1.3 million master games

I have the same problem, currently trying to build a solid database with recent games, but unable to find the old issues of twic ( I already followed the advices on the precedent posts to issues down to twic748).

 Any suggestion about how to get the previous ones ?

Does anyone knows if its legal to share those files? They was free to download, so i guess it will not break any copyright to something that was available to anybody, but its just my guess.

It is more than likely legal to share them.  As I recall, the moves of chess games weren't copyrightable by themselves.  Only the comments and annotations associated with them could be copyrighted.  But then again, I'm not a lawyer.

But yes, if you had all of the old files and wanted to host them or share them, I'm pretty sure no one would give you any problems.

 Thanks guys ... It would be pretty sick if it was not legal given they were free to download for free. Anybody willing to share them ?

MrEdCollins

kindly refer to your initial post. regarding converting pgn into scid format using pgnscid-- wherein you have stated that-

""pgnscid.exe all-in-one.pgn""

how to get the command promt correctly. i tried the following and failed to get the result.my pgn is in F: \chess\kasporov.pgn  and i want it to be converted with the name "master"

c:\scid vs pc 4.16\bin\pgnscid.exe\F:\chess\kasporov.pgn>master

says=system could not find the path specified.

Wow, it's a miracle I'm seeing this post.  (I don't log on here nearly as much as I used to.)

I see a few things wrong. 

One, I'm pretty sure it doesn't like the spaces in the "scid vs pc" part.  (When the name of a folder contains spaces, you have to enter that folder name using quotes.)

Two, you need a space after the exe.  As your example shows, there is no space after pgnsid.exe

Three, I think the program will create an sg4 file using the name of the original file.  I don't think it will create a file called master on the fly.  You can, of course, always rename it later to whatever you want.

Try this:

First, navigate TO your c:\scid vs pc 4.16\bin folder.  Directly from THAT folder, enter this command:

pgnscid.exe F:\chess\kasparov.pgn

That's it.  This will execute the pgnscid conversion program, and when that program is is executed (run) it will convert the kasparov.pgn file located in your f:\chess folder to the scid format.  It will be called kasparov.sg4

You can, of course, rename the newly created file later, to master.sg4 if you wish

Alternately, create a batch (text) file with that line in it. Call it convert.bat, for example, with just this line in the file:

pgnscid.exe F:\chess\kasparov.pgn

Save this file inside your c:\scid vs pc 4.16\bin folder.  After it's saved there, simply run it.

Try that and let me know how it goes.  It's been awhile since I've done any of this, and my old DOS commands are a little rusty, but I think the above should work.

Ed

thanks ed for the response

when i created the convert.bat file inside the bin folder and when i

double clicked i got a text file opened in notepad with the content

pgnscid.exe F:\chess\kasparov.pgn. nothing happened.


you said
First, navigate TO your c:\scid vs pc 4.16\bin folder.  Directly from

THAT folder, enter this command:

pgnscid.exe F:\chess\kasparov.pgn



as about the second suggestion how can i type inside the bin folder?you need to have a text editor to type something???
when i tried to open the pgnscid.exe my computer made an attempt to open

a command promt but within a fraction of a second it disappered.

ed

I dont mind renaming the scid formatted file. but firstly i have to get the conversion done!

The alternate method, which creates a batch file, will create a file named convert.bat, not convert.bin. And you'd have to use a text editor like notepad to create the batch file.

(A .bat file extension indicates a batch file, while a .bin file extension indicates a binary file.)

на форумах добавок переводчика машинный

english please

I have created a batch file inside the bin folder of scid installation folder in c:\ with a single line of text as suggested by you.it has been named as convert.bat AND NOT convert.bin sorry for the wrong word in the post  which I have corrected now.

If you created a batch file, and if Windows recognizes it as a batch file, then double-clicking it should execute the commands inside of it.  But if instead Notepad opened up that file, your operating system didn't recognize it as a Windows Batch File, but as a text file.

Using Windows Explorer, you should be able to tell what type of a file Windows thinks it is.  The TYPE column should say Windows Batch file and not Text Document, for example.

Are you able to run the command prompt and get to a DOS window?  If so, you don't HAVE to create a batch file.  (To me that's just easier.)  But once you are at the old DOS prompt, you can also just navigate to your "c:\scid vs pc 4.16\bin" folder using the CD (change directory) command. 

One you are inside that folder, the folder that contains pgnscid.exe, you can just type on the command line

pgnscid F:\chess\kasparov.pgn

which will execute the pgnscid conversion tool.

Ed,thanks for the pain to reply me.

When i open the batch file in explorer it says its name as convert.bat.txt.

the file type is text.

when i tried to save as--
filename-convert.bat

type-all

ecnode-ansi

windows asks me convert.bat.txt already exists. do you want to replace it?

-----------------------------------------------------

 i am able to run the cmd promt and go to that.

I am very poor in creating dos commands. cd....??

can you direct me how to reach at the target.

my scid installed folder is in c:\scid vs pc-4.16

my kasparov.pgn is in F:\CHESS\kasparov.pgn

ok. i examined folder options. and find out that hide extensions for known file types are checked.

i unchecked it.

 i went to the scid folder\bin\ and then renamed the convert.bat.txt to convert.bat it warned me and finally i got the  MS-DOS batch file namely convert.bat.

but when i double clicked it , it made a shake. nothing happened in the F:\chess\kasparov.pgn file. there should three files like kasparovsi4 ,kasparovsg4 etc.

Yes, after a proper conversion, you should see three new files, in the same folder where the original pgn file resides.  (One fill will have an sg4 extension, one file will have an si4 extension, and one with an sn4 extension.

I suspect your batch file is still not correct.

I tested it now on my system here, just a minute or two ago.  (I honestly hadn't done this in a long, long time.  I'm retired from chess.)  It worked fine. 

I created a batch file called convert.bat. I saved it in my

C:\Program Files (x86)\Scid vs PC-4.92\bin

folder, the same folder that contains my pgnscid.exe file. 

The batch file consisted of one line

pgnscid.exe E:\Chess\pgn\san_diego_games.pgn

This command will execute the pgnscid conversion program.  When that program is executed, it converts the file that it finds on the command line, which in this case is my san_diego_games.pgn file, located on my E drive, in my chess\pgn folder.

The pgn file is so small that yes, the conversion program took less than a second to run... all I saw was a flash.  But in my E:\Chess\pgn folder I now see the three new files that were created. 

Try this. MOVE the pgn file that you want to convert to the same folder that contains the pgnscid.exe file.  (Because maybe your path is wrong.)  Then, change your batch file to just list the name of the file, like this:

pgnscid.exe kasparov.pgn

Finally, be sure you are spelling your pgn file correctly.  (In your original post you spelled it as kasporov.pgn.  Maybe that's what it reall is named or maybe that's a typo and it's kasparov.pgn.)

THAT should work, since this way you can't make a mistake with any PATH errors.

Good luck!!!

OMG!Long live MrEdCollins

At last i managed to find out the error. since you detailed it i got an idea and checked  where is my kasparov.pgn is. It is in F:\kasparov\kasparov.pgn.

I edited the batch file and got the positive result. thanks a lot.

the question was not how to accomplish the task in any method. but to find out the error of a well known process. i feel peace of mind now. thanks once again for taking the pain to answer me patiently. have a nice day.

now let me ask another question. if i want to convert another file i need to edit the batch file. am i right? the second part of the string- instead of kasparov something should come.right? so for every file you need to edit the batch file, right?