move variations along
with analysis data coming from an engine;
games_analyses_WDL_Scid_vs_PC.pgn:
PGN file with PGN-Engine-Analyzer-derived modifications and additions to the engine analyses for
consideration in Scid vs. PC;
in the folder 'LibreOffice'-'English':
PGN_Engine_Analyzer_english.ods:
spreadsheet for LibreOffice Calc (possibly also for MS Excel – would depend on a try);
PGN_Engine_Analyzer_deutsch.nag and PGN_Engine_Analyzer_english.nag:
the files containing the NAG text modules and replacements that are loaded in the selected language when
such text blocks are used, if the file is located in the PGN_Engine_Analyzer_x**.exe directory or - if
the PGN_Engine_Analyzer.au3 script is started with AutoIt - in the AutoIt start programme
directory;
in the folder 'GUI':
PGN_Engine_Analyzer.kxf,
Anwender_Optionen.kxf,
Zugbewertungssymbole_Schema_Info.kxf
and Stellungsbewertungssymbole_Schema_Info.kxf:
GUI files for the GUI designer Koda (a correct cooperation between the SciTE editor and Koda including
script update assumes that in the script in the lines '#Region ### START Koda GUI section ###
Form=.........' the paths of the Koda files according to their locations on the user's computer are
correctly designated); all other GUIs used in the programme are created dynamically during the programme
run and are not available as a file;
:in the folder 'Intervall-Funktion'-'English'
3 files of a small tool to display the interval percentages of the presumed engine analysis duration;
for more details see chapter 4) on the subject of ‘percentage analysis test completion intervals’; should
the Retry and Cancel buttons at the bottom be outside the screen area, the Return/Enter keys can be used
for repetition and the Esc key for cancellation;
in the folder 'GNU GPL':
COPYING.txt:
the text of the GNU General Public License;
GPL.pdf:
the text of the GNU General Public License in PDF format.
3) Overview:
In order to obtain all analyses from a pure PGN file with one or various games without variations and comments via
PGN-Engine-Analyzer, a chess engine must analyse the PGN file in a first step and a new PGN file with these analyses must be
created. This is done in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer start GUI in the upper left area under the heading 'automatic variation entry
in PGN file via engine'. Attention: Before the first start, the engine must be installed correctly. For more details, see the
following chapter.
In the second step, PGN-Engine-Analyzer can then unfold its actual capabilities by evaluating this new file and then creating
either a new extensively commented PGN file, an HTML file for viewing in the browser or a spreadsheet for viewing in LibreOffice
Calc. Of course, all 3 alternatives can also be done simultaneously. For this purpose serve in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI the
parameters on the right-hand side under the headline 'modification of the PGN variations file via analysis elements' for the new
PGN file and on the lower right-hand side the checkboxes 'data → HTML' for the HTML file and 'data → clipboard' for the
spreadsheet. All setting options and information offers on the left side of the GUI under the heading 'PGN variations analysis:
parameters - information' concern all 3 analysis options.
4) Automatic variation entry in PGN file via engine:
Not all PGN files are structurally identical and can be correctly interpreted by PGN-Engine-Analyzer. If the program handles a
PGN file incorrectly, it is therefore recommended that you first open the file in Scid vs. PC and then export it using the
following options:
Space after Move Numbers: Yes
Export comments: No
Strip square/arrow mark codes from comments: Yes
Export Scid Flags: No
Indent comments: No
Export variations: No
Indent variations: No
Insert newlines every 80 chars: No
Column style (one move per line): No
Symbolic annotation style: ! +=
Convert null moves to comments: No
Character encoding: Utf-8.
Before pressing the 'start' button for the first time, the 'user options' should be called up and the engine to be used, which
is able to handle the UCI protocol, should be selected there via 'engine programme path definition'.
After selecting various options and 'save', the 'UCI engine options' should be called up. This establishes contact with the
engine and checks its ID. When first called, the original settings of the contacted engine are to be adopted. It also retrieves
the engine options and lists them in the GUI. The engine default settings can then be modified in the 'user entry' column.
All user and engine options are stored by PGN-Engine-Analyzer. They can also individually be saved under a special file name via
'parameters: ... save' in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI at the bottom left.
With the 'UCI engine options', there is a trick to keep in mind: Saved options contain an engine ID that presumably does not
apply to new engine versions. So it is not enough for the user to save new engine versions under the old engine path and name in
the Windows directory so as not to have to keep changing the default settings. Rather, he must still call up the 'UCI engine
options'. PGN-Engine-Analyzer will then ask if the default engine settings should be used. If this is answered in the negative,
however, it must be carefully checked whether the old user settings are still correct. In particular, it may be necessary that
an NNUE name no longer applies. With Stockfish, it will then be sufficient to simply empty the user field in question, because
the NNUE network integrated into the engine will then be activated automatically.
The 'user options' GUI essentially consists of the two parameter groups for regular and null move variations.
The latter pass the right of move to the opposite side. They matter in the analysis in order to become aware of the opponent's
threats in the case of inaction and to derive position optimisations from them. They are processed by PGN-Engine-Analyzer in the
course of move annotation for analysis PGN files, but not in the context of the creation of move evaluation symbols for game and
regular variation moves, HTML files and clipboard data
The parameters are largely self-explanatory.
The 'analysis from/to move no.' input fields can contain multiple move entries, even in the wrong order. Example: '12-16 3'.
Moves 3 and then 12 to 16 are analysed here. If the "end of game" option was also selected, all moves from 12 to the end of the
game would be analysed in addition to move 3.
In the engine analysis stop variants, "depth modification with pieces value reduction" is an option that is not offered by
engines and is an innovation of PGN-Engine-Analyzer. The depth of analysis increases or decreases as the material value of all
pieces on the board decreases between the starting position and the king-king position.
After selecting a depth option, you should later check whether the engine has actually adhered to the entered depth number or
deviated from it. This can happen.
Another innovation are the percentage analysis-test completion intervals. Essentially, it is a question of how frequently the
running engine outputs should be examined during the analysis to see whether the analysis has been completed. This is because
such examinations cost processor power.
An example to illustrate this: Even a fixed analysis time does not prevent an engine from outputting a final variation in an
extremely short time and without waiting for the specified duration to expire, if only one move is possible. In such a case,
should we wait until the regular expiry of the fixed analysis time before registering this variation? If, for example, the
number '10' should have been entered in the parameter '1st analysis termination test interval from 0% until', the (only)
variation will probably already be registered after 10% of the fixed analysis time and a subsequent engine analysis can be
initiated. Whether the parameter '10' would make sense in this example depends on the absolute duration of the fixed analysis
time. The greater this is, the lower this percentage could be selected. After all, 10% of 100 milliseconds is short, while 10%
of 100 seconds is too generous.
The analysis termination test intervals of the individual parameters can be determined with the tool in the folder 'Intervall
Funktion'-'English'.
With a fixed analysis duration the full extent of the intervals with 100% is equivalent to this duration, and with all other
analysis stop variations to the average analysis times per turn used in the game so far.
The last interval is prolonged beyond the 100% limit.
If a '0' is entered under 'number of variations per move' – regardless of regular or null move variations – these types of
variations are not inserted into the game. Theoretically, therefore, an entire game could be plastered with null move variations
alone, in order to recognise only threatening moves.
If only a '1' is entered for regular variants, i.e. if only one engine variation is desired per move (single variation mode),
the analysis function is considerably restricted, because PGN-Engine-Analyzer can then no longer judge whether and to what
extent a game move variation is better than a second-best variation. Positive move evaluation symbols are then eliminated.
