Browse hundreds of historical professional and amateur shogi games. Select a collection, pick a game, and replay it on the interactive board.
Kifu is a shogi game record. Every move is written down so the game can be replayed and
studied later. Serious students of shogi build up - and work through - large libraries of kifu to
understand openings, middlegame plans and yose (end-game) technique.
The Gnu Shogi Database (GSDB) is a collection of Japanese chess games and sample openings. Hundreds of shogi kifu (game records) have been documented. The orignal GSDB comes with an applet that allows viewing and manipulating of the collections. Unfortunately, the web browsing industry has discontinued support for Java applets. That makes browsing the collections trickier, without a little help.
For those techies interested in browsing the original GSDB 2.7.4 source code and license, you can download it here.
Just a note on shogi rankings: The lowest ranking is 15-kyu. The rankings go down to 1-kyu as the player improves. After 1-kyu, rankings begin counting up with 1-dan all the way up to 9-dan. Professional shogi players begin around 5-kyu and go up to 9-dan (the champion professional). Ameteurs of the same rank as professionals are typically less skilled than their professional counterparts.
Colmar – Kifu #1
[Name "Casters Matt"]
[Email "matt@netpoint.be"]
[Country "France"]
[Sente "Miyamoto Toyokazu"]
[Gote "Casters Matt"]
[Black_grade "4dan"]
[White_grade "2dan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Comment "Shikenbisha"]
[Source "Matt Casters' score sheet"]
[Event "Colmar '97"]
[Date "19970921"]
[Round "5"]
[Venue "Colmar"]
[Proam "Amateur"]
{When you play a strong oponent like Mr. Miyamoto, you feel like having~a snowball chance in hell of winning. This particular ball must have~been really cold. But it melted anyway...~~Matt~} P7g-7f P3c-3d P2g-2f P4c-4d S3i-4h R8b-4b P5g-5f K5a-6b K5i-6h K6b-7b K6h-7h K7b-8b G4i-5h P9c-9d P9g-9f S7a-7b P2f-2e B2b-3c S4h-5g S3a-3b P5f-5e P4d-4e S5g-5f P4e-4f P4gx4f R4bx4f G5h-4g R4f-4b P'4e S3b-4c G4g-4f G4a-5b S7i-6h P6c-6d P3g-3f G5b-6c P1g-1f P7c-7d P6g-6f P1c-1d P6f-6e N8a-7c N8i-7g R4b-6b S6h-6g P5c-5d P5ex5d S4cx5d P'5e N7cx6e {According to Mr. Miyamoto I must have a better possition although it's not~clear how to proceed. In any case is taking the silver on 5d out of the~question. The attack that follows seems to be too strong.~Black proves he's the best player in Europe and plays G6b...~~Matt~} G6i-6h N6ex7g+ B8hx7g S5d-6e N2i-3g P7d-7e { This proved to be too dangerous...} P7fx7e P'7f B7g-8h N'8e N'6i S6ex5f G4fx5f S'7g N6ix7g P7fx7g+ G6hx7g N8ex7g+ B8hx7g N'8e B7g-8f P'5d N'7d G6cx7d P7ex7d N'8a {N'8a otherwise you get S'7c Sx7c Px7c+ Kx7c P'7d and a sure loss of~rook and position, probably mate.} P9f-9e R6b-6c { I wanted to have an escape route for my king.} P9ex9d P'9b G'7e G'7g B8fx7g N8ex7g+ K7hx7g P5dx5e G5f-6f { All my chances are gone now.} P5e-5f S'7c S7bx7c P7dx7c+ R6cx7c P'7d P'7f K7gx7f B'5d P'6e R7c-6c S'7c N8ax7c P7dx7c+ R6cx7c P'7d P6dx6e P7dx7c+ K8bx7c R'5c S'6c S'6d K7c-6b N'7d { White resigned.}