KGS - the Kiseido Go Server
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The Kiseido Go Server first opened under the name "Igoweb" in April 2000. The original rec.games.go announcement can be found on Google. Just a month later, the author made an agreement with
Kiseido and it was renamed to the Kiseido Go Server.
As a Go server, sure you can play Go on KGS, but it also has special features for teaching purposes. It is very easy to go through the game once it is finished to add variations and comments. You can ask an observer to add their own variations and you can save everything in SGF files. You can also upload games from your hard disk and review them on the server with your friends.
The client has been written in English, and has been translated to Japanese, French, Italian, German, Chinese and other languages. More translations are welcome! The main "room" is called the English Game Room, but it is really an international room. There are also rooms where speakers of Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Korean, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, and Turkish are encouraged to meet. There are extra rooms for the Wings Go Club and Hikaru no Go fans. Additionally, users may create public or private rooms.
You can log in to KGS using the website, with a Java applet, but for a more stable connection you can download the client CGoban2, which is also a good SGF editor / viewer. The client is written in Java, so you can use it under Windows, Linux, Solaris, and MacOSX.
On some Windows systems, the client cannot properly find your java executable. If you have trouble getting it to run, try creating a shortcut with a command line similar to this:
"C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.0\bin\javaw.exe" -jar "C:\Program Files\kiseido\CGoban\cgoban.jar"
You must replace the C:\...\javaw.exe part with the actual path to your java executable. If you aren't sure what that is, try using the Windows file find utility and search for a file named "javaw.exe".
There are no commands on KGS. You can do nearly everything from top line menus, buttons or using right-click menus.
Rule sets
Four rule sets are available: you can choose between Japanese, Chinese, AGA, and New Zealand rules.
Time systems
You also have choice of four time systems:
- no time limit,
- sudden death,
- Canadian overtime, or
- Japanese overtime.
Multilingual support
- KGS supports Unicode, so there is built-in support for pretty much every language.
- There are several rooms for various languages.
- Several KGS Foreign Language Pages contain help and discussions in languages other than English.
KGS Usage
KGS People
- Bill Shubert (KGS developer)
- KGS High Dan Players
- KGS Teachers
- KGS Tutors
-
KGS Users by Geographical Location
- K5GS
- KGS Admin of the Year
- KGS Assistant of the Year
- KGS Users Map
- KGS Rank Histogram
KGS Social Systems
- KGS Help Room
- KGS Team Tournament
- KGS Teaching Ladder
- KGS Leagues
- KGS Rooms
- There is a Sensei's Library room on KGS (under Social Rooms).
KGS Development
- KGS Plans
- KGS Development Status
- KGS Wishlist
- KGS Bugs
- KGS Rooms / Policy Discussion
- KGS Bots
- KGS Related Utilities
Miscellaneous
- KGS Server Status
- KGS Issue - Escapers
- Great Moments in KGS Chat
- KGS Tournament Broadcasts
- Use the Discussion page to report outages
Other languages