Care should also be taken when choosing the colour(s) to the right of 'analysis for'. If one chooses a colour instead of 'both
sides’, the analysis function of PGN-Engine-Analyzer is also limited, because then it is not possible to fall back on the
evaluation of the best variation of the following move and in case of a missing game move variation for the current move, its
evaluation cannot be determined exactly.
If a Chess960 game is to be analysed, there must be a tag [Variant "Chess960"] somewhere in the PGN game header and, of course,
a tag with the FEN starting position. This FEN position alone is not sufficient, because although this starting position is then
adopted at the start of the game, the programme cannot know that it is Chess960 and consequently will not apply the Chess960
castling rules.
If the checkbox 'information about the ongoing engine analysis' has been selected, some results for the respective moves and
selected user option parameters are displayed during the engine work.
In the line with the time abbreviations e, a, w and l, these letters stand for:
e: time spent by the engine;
a: average time spent by the engine;
w: time used by PGN-Engine-Analyzer while waiting for the engine analysis to complete, which should effectively be a little
higher because the previous execution of programme code also takes some time during the engine analysis;
l: loss time = w - e, if it is > 0, which is the case for fixed analysis time if the analysis termination test intervals
exceed 100%.
w and l can display incorrect values if the system is heavily utilised by the engine and the computing resources for the PGN
engine analyser are too low.
For Stockfish the hash load specified by the engine should not exceed 30 or 40% in order to achieve an economic ratio of
analysis performance per time duration
(„Impact of
hash on playing strength“). The hash size is set in the 'UCI engine options'.
The sign '»' in front of 'regular variations' or in front of 'null move variations' indicates for which type of variations
results were last entered into the GUI.
The way the chessboard is displayed depends on whether the fonts Chess Alpha 2 (responsible for displaying the pieces and board squares) and Chess Merida Unicode
(responsible for displaying the outer chessboard)
are installed in Windows.
The 'engine priority' determines the amount of computing resources that the computer makes available to the engine. If not all
computer threads are selected in the engine options, the priority can probably be set to a maximum of '5'. Otherwise, it should
remain in the below-average range in order to be able to work reasonably with Windows and possibly other programmes.
In the text input field to the right of 'engine name', the 'Annotator' tag to be included in the PGN game header is specified.
If PGN-Engine-Analyzer finds the module '#Original#' there, it replaces it with the original engine ID. Other information in
this text field can include information about engine options, such as the number of threads or the use of Syzygy tablebases.
If 'auto end' has been selected, Windows will shut down automatically after the engine variations have been added to the PGN
file and this new file has been saved automatically. The way in which the system is shut down is determined by entering a
parameter in the field next to it.
The parameter is a combination of the following values:
0 = logoff
1 = shutdown
2 = reboot
4 = force
8 = power dow n
16 = force if hung
32 = standby
64 = hibernate.
Several values must be linked bit by bit with the OR operator. Standby and hibernate are ignored if other values are used.
During the analysis by the chess engine you can switch to another window or programme. And in the case of pressing the Esc key,
the variation entry is terminated before the next half-move.
5) Processing and analysis of the PGN engine variations and annotations:
The evaluation of a PGN file, which has been provided with variations and comments by an engine, is characteristic for
PGN-Engine-Analyzer and is triggered by clicking on 'start PGN variations file evaluation' at the bottom left of the
PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI.
If the checkbox 'continuous information in variation analysis' has been selected beforehand, some results for the respective
moves are displayed very quickly during the evaluation.
The engine output is evaluated by PGN-Engine-Analyzer and the analysis results optionally
for automatic annotation of game moves and/or variations with various analysis data
and/or move evaluation symbols (!!, !, !?, ?!, ?, ??) saved in a PGN file for a chess
program of the user's choice and/or
saved in an HTML file for a browser and/or
written to the clipboard for further use in a spreadsheet program.
Of course, the analysis results are assigned to those moves for which engine outputs are available. However, they are also
assigned to moves for which this is not the case, provided that these moves have successor moves that were in turn supplied with
such information by the engine. However, such analysis results are limited to search depth, evaluation, WDL values, position
evaluation symbol and probabilistic game result. Therefore, if engine outputs are only available for one colour, the moves of
the other colour can only be analysed to a limited extent.
6) Insertion of game move comments into the PGN file:
PGN-Engine-Analyzer inserts comments into a new PGN file to be created after those game moves for which an engine provides it
with data in a PGN variation file. To this, it replaces the text modules utilized by the user in the five-digit format #.....#
in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI in the text input field under the heading 'insertion of game move comments', if this option is selected. But
the text definition in the supplied 'PGN_Engine_Analyzer.par' file using any editor in line 18 is much more convenient. Of course,
PGN-Engine-Analyzer adopts the user-selectable explanatory texts between the modules.
If the English language was selected in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI, English text modules must also be used, otherwise they will
not be replaced.
The following text modules are available – in case of duplicity, the first module starting with ‘#W-’ represents a WDL ERR value
and the second a user ERR value (cf. chapter 20)):
only in game move comments:
#m-s-v#
M – several regular variations;
S – one regular variation;
0 – only null move variation(s);
P – no variations at all (phantom evaluation - cf. text module #eva-s#);
#gmv-n#
number of the game move variation in the ranking of all variations of the respective game move, derived
from the engine output; in this respect, in the case of different depths of analysis, the first
variation could theoretically have the worse evaluation, which may be irritating, but consequently
pushes – seemingly favourable, but with regard to their depth of analysis standing on feet of clay –
evaluations from the pedestal; if no game move variation exists, a '>x' is indicated with x = the
total number of all regular variations;
#eva-s#
move evaluation source:
'→' along with variation move, if the move evaluation is taken over from the optimal evaluation of a
following game move; this happens if there is either no game move variation or its evaluation depth does
not reach the evaluation depth of the optimal variation of the subsequent moves, downgraded by 1 in each
case; this concept even allows taking over the evaluation of the optimal variation of the following move
if there is no variation evaluation for the game move at all (phantom evaluation);
'↓' if the move evaluation is taken over from a variation move evaluation of the current move;
'-' if no evaluation at all is available;
in case of the first alternative as well as the multi-variation mode and the presence of a game move
variation PGN-Engine-Analyzer takes the liberty of a small trick: the taken over optimal evaluation of
a following game move even gains application for the determination of the evaluation differences to
variations of the game move, so that contradictions are avoided; so a seemingly optimal game move
variation can sometimes be devalued so much by a subsequent move evaluation that it is overtaken by
lower-ranking variation evaluations;
#e-c-e#
this text module is converted to '[%eval x]' for Scid vs. PC and Aquarium to provide these programs with
an engine evaluation for an evaluation chart;
Scid vs. PC:
selection of Scid vs. PC according to chapter 21): conversion to '[%eval ±x.xx]', where 'x.xx' is a
decimal number; the complete term '[%eval ±x.xx]' is in Scid vs. PC invisible, if in the menu 'PGN' →
'Options' → 'Hide Square/Arrow Codes' the check mark is set; the block should be positioned on the left
side of the comment without following space and should not be linked to an explanatory text; display of
