# Loading and Saving Games

Arasan can keep a record of games played. The Preferences dialog under the Options menu can be used to enable this and to select where the games will be stored. You can also manually save a game so that it can be later re-loaded into Arasan and replayed. To do this, select the "Save Game" selection from the File menu and Arasan will prompt you for a file in which to store a completed game. Games are written in a format called Portable Game Notation (PGN), which is a standard for exchange of chess games used by several different chess programs.

A game stored in PGN notation may be read into Arasan by selecting File Open and choosing a file with .PGN extension. If there is more than one game in the file, Arasan will provide you with a list to choose from. Once Arasan completes reading in the file, you can replay the moves by typing "^F" (Control-F) or clicking on the right arrow icon on the toolbar.

It is also possible to store an individual board position. You may want to do this if you are in the middle of playing a game and want to resume it later. To save a board position, select "Save Board" from the File menu. You will be prompted for a file name to save the board to. Board positions are stored in Forsythe-Edwards notation (FEN), which is a standard used by several chess programs.

To retrieve a previously stored board position, use the File Open command and select the .FEN file that you previously saved.