Smart Game Format

Smart Game Format
Filename extension
.sgf
Developed byAnders Kierulf (1987, FF1), Martin Mueller (1993, FF3), Arno Hollosi (1997, FF4)
Initial release1987
Latest release
4
1997
Type of formatmark up text
Container forGo (game) record
Open format?yes
Websitered-bean.com/sgf/

The Smart Game Format (SGF) is a file format used for storing records of board games. Go is the game that is most commonly represented in this format and is the default. SGF was originally created under a different name by Anders Kierulf for his SmartGO program.

The main purposes of SGF are to store records of played games and to provide features for storing annotated and analyzed games (e.g. board markup, variations). It is a text-only, tree-based format.

Most Internet Go servers and Go software from 1990 support this format.