the evaluation diagram by clicking on 'Tools' in the menu bar and on 'Score Graph' in the menu, then
clicking on 'Graph', 'Options', 'Score';
Aquarium:
selection of Aquarium according to chapter 21): conversion to '[%eval x]', where 'x' is an integer; the
term '[%eval x]' is invisible in Aquarium, only the evaluation is displayed as a decimal number after
the move and the term is replaced by a space; the module can be positioned at any point of the
commentary and should not be equipped with an explanatory text; display of the evaluation chart by
clicking 'Analysis' in the menu bar and the 'Graph' button;
Arena and Shredder Classic 4
do not like "[%eval ...", but: 'decimal evaluation/depth' followed by a space, which PGN-Engine-Analyzer
takes care of automatically; for Shredder Classic 4, however, any '/' in the comment must be refrained
from;
#e-c-S#
a representation of the engine evaluation in the format '±x.xx' exclusively reserved for Scid vs. PC;
the selection according to chapter 21) must be 'Scid vs. PC', otherwise the module is simply eliminated
without replacement; the evaluation is in Scid vs. PC always visible; the module should be positioned on
the left side of the comment and can be combined with a text comment on the left side, which should not
contain a hyphen; the evaluation chart is again displayed by clicking on 'Tools' in the menu bar and on
'Score Graph' in the menu, then click on 'Graph', 'Options', 'Score';
#W-pcW# / #p-c-W#
a combination of the text modules #W-pgW# / #pgr-W# and #e-c-e#; only useful to provide
probabilistic game results for a chart; please refer to the explanations on the module
#e-c-e#; suitable for Scid vs. PC and Aquarium, but especially for Scid vs. PC, as its
bar chart stupidly does not distinguish moves of White and Black by colour, so the
module #p-c-b# would only cause confusion; advantages over the evaluation chart by
#e-c-e#: the chart is not cut off in Scid vs. PC for evaluations above ±10, as the
columns only move between 0.00 and 1.00, and the more meaningful evaluation relevance
reduction is taken into account; this bar chart should be structurally identical to
the one you see in the HTML file;
#W-pcb# / #p-c-b#
a combination of the text modules #W-pgb# / #pgr-b# and #e-c-e#; only useful to provide
probabilistic game results for a chart; please refer to the explanations on the module
#e-c-e#; suitable for Aquarium, as its bar chart distinguishes moves of White and
Black by colour; the chart scale can ideally be adjusted in Aquarium to range from
+1.00 to -1.00; the data resulting from #p-c-b# then clearly fills the upper chart
section; advantages over the evaluation chart by #e-c-e#: the chart is not cut off in
Aquarium for evaluations above ±40, as the columns only move between 0.00 and 1.00,
and the more meaningful evaluation relevance reduction is taken into account;
#W-opa# / #opt-a#
average optimum rate in the game course in percent;
#l-s-a#
cumulated absolute losses;
#l-a-a#
average of absolute losses;
#W-lsr# / #l-s-r#
cumulated relevant losses in the sense of the evaluation relevance reduction;
#W-lar# / #l-a-r#
average of relevant losses in the sense of the evaluation relevance reduction.
in game and variation move comments:
#evalu#
in the game move comments the move evaluation according to the above explanations
under "#eva-s#";
in the variation move comments the variation move evaluation coming directly from the engine;
# mate#
a mate announcement in the form " Mx" in favour of White or " -Mx" in favour of Black, where "x" stands
for the distance to mate in full moves; if, as is usually the case, no mate is to be announced, the text
module is removed; # mate# indicates that PGN-Engine-Analyzer automatically places a fixed space before
this mate announcement; it is therefore advisable to insert the block immediately after one of the 3
evaluation blocks, whereby #evalu## mate# is generally suitable, but #e-c-e## mate# is also appropriate
for the game move comments in Aquarium; a blank space between both modules is omitted so that the
removal of the # mate# module does not leave an unnecessary space;
#depth#
analysis depth in half-moves (plies), where, if the evaluations of several or subsequent optimal
variation moves are used (see above under 'move evaluation source'), their lowest and highest evaluation
depths are shown if they differ;
#tbhit#
number of hits in the Syzygy tablebases search, provided the relevant engine option has been selected;
#W-win#
the win probability supplied by the engine or calculated by PGN-Engine-Analyzer (cf. chapter 20)) in
percent;
#W-dra#
the draw probability supplied by the engine or calculated by PGN-Engine-Analyzer (cf. chapter 20)) in
percent;
#W-los#
the loss probability supplied by the engine or calculated by PGN-Engine-Analyzer (cf. chapter 20)) in
percent;
#W-peA# / #pes-A#
position evaluation symbol in ASCII; for more information, see chapter 9);
#W-peU# / #pes-U#
position evaluation symbol in Unicode - could lead to illegible characters in some
chess programs; for more information, see chapter 9);
#W-pgW# / #pgr-W#
probabilistic game result from 0% to 100% regardless of the move color always from the point of view of
White;
clarification: the probabilistic game result is in no way equivalent to a win probability; the following
applies:
win probability = probabilistic game result - (draw probability / 2);
reference is made to
probabilistic game results;
#W-pgb# / #pgr-b#
probabilistic game result from 0% to 100% for White and (with the same evaluation)
from 100% to 0% for Black (recommended!);
#w-l-a#
win or loss (-) - absolute difference to the next best or best ('-...') variation
evaluation;
#W-wlr# / #w-l-r#
relevant win or loss (-) in the sense of the evaluation relevance reduction; in
contrast to the text module #evalu# (absolute engine evaluation), where a negative
evaluation can be quite favorable, namely for Black, #w-l-a# and #w-l-r# show good
moves always with positive and bad moves always with negative values;
#W-opc# / #opt-c#
current optimum rate – contains the precise numerical expression for the move evaluation symbol of the
worse move evaluation (nothing, ?!, ?, ??);
it is calculated as follows:
1 - (relevant evaluation difference / total integral);
the total integral is the definite integral over the entire x-axis with the evaluations from -∞ to
+∞;
the best move is thus evaluated with 100%; an optimum rate of 50% means a suboptimal move with a
decrease in the evaluation from, for example, practically won to balance; and an optimum rate of 0%
would result in a suboptimal move with a decrease in the evaluation from practically won to practically
lost;
#c-c-E#
current move in English notation;
#c-c-f#
current move in figurine notation, provided the font used contains this figurine (such
as AqChessUnicode); not to be used for the programmes Arena, Kvetka or Shredder
Classic 4;
#c-p-E#
previous move in English notation;
#c-p-f#
previous move in figurine notation, provided the font used contains this figurine
(such as AqChessUnicode); not to be used for the programmes Arena, Kvetka or Shredder
Classic 4.
7) Insertion of variation move comments into the PGN file:
PGN-Engine-Analyzer can also modify and extend the variation move comments coming from an engine. To this, it replaces the text
modules utilized by the user in the format #.....# in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI in the text input field under the heading
'modification of engine comments at variation start', if this option is selected. But the text definition in the supplied
'*.par' files using any editor in line 17 is much more convenient. Of course, PGN-Engine-Analyzer adopts again the
user-selectable explanatory texts between the modules.
Not all of the text modules listed in chapter 6) above make sense here. Only the text modules listed there under the heading 'in
game and variation move comments' can be used for variations.
Furthermore, the following can only be used for variation move comments:
#var-n#
number of the variation in the ranking of all regular variations of the respective game move given by the engine; recommended if
the checkbox 'removal of irrelevant game move variations' is selected in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI; null move variations are
marked with 'N'; if 'insertion of game move comments' has been selected, game move variations are not commented in order to
avoid double annotations.
8) ASCII/Unicode characters in PGN files:
Scid vs. PC and Aquarium know how to handle Unicode characters in PGN files. However nitial tests with Arena, Kvetka and
Shredder Classic 4 were negative. If one of these last mentioned programmes should be selected as output programme in the
PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI, PGN-Engine-Analyzer will therefore try to convert some used Unicode characters into ASCII characters.
