Tag: kifu

Tournament Mode

I just added a new feature to SmartGo One: Tournament Mode. Basically, it turns off all smarts while you’re recording a game, and makes it clearly visible that you’ve turned them off.

Using an iPad or iPhone for game recording is a lot easier than pen and paper: no move number to remember, just tap the screen after each move. But with AI now much stronger than almost all players, even on mobile devices, those features can’t be accessible while recording.

Here’s how Tournament Mode works in SmartGo One:

Start recording: The only way to turn it on is to start recording a new game (in My Files, tap on + at top, then New Game). Enable the Tournament Mode switch, and the top right action changes from an orange ‘Play’ to a green ‘Record’.

During the game: While recording that game, all AI functions as well as joseki matching are disabled. A clearly visible green bar at the top indicates that you’re in recording-only mode.

End recording: When you’re done recording, tap on the popup menu in the lower left of the board, and tap on End Recording. This immediately removes the green bar at the top, and re-enables AI features.

If you switch to another game at any time, you’re also taken out of Tournament Mode. Once you’re out of tournament mode, the only way to get back in would be to start a fresh recording with an empty board.

Note that all the features that make SmartGo One so great for game recording are still available. For example, if you missed a pair of moves, you can go back and insert those; if you misplaced a move, tap and hold on that stone, and choose Replace Move.

I hope that Tournament Mode will allow both opponents and tournament organizers to feel confident that SmartGo One is being used for recording only. From the rules of the Dutch Open:

“Recording your game is permitted on a digital device, as long as the screen remains visible for your opponent at all times. And your opponent has to agree with recording the game digitally. If you want to record your game digitally, this will only be allowed on applications vetted in advance by the organization of the tournament, to make sure it does not have AI functionality. Recording your game with a paper kifu is of course permitted.”

These seem like good rules, especially making sure that the screen is visible to the opponent at all times. If that green bar ever disappears, tell your opponent to put the phone away.

Please let me know how this feature works for you, either as a player or a tournament organizer. Any tweaks that would make it better?

Unknown Kifu Features

It’s rewarding to see many go players at the Go Congress use SmartGo Kifu, and invaluable to be able to provide support in person. Most questions are due to users not being aware of existing features. I will keep improving the user interface to make features easier to find and use; meanwhile, here are answers to questions that came up several times during the week.

Edit Game Info

If you misspelled your opponent’s name, or started recording a game without entering the player names, tap on the title of the game above the board (with the little orange i) to see the game info, then tap on Edit to add or change any of the game info attributes.

Edit game info

Joseki Matching

Many players know about joseki matching, but may not be aware they can match a whole side of the board. To see a list of the games that match, tap on the little orange > in the joseki result (bottom left below the board).

Joseki matching

Rotate to Opponent’s View

If you get a game record from your opponent, it’s probably upside down. You can rotate a game in My Games by rotating two fingers around the center of the board. It rotates by 90 degrees only, so you have to rotate twice, and it’s a bit fiddly, but at least it’s possible. (This will be much improved in a future version, showing the following panel of rotation options.)

Rotation panel

Guess Next Move

Pick a game by a pro you like, turn on Guess Move, then try to figure out where the pro played. SmartGo Kifu gives you clues: right area but wrong move, right move but wrong timing, or the wrong area entirely. This also turns out to be great bar entertainment for several people, as we proved at the Green Leafe last night.

Guess next move

SmartGo Kifu for iOS 7

I was worried this SmartGo Kifu update might not make the iOS 7 release, but apparently somebody at Apple loves the app, it got reviewed in record time. Much appreciated.

Here’s what’s new:

iOS 7 look: The app has been updated to fit in with the fresh design of iOS 7. Still more work to do, expect the look to evolve over the next months.
Updated game collection: SmartGo Kifu now includes the full GoGoD collection of 76,891 game records.
Integrated onomasticon: John Fairbairn’s dictionary of player names has been updated and better integrated into the app. In a pro game, you can now tap on the player name to get information about that player, often including a short biography.
AirDrop: This new iOS 7 feature lets you send a game record to a nearby friend. When your friend accepts it, the game record automatically opens in SmartGo Kifu. Powerfully simple to use.
Refinements: Replay a game to the end, and winner and score are indicated right next to the player names. The list of games gets more room to scroll. Emailing a game is easier, and you can copy the SGF.

Enjoy!

PS: This would be a great time to give this newest version a rating, or even add an App Store review. Thank you!

A Free iPad With Your Go Book Library

SmartGo Books is now 48 books strong, and growing. Let’s say you’re building your Go book library as you improve, and see how the savings of SmartGo Books vs. paperback add up. Will it be enough to pay for that iPad you want?

