9x9 to 19x19 Handicap Equivalent

Strategy and Tactics
1

I remember reading somewhere (though can’t remember where) that each handicap stone on a 9x9 board is equivalent to 6 on a 19x19 board. I beat the 9 dan bot in a non ranked game on a 9x9 board with a 3 stone handicap, which, if my math is right, would put my proper ranking at at least 9 kyu. Does this sound correct or am I much better or worse than I am estimating? My current OGS ranking is 10 kyu and my Go Quest ranking is 9 kyu.

2

No, that’s nonsense.

You’ll find out where you fit in once you’ve played about 10-20 ranked games.

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3

I have played that many ranked games and have a ranking of 10 kyu on OGS. I am able to beat the 9 dan bot with a three stone handicap, so I am just wondering how accurate my ranking truly is.

4

In my experience, each difference in rank is about 1.5 points komi. I’m not sure how that translates to stones. One stone (no komi) is about four ranks difference. Two stones would be a pretty large handicap—maybe ten ranks difference. So I’m not surprised you can beat the computer on three stones. Still great though!

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5

I think the error is your assumption that some vague notion of 9x9 handicap is a better rank representation than glicko-2, a system mathematically designed to quickly and accurately assess your rating relative to a pool based on actual games played against its members.
Rankings aren’t absolute such that you become this thing called “9th kyu” and that’s true everywhere, each rank you obtain is only accurate to the pool it was achieved in, and should only loosely be used as a point of reference when interacting with other pools (such as moving between OGS and Go Quest, or any other server}.

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6

Your statement led me to remember this article: Handicap for smaller board sizes.

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7

I’d say it’s like this.

Don’t rely on one game to judge your rank. One day you win 1d another you lose to 5k. You need a bunch of games.

Don’t rely on game with bots. Even modern human-like bots don’t exactly simulate human play.

Don’t rely on handicap games to evaluate your rank. Handicap games are a whole another type of game to play and learn.

Don’t rely on 9x9. Proper games are played on 19x19 so 9x9 rank doesn’t necessarily transfer to 19x19.

That being said on ogs you’re 10k, go quest you’re 9k, and your logic tells you you’re at least 9k. So it all more or less checks out. You’re 9-10k!

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