At present, this still has plenty of experimental character.
The AqChessUnicode font has chess Unicode characters, especially the chess figurines. If AqChessUnicode is not
available, the following download link may be helpful:
AqChessUnicode font.
This font is also included in the chess GUI Aquarium.
For the explanation of suitable text modules in the '*.par' files '∑' (sum) and 'ø' (average) characters could be used. They can
be found under hexadecimal 2211 or decimal 8721 and hexadecimal F8 or decimal 248.
In the text outside the actual text modules, you should use the fixed, non-breaking space character
(hexadecimal A0 or decimal 160) in suitable places. Otherwise the chess programs could mercilessly break such
text in the annotation on the right side.
If there is a selection of Aquarium according to chapter 21), the normal hyphen should be avoided under
certain circumstances and replaced by the protected or non-breaking hyphen (hexadecimal 2011 or decimal 8209).
However, if you intend to load the PGN files into Arena, Kvetka or Shredder Classic 4, you should refrain from
the non-breaking hyphen due to lack of Unicode character recognition in these programs (as well as from the
fixed space character, by the way); you could then use the underscore '_'.
9) Position evaluation symbols:
These are inserted by PGN-Engine-Analyzer automatically in the course of the annotation optionally with the following text
modules:
#W-peA# / #pes-A# - position evaluation symbol in ASCII;
#W-peU# / #pes-U# - position evaluation symbol in Unicode.
In ASCII mode they are output as follows:
=
balance / draw / minimal advantage for White or Black (see NAG $10 to $13 in the
*.nag file)
+/=
White has a slight advantage (see NAG $14 in the *.nag file)
-/=
Black has slight advantage (see NAG $15 in the *.nag file)
+/-
White has moderate advantage (see NAG $16 in the *.nag file)
-/+
Black has moderate advantage (see NAG $17 in the *.nag file)
+-
White has clear advantage (see NAG $18 in the *.nag file)
-+
Black has clear advantage (see NAG $18 in the *.nag file)
++-
White has an extreme advantage (see NAG $19 in the *.nag file)
--+
Black has an extreme advantage (see NAG $20 in the *.nag file)
In 1-character-mode, instead of +/=, -/=, +/- and -/+, the following special characters common in chess
annotations are output as single character in each case:
⩲, ⩱, ±, ∓.
Only '±' is an ASCII character, the other 3 are Unicode characters. Scid vs. PC and Aquarium will
display these 3 special characters correctly if a suitable Unicode font such as AqChessUnicode or Cambria is
used. The clipboard output (see chapter 17) also automatically falls back on these special characters, so the
installation of such a font is necessary for their correct display.
Information about the position evaluation symbols in the context of user ERR is provided on the left side in the
PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI after clicking the 'info' button under the headline 'position evaluation symbols ...' and 'scheme:'. The
user ERR position evaluation symbols inserted by PGN-Engine-Analyzer depend on the adjusted parameters of the evaluation
relevance reduction and the
position evaluation scheme selected in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI.
In the window after clicking on the button 'complete analysis for one or two special engine evaluations' of
course the result of the parameter evaluations for the entered values with regard to the position evaluation
symbols can be shown.
10) Move evaluation symbols:
These are inserted by PGN-Engine-Analyzer in the notation behind game and variation moves, provided that the checkbox 'insertion
of move evaluation symbols !! / ! / !? / ?! / ? / ??' on the right side of the GUI is selected. They are determined
in the case of optimal game and variation moves by evaluation comparison with the second-best variation move (if available): !!
/ ! / !?;
in the case of suboptimal game and variation moves by evaluation comparison with the best variation move: ?! / ? / ??.
Without multi-variation mode due to lack of comparison possibilities no positive move evaluation symbols!
Their meaning is:
!!
brilliant move (cf. NAG $3 in the *.nag file)
!
impressive move (cf. NAG $1 in the *.nag file)
!?
attractive move (cf. NAG $5 in the *.nag file)
?!
questionable move (cf. NAG $6 in the *.nag file)
?
weak move (cf. NAG $2 in the *.nag file)
??
miserable move (cf. NAG $4 in the *.nag file)
Limited information about the move evaluation symbols in the context of user ERR for an initial evaluation of 0.00 is provided
after clicking the 'information' button under the headline 'move evaluation symbols !! / ! / !? / ?! / ? / ??:' on the left side
in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI. The user ERR move evaluation symbols inserted by PGN-Engine-Analyzer depend on the adjusted
parameters of the evaluation relevance reduction and the
move evaluation scheme selected in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI.
After clicking the button '!! / ! / !? / ?! / ? / ?? - matrix for 2 engine evaluations from +10 to -10' the
relevant evaluation differences and move evaluation symbols each according to WDL ERR / user ERR for a variety of engine
evaluation pairs are displayed. If you are looking for results for White, select an evaluation from the column on the left
margin and a comparative evaluation from the row on the top margin. The intersection field contains the result. The opposite
procedure is followed for Black. The diagonal cells from top left to bottom right naturally contain relevant evaluation
differences of 0.00, since the two evaluations are identical. Above this diagonal, the values are positive, below negative. The
colors used should be self-explanatory.
And if you want information about special evaluations, for example because you have variation evaluations
during a manual annotation, but you are not sure which move or position evaluation symbol you should assign,
you can click on the button 'complete analysis for one or two special engine evaluations' to see the result of
the parameter analysis.
Example for the case of an 'evaluation at 0.75-game-result-probability' of 1.00, an 'evaluation at
0.75-plus-game-result-probability' of 1.195, a '0.75-plus-game-result-probability' of 0.875 each in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI
and – after clicking on the button 'complete analysis for one or two special engine evaluations' – entering 1 as a better
evaluation, 0 for the worse one and finally 50 for the WDL half moves:
In both schemes, the move evaluation symbol for the better evaluation is '!?', for the worse '?!'.
For 3 out of a total of 4 user and WDL schemes, the move evaluation symbol for the better evaluation is '!!', for the worse '??'
and only for the 8-sector user scheme '!' or '?'.
The move evaluation symbol thresholds for the better evaluation reveal that none of the 4 schemes allows a '!!' or '!' for a
better alternative move in relation to the move with the evaluation of 1.00 and depending on the scheme either never or only
with an alternative move evaluation of at least 1.57 or 2.92 a '!?' can be granted. For the negative move evaluation symbols, on
the other hand, there are thresholds throughout so that they can be granted if the alternative move is only bad enough to reach
or exceed the respective threshold.
Trial by example: Test the evaluation pair 1.56 and 1 with the button 'complete analysis for one or two special engine
evaluations' and you will find the user-BRR move evaluation symbol '–' in each case. So far correct, because the value 1.57 was
undercut. New attempt: this time 1.57 and 1 - voila: '!?' and '?!' in the scheme with 7 sectors. And for the evaluation pair
2.93 and 1 both user-BRR schemes agree again.
This does not work with the WDL-BRR, because with each new evaluation, new integral equations are also formed, which prevent
comparability with previous results.
Move evaluation symbols without further annotations allow a quick overview of the move quality in the course of a game. To do
this, select only the 'insertion of move evaluation symbols ...' in the right-hand area of the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI, possibly
also the 'move-square colours ...' for Scid vs. PC and Aquarium and – if you attach importance to the evaluation diagram – the
'insertion of game move comments' with a single text module: #e-c-e#. The evaluation inserted for this by PGN-Engine-Analyzer
can remain invisible in Scid vs. PC, but (probably?) not in Aquarium. In contrast to Scid vs. PC, Aquarium compensates for this
with a sea of colours.