Start with introductory books. SmartGo Books provides several choices, including Jonathan Hop’s So You Want to Play Go? and Kiseido’s Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game, but let’s assume you go with Janice Kim’s acclaimed Learn to Play Go series:
• Learn to Play Go vol. 1-5: $35 / $75 (first price is SmartGo Books, second price is the cheapest source for the paperback, in this case Amazon or the Go Game Guru value bundle)

Some books to guide you on your way as a double-digit kyu player:
• Graded Go Problems for Beginners vol. 1&2: $12 / $42 (Kiseido)
• How Not to Play Go: $4 / $10 (Slate & Shell)
• Single Digit Kyu Commentaries vol. 1&2: $11 / $26 (Slate & Shell)
• Fundamental Principles of Go: $10 / $24 (Slate & Shell)
• Basic Techniques of Go: $9 / $18 (Amazon)

The Elementary Go Series is a must-read. Three of the books are available in SmartGo Books:
• Tesuji: $10 / $18 (Kiseido)
• Life and Death: $10 / $18 (Kiseido)
• Attack and Defense: $10 / $18 (Kiseido)

You’ll want to challenge yourself with problem collections:
• Rescue and Capture: $3 / $11 (Yutopian)
• Get Strong at Life and Death: $9 / $21 (Kiseido)
• Get Strong at the Endgame: $10 / $21 (Kiseido)
• Five Hundred and One Opening Problems: $9 / $25 (Kiseido)
• Five Hundred and One Tesuji Problems: $10 / $25 (Kiseido)

More to study as you reach single-digit kyu:
• Patterns of the Sanrensei: $13 / $26 (Slate & Shell)
• More Go by example: $7 / $9 (Amazon)
• The Workshop Lectures vol. 1&2: $12 / $30 (Slate & Shell)
• The Go Consultants: $8 / $18 (Slate & Shell)
• Modern Master Games: The Dawn of Tournament Go: $12 / $35 (Kiseido)
• This is Go the Natural Way! $8 / $20 (Yellow Mountain Imports)
• Correct Joseki: $8 / $15 (Slate & Shell, published as All About Joseki)
• Vital Points and Skillful Finesse for Sabaki: $8 / $20 (Go Game Guru)
• The Way of Creating a Thick and Strong Game: $9 / $22 (Go Game Guru)

No self-respecting Go player would be missing Invincible:
• Invincible: The Games of Shusaku: $20 / $50

Valuable books as you approach dan level:
• Catching Scent of Victory: $10 / $22 (Go Game Guru)
• Breakthrough Attacking Power Yamashita-Style: $9 / $22 (Go Game Guru)
• Shuko: The Only Move vol. 1&2: $20 / $46 (Go Game Guru)

Our total so far: $296 for SmartGo Books. $687 for printed books.

Those savings are enough to pay for a beautiful new iPad mini: $329. And that still leaves room to buy five out-of-print books that we’ve brought back to life:
• Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go: $10
• Killer of Go: $10
• Punishing and Correcting Joseki Mistakes: $9
• How to Destroy and Preserve: $4
• Sabaki – How to Manage Weak Stones: $4

Of course, you’ll also want SmartGo Kifu, with 40,000 pro games, 2,000 problems, and joseki matching: $20.

Final tally: $687 for printed books. $682 for an iPad mini with all the books and software you need to become a strong player, plus a bonus of five out-of-print books that are hard to find at any price. You’ll learn more thanks to the interactive diagrams and problems, and you can carry your whole Go library with you.

SmartGo Kifu on Sale

SmartGo Kifu is on sale: $9.99 instead of $19.99. After 2½ years, this is the first ever sale of SmartGo Kifu. It may also be the last. Grab this chance before September 15.

The main reason for the sale is to ease the transition from SmartGo Pro (iPhone only) to SmartGo Kifu (universal). I removed SmartGo Pro from the App Store a few days ago; this is your chance to upgrade to SmartGo Kifu. Even if you don’t have an iPad yet, this gives you more games now and free upgrades in the future, including joseki matching coming in the next few months.

When the iPad was first introduced, I expected the iPhone and the iPad versions to diverge, and thus created a separate iPad app instead of making it universal from the start. In hindsight, this turned out to be a mistake; sorry about that. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t support upgrades from one app to another; hopefully, this sale will smooth the transition.

Going forward, there will be just three clearly defined SmartGo apps, all universal:

SmartGo Kifu ($20): For dedicated Go players. Pro games, problems, computer play. Coming soon: joseki matching.
SmartGo Player ($3): For learning Go and playing against the computer. This is the app to recommend to those friends who don’t play Go yet.
SmartGo Books (free download, free chapters, buy books with in-app purchase): Go books for all players, from beginner to high dan.

SmartGo Kifu is available on the App Store.