Handicap influence

[baduk17]

I noticed 1 handicap always has a lower win rate than 0 handicap. What if black got 2 stones instead of white losing komi?

2021 Rating and rank adjustments

tl;dr - Expect a notable bump in your rank. The lower the rank you are, the larger the increase. This transition is planned to take effect around 2021-01-28T01:30:00Z (UTC) . Summary of the update: We are attempting to align our low dan ranks to be comparable to the EGF and AGA low dan ranks. Currently we are projecting that a 1d OGS rank will be about .7 stones weaker than an EGF 1d and about 0.8 stones stronger than an AGA 1d. These numbers will be re-evaluated once the dust settles, but…

[jlt]

To get a game with 50% winning probability rate between two players who are 1 rank apart, White should get negative komi (-6.5). That’s what IGS does: Pandanet - The Pandanet IGS Ranking System

[jannn]

It seems better for 50% chance if W gets normal komi and B a certain number of EXTRA stones besides his first one. So for one rank diff B puts 2 stones and gives normal komi.

Negative komi is rarely used since it obstructs one-glance evaluation of the board.

[Groin]

@jannn

it obstructs one-glance evaluation of the board.

I agree. Furthermore, handicap system propose a pedagogic way through the use of influence at high handicap and speedness at lower which is harder to conceive with negative komi.

@jannn

Negative komi is rarely used

Well there is a very refined system on IGS with intermediate levels, which cannot be so quickly discarded and seems to please their users. I know some clubs who locally implemented similar system.

[jlt]

I was just thinking: reverse komi amounts to normal komi with the weaker player taking White, and playing first. However I’ve never seen such a game.