I want to learn 9x9 as a starting point to learn. Is there anywhere one can go and purchase old games in this format?
Thank for any help with this.
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Hello! Iâd like to share some useful ways to obtain or use 9x9 SGF training files in bulk.
1. OGS-dedicated download tool (ninebynine)
- By using âninebynine,â an open-source Rust-based program, you can conveniently download 9x9 game records stored on the OGS server (Online-Go.com ).
2. Overseas Kibo Archive (using filtering)
- You can download tens of thousands of SGF compressed files for free from large open databases such as the Netherlands CWI Instituteâs âGo Games SGF recordsâ or âJoeâs Go Database (JGDB)â.
- After downloading, you can filter out only the 9x9 older games by searching for the grid size tag [SZ[9]] in the file using a text editor or by using a script.
3. Go Education Platform (Go Magic)
- The âGo Magic Downloadsâ page also regularly distributes Pro Tsumego packs and Tsumego SGF resources, so please check there as well.
Study hard, and I hope this helps you improve your Go skills!
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Thank you so much f or this information! Very grateful!
ninebynine looks a bit complicated for me to install and use. I am not versed in command line input or other forms of code. Sorry. Could be my 80-year old brain.
search for â81 Little Lionsâ in Other Go Resources
I know of nowhere where 9x9 game records can be purchased. But there are free collections online. For better or for worse, the Go fanbase consists almost entirely of people whoâll spend many hours cataloging games and zero dollars buying them.
GoBase had a nice stash of 9x9 records. It lives on at Archive.org now, because Jan van der Steen, who maintained it, sadly passed away in 2022.
homepages.cwi.nl is the site @Chaerogo mentioned. It boasts 517 9x9 game records. I havenât downloaded that collection, but 517 is a wonderful number.
And if youâre interested in more of a database you can spend time flipping through, try go.yannikkeller.de/go. It has opening statistics drawn from a wide library of OGS games. Plus, clicking on games in the menu links you straight back here to the game record on OGS.
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Another option rather than DOWNLOADING or PURCHASING .sgf files, is just to find the files you want on OGS and view them here.
Rather than downloading collections of games, you can look for interesting players at a particular rank on OGS that play a lot of 9x9, and then review their game records and try to learn from them.
Hereâs how
Go to https://online-go.com/observe-games
And then hit the little FILTER icon here:
Once youâre in the filter interface, UN-CLICK the 19x19 and 13x13 buttons until only 9x9 remains. This will then show you all the LIVE games being played at this time. When I tried this experiment there were 18 live games
However as you can see, when I click on CORRESPONDENCE games I got a much bigger number (2183).
Your goal here is to find individuals on OGS who play a lot of 9x9 whose game records you can review and learn from. So, from the correspondence page, I was able to find this 5 dan user, and my filtering cascaded down to their profile, so that it only showed me their 9x9 games (note: keep scrolling - the GAME HISTORY section is about 2/3rds of the way down the page)
https://online-go.com/player/43936/
If that filtering isnât done automatically for you, just enable the filter from the right of the GAME HISTORY menu in the userâs page
Here is a 1 kyu user
https://online-go.com/player/2107213/
Here is a 10 kyu user
https://online-go.com/player/1033456/
Once you go to the page with that personâs game records, you can click on each individual game, and replay it move by move right here on OGS, or download the .sgf files to your computer and review them there, etc.
Good luck.
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