In both programmes, the variation move comments not touched by PGN-Engine-Analyzer in this constellation can be clicked away, so
that only the game moves with the move evaluation symbols, possibly with the colours and possibly with the evaluations in
Aquarium remain.
If you want to switch comfortably between different selection constellations or text modules for the comments, the choice and
storage of 'parameters' with the 'load' and 'save' buttons on the bottom left in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer-GUI is recommended.
11a) Move-square colours for Scid vs. PC and Aquarium:
PGN-Engine-Analyzer colours the chessboard square on which a piece has settled during a move, provided that the checkbox
'move-square colours for !! / ! / !? / ?! / ? / ??' on the right of the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI has been selected. The colour
selection is made according to the user specifications in the 6 colour code lines under the mentioned checkbox. To determine the
colour codes, the HTML Color Picker is
recommended.
In Scid vs. PC nothing has to be changed for the colouring of the move-squares. Of course, it is only visible
when a game or variation move is selected and involves an evaluation win or loss that corresponds to one of
the 6 move evaluation symbols. The move colour codes are invisible in the annotation of Scid vs. PC if 'PGN –
Options – Hide Square/Arrow Codes' is checked, but not in the comment editor.
If one should get the idea to take over the move-square colours used by PGN-Engine-Analyzer for markings in the comment
editor of Scid vs. PC or to simply use other colours there, one would first be fighting a losing battle. As
far as can be seen, Scid vs. PC does not allow changing the colour palette in the comment editor, especially
not via the menu Options – Colors. However, if you dare to manipulate Scid vs. PC quasi in the machine room,
you might be helped:
Load the file .../bin/scid.gui in the program directory of Scid vs. PC into an editor and search for the
line
'variable colorList {} markTypeList {}'.
The line 125666 in version 4.25 that follows reads, for example:
'set colorList {cornsilk2 wheat2 burlyWood3 grey50 gray10 rosyBrown mediumPurple1 royalBlue3 skyBlue cadetBlue2 paleGreen2
yellow3 darkOrange1 indianRed3}'.
The colour codes in this line need to be changed, for example as follows:
'set colorList {#00FF84 #80FFC1 #B3FFDA #FFB3FF #FF80FF #FF4DFF blue #00CC69 #CC00CC white black yellow3 darkOrange1 indianRed3}'.
The colour codes preceded by a '#' and immediately followed by a 6-digit HEX number can be changed as desired.
After finishing Scid vs. PC, the scid.gui file must be saved. After restarting Scid vs. PC, the new colour
palette should be available.
11b) Move arrows for Scid vs. PC and Aquarium:
If this feature is selected, codes for Scid vs. PC or Aquarium are integrated into the PGN files to display move arrows on the
chessboard.
For Scid vs. PC, the colours of the move arrows have the following meaning:
blue: the last move made;
green: the best subsequent variation move; if there is no yellow move arrow, this is also the subsequent game move;
white: either the second-best subsequent variation move or - if there are no other arrows apart from the blue one - the
subsequent game move for which no evaluation information is available;
grey: the third best subsequent variation move;
black: the fourth best or a worse subsequent variation move;
yellow: the following move, which is not identical to the 1st move of the 1st variation; if it is a variation move, the yellow
arrow replaces the relevant white, grey or black arrow;
red: the best answering move if the side now having the move would suspend its move, which regularly indicates a threatening
move;
orange: the next move in the game whose evaluation is worse than that of a null move (red arrow);
violet: the second best or a worse reply move if the side now having the move would suspend its move.
As Aquarium only offers 4 different colours, the move arrows are limited to the following colour palette:
blue: the last move made;
green: the best subsequent variation move; if there is no yellow move arrow, this is also the subsequent game move;
yellow: the following move, which is not identical to the 1st move of the 1st variation; if it is a variation move, the yellow
arrow replaces the relevant white, grey or black arrow;
red: the best answering move if the side now having the move would suspend its move, which regularly indicates a threatening
move.
To avoid a collision of the draw arrows generated by PGN-Engine-Analyzer with the GUI's own draw arrows in Scid vs. PC and
Aquarium, it is recommended to select the following setting:
in Scid vs. PC in the PGN window PGN - Options - Hide Square/Arrow Codes yes;
in Aquarium click on the fish symbol - Options - Display Options – Board cursor no.
If Aquarium has been selected as the PGN output program, PGN-Engine-Analyzer also creates coloured move styles for the moves
according to the move evaluation symbols. For more details, see chapter 12).
12) Excursus: move-square colours and coloured move styles especially for users of Aquarium:
Aquarium is cheap and sophisticated, hence perhaps the most interesting alternative to Scid vs. PC as a
programme for displaying the PGN files created by PGN-Engine-Analyzer. Therefore this digression.
Move-square colours from PGN-Engine-Analyzer are also displayed in Aquarium, but limited to the two colours red and green,
as this programme only offers only 4 colours for square marks at all.
On the other hand, Aquarium shines in the colouring of moves in the notation. To this it uses all the colours that can be set in
the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI on the right under 'colour codes of thes move assessments:' and are used for the colouring of the
move-squares in Scid vs. PC.
This feature, which is unfortunately not available in Scid vs. PC, takes advantage of the Aquarium comment styles that are
normally used during manual annotation using the Aquarium 'Comments' tab and click on the left 'Annotate' button and following
click on 'Styles'. The move colours used by PGN-Engine-Analyzer correspond to the 6 move qualities discussed in chapter 10)
("Move evaluation symbols"), whereby such moves do not necessarily have to be provided with a move evaluation symbol in the
annotation in order to be able to be colour formatted.
These styles are defined in Aquarium by selecting the tab 'Comments' and click on the arrow symbol under the
left button 'Annotate' or simply by using the key combination Shift-S and following click on 'Edit styles'.
You will then find yourself in the GUI 'Edit special styles...'. The list there under 'Style name' already
contains style categories called
'Good move' (in PGN-Engine-Analyzer synonymous with 'impressive move' - '!'),
'Interesting move' (in PGN-Engine-Analyzer synonymous with 'attractive move' - '!?'),
'Dubious move' (in PGN-Engine-Analyzer synonymous with 'questionable move' - '?!'),
'Bad move' (in PGN-Engine-Analyzer synonymous with 'weak move' - '?').
PGN-Engine-Analyzer uses these as well as the two following style categories:
'Special Style 22' for brilliant moves ('!!'),
'Special style 23' for miserable moves ("??").
The detailed definition of these 6 styles in Aquarium is in principle up to the user. Nevertheless some tips
should be mentioned here:
Mouse click on the button 'Edit styles...'.
Selection of a style to be edited in the 'Style name' list, whereby only the 6 styles between 'Good move' and
'Special style 23' are relevant here.
In the 'Substyle' list, 'Move' must be selected.
In the upper right corner the 'Priority' is shown which should not be changed because PGN-Engine-Analyzer uses it.
With selection of the 4 check boxes 'Override global' you can select font, font size, text color and
background color, furthermore you can manipulate the font style. At least one of these checkboxes should be
selected or at least the font style be changed, otherwise the selected style would not differ from the general
style.
