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.
Zen Nihon Pro – Kifu #7
[Name "Matt Casters"]
[Email "[email protected]"]
[Country "Japan"]
[Sente "Tanigawa Koji"]
[Gote "Morishita Taku"]
[Black_grade "Ryu-o"]
[White_grade "8dan"]
[Result " "]
[Comment " "]
[Source "Reijer Grimbergen"]
[Event "15th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament"]
[Date "19970513"]
[Round "4"]
[Venue " "]
[Proam "Professional"]
P7g-7f P8c-8d G6i-7h G4a-3b S7i-6h P3c-3d B8h-7g P4c-4d {Morishita is one of the best defenders in Shogi and chooses a defensive~strategy. Not very wise, since Tanigawa is probably the best attacker in~Shogi. Also, in the games Morishita won he played much more positively.~Shogi tends to award the positive players...~} S3i-4h S3a-4b P4g-4f S7a-6b S4h-4g P5c-5d S4g-5f S6b-5c R2h-4h N2a-3c K5i-6i G6a-5b P3g-3f K5a-4a K6i-7i G5b-4c N2i-3g K4a-3a {Four generals, bishop and knight to defend the white king. Is it enough to~defend against black's ideal attack of rook, bishop, silver and knight ~} P4f-4e P4dx4e {Morishita was sorry to have played this move. Better is probably 28.Nx4e Nx4e~Px4e Bx2b+ Kx2b P3e and now white has the counter B*3g Sx4e Bx4h+ Gx4h R*3i~K8h Rx3e+ and black is in trouble.~} P3f-3e P3dx3e N3gx4e N3cx4e B7gx2b+ G3bx2b P'4d S5cx4d {After 36.N3g+ Px4c+ +Nx4h +Px5c black is clearly better.~} S5fx4e S4dx4e R4hx4e P'4d R4ex3e P'3d R3e-6e {Morishita did not see this move long enough in advance.~} N'6d {Can't be helped, but white would have liked to use this piece somewhere else.~Also, the gold on 2b is painful.~} P'4e P4dx4e B'7a R8b-7b B7a-2f+ S'3e +B2f-3g P4e-4f N'7e {Great attacking move. Defense is difficult...~} R7b-6b {If 54.G5c then N8c+ R5b R7e and black wins.~} N7ex6c+ R6bx6c S'5b P'6b S5bx6c P6bx6c P'3f S3e-4d R'7a K3a-3b +B3gx4f P'4e +B4f-3g G2b-2a {Tries to reposition the bad gold, but there is no time.~} R7ax8a+ B'9b {This attack on dragon and rook looks painful for black, but Tanigawa has~calculated it all in advance.~} R6ex6d B9bx8a {After 72.Px6d +Rx9a white's position is even worse.~} R6dx8d B8a-9b R8d-8b+ R'2i N'3i P5d-5e +R8bx9a B9b-6e L'2f {It is hard to play a perfect Shogi game. If black would have played 81.N*4g~he would have won more quickly. For example 82.S*4f +B3h Rx1i+ N3e and the~double threat of Nx2c+~+Rx2a and +Bx6e is decisive.~} G2a-3a S6h-7g P1c-1d K7i-8h N'4f S7g-6f B6ex7f P'7g B7f-5d +B3g-4g R2i-2h+ S6f-6e S'6i P'4h N4f-5h+ S6ex5d G4cx5d B'7f S'4c +B4gx5h S6ix5h G4ix5h +R2hx3i N'6f