SGF, excessive use of ( new variation token

[rooklift]

Currently, when I download an SGF file of a game from OGS, every single move is preceeded by the "new subtree" token, that being (

While this is probably not illegal, it is very odd and unnecessary.

Typically one only writes ( when there are 2 or more descendants of the current node (i.e. when there's both the main move and some variations).

[benjaminpjones]

Haha yeah I've noticed this too. Given that moves are usually 6 characters: (e.g. ;W[aa]), a pair of parentheses on every move adds 33% to the moves portion of the file in the worst case!

[loarabia]

Im curious about this also. It came up in a comment to a PR I made SabakiHQ/sgf#16. Since I had just grabbed a game as a test case I couldn’t really answer the question.