The selected styles should contrast clearly the general styles for avoiding confusion. These are set in the
Aquarium GUI after clicking on the fish symbol in the upper left corner under 'Options' - 'Display Options' -
'Notation styles...'. The cryptic categories there have the following meaning:
'Main line': game moves;
'Main branch': variation moves;
'Simple branch': subvariation moves;
'Text comment': user annotations;
'Complex branch': first move of a variation - since PGN-Engine-Analyzer marks these moves with move styles, if they are to
be praised as good or denounced or bad moves, a clever distinctive style choice should be made here.
Again: all mentioned 6 + 5 = 11 styles should be able to be differentiated (color-wise) reasonably.
13) Removal of irrelevant game move variations:
A game move variation is a variation whose 1st move is identical to the game move. It is irrelevant if the
subsequent game move contains an engine-commented variation (which automatically comments on the previous
move) and the depth of the engine evaluation of the game move variation (game move depth) is less than or
equal to the depth of the engine evaluation in the variation of the subsequent move (subsequent move depth).
This is because in this case the subsequent move depth in the variation evaluation extends further than the
game move depth, making the game move variation superfluous.
By selecting the checkbox 'removal of irrelevant game move variations', PGN-Engine-Analyzer will remove them completely from the
annotation, which serves for clarity. They still exist program-internally and can even play a role in the annotation, for
example in the text module #va-no#.
14) Reduction of variation moves:
The variations delivered by Scid vs. PC are sometimes incredibly long. PGN-Engine-Analyzer can therefore reduce the
variations to a maximum number of variation moves by selecting the checkbox 'reduction of variation half moves to
maximum' and entering the number of variation moves in the text field. This goes hand in hand with the idea
that the significance of the engine evaluation evaporates as the number of variation moves increases.
This programme function is actually obsolete, since the variations can already be reduced during their insertion into the PGN
file by the engine by entering the 'maximum number of variation half-moves' in the user options. If this should have been
forgotten, it can still be improved here.
Even if PGN-Engine-Analyzer removes the last variation move with a hash sign as mate indication, PGN-Engine-Analyzer
still recognises mate and corrects the evaluation at the start of the variation accordingly.
15) Printing Scid vs. PC PGN files via LibreOffice Writer:
printing of PGN files generated in Scid vs. PC via export in any editor is unconvincing. A two-column set allows
smoother reading of a more compact text. Accordingly, an empty text document with normal page size could be created or loaded in
LibreOffice Writer and transformed into a two-column text document via Format - Page - Columns: 2. Then the PGN file must be
integrated into the text document via Insert - Insert text from file. If text modules with hyphens are separated unnecessarily
despite hyphenation being switched off, the replace function could be helpful, whereby the normal hyphen is to be replaced with
the non-breaking hyphen (DEC 8209 – HEX 2011 – for example available in the font Cambria).
When exporting the PGN file in Scid vs. PC, the following options would be useful:
Space after Move Numbers: Yes
Export comments: Yes
Strip square/arrow mark codes from comments: Yes
Export Scid Flags: Yes
Indent comments: Yes
Export variations: Yes
Indent variations: Yes
Insert newlines every 80 chars: No
Column style (one move per line): No
Symbolic annotation style: ! +=
Convert null moves to comments: No
Character encoding: Utf-8.
16) Replacement of NAG values and annotation modules:
This function does not require engine-generated and annotated variations, but simply any PGN file with
such text modules. It removes these modules from the entire PGN file and replaces them with new comments.
A selection of the checkbox 'replacement of NAG values and annotation modules' on the right of the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI
automatically deselects all checkboxes for move annotation and HTML/clipboard.
a) Replacement of NAG values:
NAG text modules are replaced which are introduced with the "$" character and continued with a one to
three-digit number up to a maximum of 215. The replacement modules are supplied in the file
PGN_Engine_Analyzer_english.nag and are automatically loaded and used by PGN-Engine-Analyzer as soon as it encounters a NAG text
module. The replacement modules were taken from the help in Scid vs. PC (Index – NAG annotation values).
b) Replacement of engine related modules:
#gxv → game move = x[st/nd/rd/th] variation (x from 1 to 9)
#sdp → search depth
#ela → evaluation
#egm → evaluation game move
#eom → evaluation optimal move
#pes → position evaluation symbol
#pgr → probabilistic game result
#aeg → absolute evaluation gain
#ael → absolute evaluation loss
#reg → relevant evaluation gain
#rel → relevant evaluation loss
#omr → optimum rate
c) Replacement of mate announcements:
#Mx → mate in x moves
#M1 → mate in one move
#+Mx → White mates in x moves
#+M1 → White mates in one move
#-Mx → Black mates in x moves
#-M1 → Black mates in one move
where x from 1 to 999.
d) Replacement of chess piece text modules:
Generally, the minimum 2-digit and maximum 3-digit input is:
[#][w/b][K/k/Q/q/R/r/B/b/N/n/P/p/C/O/o]
where
the '[...]' brackets are for illustration purposes only and must be omitted during input,
'/' stands for 'or' and must also be omitted during input and
[w/b] may be omitted.
Converted are:
w → white
b → black
K → king
k → ♔
Q → queen
q → ♕
R → Rook
r → ♖
B → Bishop
b → ♗
N → Knight
n → ♘
P → Pawn
p → ♙
C → Castling
O → O-O-O
o → O-O
Example:
attack on the #bKside → attack on the black kingside
17) Clipboard mode:
The checkbox "data → clipboard" in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI makes it possible to transfer a variety of data and analyses
from a PGN file with one or various games provided with variation annotations as well as quite a number of additionally
calculated data, as described above in connection with the text modules for game and variation move commentary, to the
clipboard. From there, they can be transferred to other programmes via Ctrl-V. In particular, a spreadsheet program that
evaluates these data for diagrams may be appropriate. Such a spreadsheet document called PGN_Engine_Analyzer.ods, which was
created as an ods file with LibreOffice, version 7.6.4.1, can be found in the programme package.
To enter the clipboard data in LibreOffice Calc,
immediately after the work was done by PGN-Engine-Analyzer and return to the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI (i.e. after filling the
clipboard) select the 1st table 'data',
if necessary, delete all rows with data in the data sheet from row 4 up to the row that contains the entry '*' in the 'GM'
column in the bottom cell, or – if the main macro (see below) was started at least once beforehand – start the macro set up
specifically for this by clicking on the red 'clear data rows' button in the 2nd 'macro' table,
select the red cell A4 and
then enter Ctrl-V.
You could choose in the dialogue 'Text import' that thereupon appears:
Character Set: Unicode (UTF-16)
Language: English (USA)
From row: 1
Separated by
Tab
Return/Enter
Voila.
Under no circumstances should the option 'Detect special numbers' be selected.
If 'English' was selected as the language in PGN-Engine-Analyzer, the dot is used for decimal numbers in the clipboard. In
this respect, it might be advisable to make sure in LibreOffice that under 'Tools – Options - Language
Settings – Language' is entered:
Locale setting: English (USA)
Decimal separator key: Same as locale setting
Decimal separator key: [x] Same as locale setting.
Somewhat hidden to the right of the last data line of a game are found the game tags present in the PGN file
as well as various evaluations.
Particular mention should be made in the case of the presence of Elo values of
both players of the calculation of the expected values (between 0 and 1) as well as furthermore of the
calculation of the new Elo values in the event of the presence of a meaningful game result. The calculation
was thereby based on the formulas of Jeff Sonas,
'The Sonas
Rating Formula – Better than Elo?'
