How Automatic Handicap Works on OGS

[StevenageTony]

One thing which doesn’t seem clear to me (and forgive me if this is answered somewhere else) is which rating is used to determine handicaps. There are sixteen ratings shown in all for each player for three different board sizes and three different time bands plus averages (?) for each category and an average-of-averages. I’m describing the ratings which have a circle next to them as averages because that seems to be the logical value to write, but I notice that sometimes the ‘average’ are better than the values it might be assumed are being averaged. See screenshot:

[teapoweredrobot]

The only rating that is used for anything is the main overall one after your username. All those others are just for interest/info.

[ArsenLapin1]

@david265

The lack of handicap in a tournament is quite frustrating. I know the goal is to pick one grand winner, and that is a worthy goal. Until you consider that it means everyone else has to lose. I’ve commented in the tournament chat that a handicap would be appreciated, so everyone has a chance of winning. I got scorn as my reply. But what is wrong with a tournament whose goal is to allow everyone a chance? The winner, ideally, is just the person who did the best that day, regardless of their rank.

I live in France, and the vast majority of real-life tournaments here are held using McMahon, handicap minus one, and a ceiling bar somewhere around 1d.

McMahon means you will be paired with someone whose score rank + number of wins equals your own; if that is not possible for lack of players, then you will play against someone whose score is close to your own, with a handicap equal to the score difference minus one. The ceiling at 1d means that players whose rank is higher than 1d are considered 1d for the purpose of this tournament, which in practice means that dan players play against each-other without handicap.

But kyu players definitely do play with handicap when needed.

[ArsenLapin1]

Then when it comes to the end of the tournament, and the prize-giving ceremony:

• standings are determined by the final McMahon score of the players;
• the podium is most likely composed of players who were above the ceiling, since they effectively had a starting McMahon score at least one higher than the players below the ceiling;

However:

• typically, every player who won all their games receives a prize, and maybe every player who won all-but-one of their games also receives a prize.
• in addition, there is usually a prize for the player with highest McMahon score in each “category”, where players are split into categories depending on their entry ranks.
• in addition to the tournament’s prizes, a player’s achievements are displayed on their page on the national federation website, which lists all tournaments in which the player has ended first, second or third, plus all tournaments where the player has won all their games, in a special “hit list” section at the top of their page.

OGS tournaments typically don’t have prizes, but a player’s OGS page does list “trophies” earned by the player in tournaments, and if it’s not already the case, it might make sense to add trophies for “the player won all their games in this tournament”, even if the player didn’t win the tournament.