Reviewing a game

After a game is over you can review the game and share insights you may have with each other. You can also review games played by other people. It is very common to ask a higher ranked player to review a game of yours to share with you any insights they have about what they might have done differently.

To begin a review simply click the review button (shown below on the right, with the green arrow pointing to it).

Any players still on the game screen will receive an invitation to join the review session

Creating a "Demo Board"

Demo boards are like reviews except you begin with a blank board. You can still share and explore the demonstration with other users just like a review.

To create a demo board, click the "Play" button just like you were creating an open challenge, and select "Demo Board" from the drop down in the upper left of the game creation dialog:

This will change the screen to look more like the following

Here you can specify the board size and the rules, as well as the player names and ranks (useful for if you are manually entering a game played somewhere else for which you have no SGF for).

Clicking create will create a blank demo / review board for you to use.

Using the review tools

After creating a review, any other users viewing that review can see everything you do in real-time. This allows you to explore variations together and discuss moves easily.

When on the review screen you'll see several tools (labeled 1-5 above).

Stone placement

The stone placement tool (1) allows you to place alternating stones just like you were playing the game for both players. This is the default tool. Clicking this button will also allow you to select an all-white or all-black mode where you can lay out stones of a particular color.

Labeling

The label tool (2) allows you to label spaces or stones on the board for easy reference. You can also use this tool to place squares, triangles, circles, and X's on the board. Clicking the board with this tool selected will place the label at the specified place.

With the label tool selected you can change the letter or number you are placing simply by pressing the desired key or symbol on the keyboard. You will see the label cursor change to the desired letter. Shift-clicking on the board will allow you to specify multi-letter labels.

Click and dragging with the label tool selected will place the label on all of the intersections your cursor dragged across.

Drawing

The draw tool (3) allows you to draw anything you'd like on the board.

Erase

The erase tool (4) erases all of the drawings on the board. Note that this does not affect any labels or stones you've placed.

Delete

The delete tool (5) deletes the current branch from the move tree. You can use this to remove undesired variations from the move tree.

Commenting on particular moves

While you can freely chat in the chat area, sometimes it's useful to be able to put your notes about a particular move in the comment box (6). To make a move comment, simply type some text in this area, it will be "saved" automatically.

Passing control of the review to another user

You can give control of the review to another user by opening the player list, selecting their name from the drop down, and clicking the "Give control" button.

Watching a review

While watching a review you will see exactly what the reviewer is doing on the board. If you decide you want to explore a variation, you can "break away" from what the reviewer is currently doing and perform your own exploration. When you're ready to return to where the reviewer currently is, click the "sync" button (7).

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Up arrow / Down arrow	Move up and down in the move tree
Left arrow / Right arrow	Step one move back or forward
Page up	Step back 10 moves
Page down	Step forward 10 moves
Home	Go to the first move
End	Go to the last move
F1	Alternating stone placement tool
F2	Black stone placement tool
Shift-click while in black stone placement	Place white stones
F4	Triangle label placement
F5	Square label placement
F6	Circle label placement
F7	Letter label placement
F8	Number label placement
F9	Drawing tool
F10	Clear the current drawing
Delete key	Delete the current branch