The 2nd 'macro' table contains the 'macro start' button under a chessboard. Click on it to start a macro with 3 windows,
provided that the macro has been authorised under Tools - Options - LibreOffice - Security - Macro Security - Medium/Low. The
position and size of the windows can be set in cells H4 to M4 of the ‘macro data’ table. In particular, the window with the move
list can be moved from the left to the right edge of the screen.
Clicking on a move cell in the move list table displays the chess position after this move on the board, as well as - if
available - detailed information about this move to the right of the board and move arrows about the last move and the
variations of the subsequent move. Such information is available if the move selected in the move list has a non-grey
background. Green and red coloured backgrounds indicate clearly good or bad evaluations.
The colours of the move arrows have the following meaning:
blue: the last move made;
green: the best subsequent variation move; if there is no yellow move arrow, this is also the subsequent game move;
white: either the second-best subsequent variation move or - if there are no other arrows apart from the blue one - the
subsequent game move for which no evaluation information is available;
grey: the third best subsequent variation move;
black: the fourth best or a worse subsequent variation move;
yellow: the following move, which is not identical to the 1st move of the 1st variation; if it is a variation move, the yellow
arrow replaces the relevant white, grey or black arrow;
red: the best answering move if the side now having the move would suspend its move, which regularly indicates a threatening
move;
orange: the next move in the game whose evaluation is worse than that of a null move (red arrow);
violet: the second best or a worse reply move if the side now having the move would suspend its move.
Only limited evaluation information is offered when variation moves are clicked on in the variation window. And no evaluation
information is available for moves that only have a grey background colour in the move window.
If a move cell is selected in the table of variations, the current board position is displayed and, to the right of it,
evaluation information about the first move of the variation in question is shown, as well as by arrows the variation move that
took place (blue) and the subsequent (green) variation move. An exception applies if you click on the 1st move or on one of the
subsequent and colour-coded moves of a game move variation, provided that this move was actually made in the game and evaluation
information is available for it. In this case, the program automatically jumps to this game move in the move list, with the
result that the complete information is shown as if this game move had been selected in the move list.
Game and variation moves that were last clicked on are marked with a right-hand border.
To avoid unnecessarily restricting the tables in the 3 macro windows, it is recommended to switch off all bars in the View -
Toolbars menu and possibly doing the same in the View - Headers menu.
The macro is only ended when the ‘macro end’ cell is selected in the 'macro' table and information about the end of the macro is
then displayed to the right of it. However, as 3 windows are still open despite the end of the macro, 2 windows can be closed by
pressing Ctrl-W twice.
Unfortunately, the macro runs rather slowly. This applies in particular to changes to the board position. A fast computer is an
advantage. An alternative for constantly waiting and annoyed users is to use the move arrows, possibly also the move square
colours, in PGN files for Scid vs. PC and Aquarium. In addition to the speed increase, this application also has the advantage
that an engine can be started in the game positions.
The diagrams in the 7 diagram tables of PGN_Engine_Analyzer_english.ods are created automatically from the clipboard data
inserted in the first table without the need to rely on a macro. This automatic function works either for all games in the
range up to data line 1000, which can of course be extended, or for a range of moves from it to be selected by the user (see the
green cells in table 'dia data', line 1). If the diagrams should become confusing due to high numerical values, the diagram
representation can be restricted to the chosen move area by selecting lower numerical values in the 5 green cells in row 4 of
the 'dia data' table.
In the 'consistency' spreadsheet it is checked whether various clipboard data supplied by PGN-Engine-Analyzer really correspond
to the intended logic of the program code. The data taken over from PGN-Engine-Analyzer and calculated in the table (yellow) are
located in adjacent columns. Should there a contradiction arise, the calculated yellow cell will be colored red. In LibreOffice
Calc the cell references of the yellow cells can be clearly displayed via Tools - Detective - Trace Precedents / Dependants.
This spreadsheet 'consistency' is not very helpful for the normal user, but it consumes a lot of storage space
or CPU performance. It can be deleted in case of dissatisfaction.
If only clipboard mode is selected in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI, possibly in conjunction with HTML mode (chapter 18)),
no modified PGN file will be saved.
18) HTML mode:
The checkbox 'data → HTML' in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI causes the output of the clipboard data mentioned in chapter 17)
to a HTML file inclusive PGN game header, PGN tags of the PGN file if available, various game evaluations as well as diagrams
with the probabilistic game results for each single game. Only those game moves are listed for which engine evaluations entered
by PGN-Engine-Analyzer can be found in the loaded PGN file or for which PGN-Engine-Analyzer has exceptionally formed phantom
evaluations (see chapter 6), text module #eva-s#).
PGN-Engine-Analyzer uses the PGN_Engine_Analyzer.html file cited in chapter 2), which contains the necessary CSS instructions. PGN-Engine-Analyzer
contributes the basic framework and the analysis data.
The newly formed HTML file must be saved in a folder that also contains the files
jquery.flot.js,
jquery.js,
jquery.flot.barlabels.js,
LICENSE.txt
located in the HTML folder. Otherwise, the charts are not displayed.
The file can be scrolled up and down using the pink-coloured arrow buttons.
The moves are color-coded in accordance with the move evaluation symbols. If there is none, it remains with the basic colors
white or grey. In the supplied file PGN_Engine_Analyzer.html which is modified during the programme run and then has to e saved under a new
name, the move evaluation colours are defined with 6-digit hexadecimal numbers (0-9, A-F, a-f) as follows:
These definitions as well as all other CSS instructions can be modified by the user.
Also in HTML mode the Elo evaluations mentioned above in the clipboard chapter 17) are displayed if the PGN file
provides the corresponding data.
If only HTML mode is selected in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI, possibly in conjunction with clipboard mode, no modified PGN
file will be saved.
19) Mate announcements:
If engines detect a mate move sequence, they output a 'mate (-)x', but not a numerical evaluation. However, this is needed by
PGN-Engine-Analyzer for its internal calculations. The 'x' represents the distance to mate in full moves, whereby the variation
move that is commented on in this way is added numerically. PGN-Engine-Analyzer converts this expression into half moves and
outputs an evaluation of ±300.00 ∓ number of half moves to mate without consideration of the current move – with white
advantage without sign, with black with preceding minus sign. An immediate mate move is evaluated at (‑)300.00.
If the text module '# mate#' is used for the game or variation move comments, PGN-Engine-Analyzer uses a mate announcement in the form
' Mx' in favour of White or ' ‑Mx' in favour of Black, where 'x' stands for the distance to mate in full moves
without consideration of the current move. If, as is usually the case, no mate is to be announced, the text module is removed.
'# mate#' indicates that PGN-Engine-Analyzer automatically places a fixed space before this mate announcement. It is therefore
advisable to insert the text module immediately after one of the 3 evaluation text modules, whereby '#evalu## mate#' is
generally suitable, but '#e-c-e## mate#' is also appropriate for the game move comments in Aquarium. A blank space between
both modules is omitted so that the removal of the # mate# module does not leave an unnecessary space.
20) Evaluation relevance reduction:
For many of the programme features discussed above, especially the annotating by move evaluation symbols, the
move colouring, the position evaluation symbols, the relevant wins and losses, the optimum rates and the
probabilistic game results, the possibly worldwide unique
evaluation relevance
reduction (ERR) was the inspiration. It relativizes engine evaluations and reduces absolute engine evaluation
differences to relevant evaluation differences by means of integral functions.
0.00-evaluations are taken into account at 100%, extreme positive or negative evaluations at 0% (WDL ERR) or close to 0% (user
ERR) and all other evaluations in the range between these extreme values.
The engine/calculation WDL ERR inspired by the engine Stockfish is based on win/draw/loss estimation quotas, which are written
for each move into the game commentary by a suitable engine, such as Stockfish. However, Stockfish does not show these WDL
values automatically, but only after clicking on the checkbox 'UCI_ShowWDL' in the engine options GUI.
For the PGN move annotation, either the WDL or user ERR text modules are available. For the HTML and spreadsheet files, the move
evaluation symbols and move field colours, the ERR mode can be selected by choosing one of the 3 following alternatives at the
bottom left of the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI:
'as per original engine WDLs or calculation' (recommended if moves should not have been equipped with WDL
values by the engine);
'only as per original engine WDLs' (recommended if one wants to avoid calculation of WDL values by an
algorithm used by PGN-Engine-Analyzer);
'never - only user evaluation relevance reduction'.
The relevant parameters are to be entered on the left in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI under the heading 'user evaluation
relevance reduction':
the 'evaluation at 0.75-game-result-probability' leads to a probabilistic game result
of 0.75, whereby the distribution into wins, draws and losses is irrelevant;
the '0.75-plus-game-result-probability', which must not fall below the value of 0.75,
but should turn out significantly higher;
the 'evaluation at 0.75-plus-game-result-probability', which must not be lower than the
previously mentioned evaluation, is that evaluation for which the probabilistic game
result corresponds exactly to the value entered by the user.
Firstly the TCEC engine statistics may be helpful in answering the question of which 3 values make sense. Because not
least the evaluation behaviour of an engine that was used for the game annotation could be decisive for the measurement of these
parameters. In addition, the WDL ERR opens up a new source of information. In the generated HTML and spreadsheet files, average
theoretical WDL evaluations for the probabilistic game results 0.75 as well as 0.75+ (to be entered by the user in the
PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI) can be found after each game, although they can differ considerably depending on the ratings occurring
in the game.
A parameter that is decisive for the WDL-BRR can still be found in the PGN Engine Analyser GUI at the bottom right
(unfortunately in a somewhat inappropriate place) with the designation 'WDL zero'. More precisely, this is the absolute value of
the minimum evaluation at which the engine WDL predicts a one hundred percent win based on experience. When using the Stockfish
engine, this value is likely to be around 2.35 empirically. From this evaluation onwards, positions for White are statistically
considered 100% won and from the negative amount of this evaluation onwards 100% lost. Almost all WDL evaluations in the
programme are based on this value and gain considerably in precision as a result. Again, the generated HTML and spreadsheet
files contain 3 analyses of this value for each game, which may be helpful for entering the WDL zero value in the GUI. Why
actually 'zero'? Because with this positive and negative evaluation, the mathematical WDL evaluation relevance functions have a
zero.
PGN-Engine-Analyzer is thus a programme in which the parameters that are decisive for such essential chess assessments as
move and position evaluation symbols, relevant wins and losses, optimum quotes and probabilistic game results
are transparently available to the user for personal experiments.
21) Programme selection for PGN files:
On the right side of the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI under the headline 'PGN file → chess programme' there is a selection
list for the following 7 chess programmes:
Aquarium,
Arena,
Kvetka,
Lucas Chess,
pgn4web,
Scid vs. PC,
Shredder Classic 4.
Some modifications are made to the new PGN file to be saved, depending on which programme was selected to load the file.
Affected are
various Unicode characters used by PGN-Engine-Analyzer, which are converted into displayable ASCII
characters for Arena, Kvetka and Shredder Classic 4 (cf. chapter 8)); these 3
programmes cannot display Unicode characters as well as e.g. the fixed space in the
ASCII area, thus also not correctly the characters and figurines represented by the
annotation text modules #pes-U#, #c-c-f# and #c-p-f#; alternative text modules are
available;
the annotation text modules #e-c-e# and #e-c-S# (cf. chapter 6));
the move field colour codes, which are especially adapted for Aquarium (cf. chapter
11));
for Aquarium, Kvetka and pgn4web parentheses must be added around any move evaluation
symbols;
Shredder Classic 4 needs various other adjustments;
pgn4web does not need a tags addition, as it would not or incorrectly display such new tags anyway; what
the choice of the 'PGN tags addition' in the PGN Engine Analyzer GUI as well as the 'PGN tags addition
with user options' (attention: do not use the latter for pgn4web PGN files – if necessary, remove the
tag lines after '[Annotator ...]' in an editor!) in the user options GUI practically means for other
programmes can be determined by comparing the various PGN files in the 'PGN' folder.
Lucas Chess displays PGN games including variations and annotations via Tools - PGN - Read PGN - Edit, if
under Options - Configuration - Appearance - PGN table – Enable information panel by default is selected.
Otherwise, you must also click on Config - View - PGN information. Lucas Chess can colour moves that are
provided with move evaluation symbols, but the colors are set there under Options - Colors - General – PGN.
The 2 games in the PGN file 'games_engine_variations_analyses_WDL_Scid_vs_PC.pgn' can be viewed with the help of pgn4web on the
Internet.
22) Parameters and checkboxes:
All settings relevant for the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI, including the selection of checkboxes, can be loaded and saved
individually as parameters.
Not every click on any checkbox or in the list of chess programmes is rewarded with the expected reaction. In
some cases, the programme knows how to avoid counterproductive orders and deselects checkboxes on the spot.
This is a programme feature, not a bug.
If the button labelled 'English' at the bottom of the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI was clicked to switch to English-language
programme texts, only the English-language text modules would be converted into data when creating an analysis PGN file,
provided they were loaded with a suitable parameter file. Clicking on the button labelled 'German' would cause German to be
selected as the GUI official language and loaded German-language text modules would again be given their due.
23) GUI background colour:
The input field to the right of 'background colour of all GUIs' on the left in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI allows the choice of
the GUI background colour with a colour code analogous to the 6 colour code lines already mentioned in chapter 11) on the right
side of the GUI under the checkbox 'move-square colours for !! / ! / !? / ?! / ? / ??'.
24) PGN-Engine-Analyzer programming:
PGN-Engine-Analyzer was created with AutoIt3 v3.3.14.5. When making changes to the source code in the PGN_Engine_Analyzer.au3
file under other AutoIt versions, 'script breaking changes' should be considered.
The PGN files modified by PGN-Engine-Analyzer were tested with Scid vs. PC itself, of course, as well as with Aquarium,
then a little with Arena, Kvetka, Lucas Chess, Shredder Classic 4, and with the internet PGN viewer pgn4web
(versions 2.90 and 3.05).
If the user lets analyze several games in a PGN variations file with the aim of creating a new PGN analysis file, he will
inevitably
be confronted with the snail's pace of PGN-Engine-Analyzer. With more than one game per PGN file, the programme very
quickly will be brought to its knees. AutoIt3 is an interpreter language and therefore sometimes painfully
slow, but on the other hand it allows extremely imaginative applications without immense workload. It is a
compromise!
No software is error-free, PGN-Engine-Analyzer is certainly not. The program does complicated things and as a lonely
individual programmer you can't devote yourself to endless tests before publication. In this sense the error
frustrated users are abused as involuntary beta testers and encouraged to make use of the following e-mail
address in order to give the opportunity to eliminate the shameful missteps of PGN-Engine-Analyzer with a new program
version.
Contact: mail@konrod.info
programme PGN-Engine-Analyzer
22nddevelopment version from 8th October 2024
ZIP file [6.7 MB]: PGN_Engine_Analyzer.zip
in the PGN-Engine-Analyzer GUI click on the button 'English'
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