Just like on 19x19, yeah.
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Hereâs some relevant and (hopefully) interesting real-life data. In a 9x9 tournament on DGS with 6.5 Komi (https://www.dragongoserver.net/tournaments/view_tournament.php?tid=105), after 1829 games there was a win rate of exactly 50% (within experimental uncertainty) for black / white. This is especially relevant as most of the games were kuy players with a v small number of Dan games, i.e. similar demographics to OGS and thus, arguably, more relevant than professional / AI opinions on the matter.
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I think everyone agrees that 6.5 is the way to go.
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More importantly, 7.0 for NZ rules once they finally bother to fix tiesâŚ
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Wow. It feels the opposite to me, since against an equally-ranked player, I tend to win on 9x9 with automatic komi when I am playing white, and tend to lose when I am playing black. It is really hard to play black, because you know you have to take more risks than white does. If white moves first, the default komi gives such a powerful advantage that most white moves can be relatively conservative and defensive. Maybe for a 9d AI program the current komi is reasonable, but for us kyu players it is too high. Just my opinion, and only relevant to 9x9.
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When I play white and black opens with E5, I often have the impression that 5.5 or 6.5 komi is just not enough. With other moves in this context 5.5 or 6.5 komi feels okay.
Maybe a first move related komi is an interesting option for 9x9.
I believe that there are several factors that influence what a fair komi should be. The biggest factor is the ranks of the two players. The first move (if agreed in advance) would be another factor. However, one player might play the strongest with a center point move, while another would play best with a 3,4 move or a side move. There may be a mathematical âbest first moveâ, but we donât know what it is for 9x9, and it probably doesnât much matter as there is such a different style for different players and different times. It is very rare that any two games have the same moves. So komi should depend on really good statistics gathered for players of various ranks, and determined by the two ranks involved. If the ranks are more than 1 apart, a handicap should be applied. The correct handicap is just as difficult to determine as the komi. Those who run OGS/online-go.com have access to all the statistics and could do this research. Evidence-based komi and handicap that depend on both playersâ ranks, for many games played without any komi, would be much fairer than hunches or guesses that seem to work for a few dan-level players. Just my opinion.
To start these statistics, how many games do you lose with black within the komi margin? And by how many points?
You donât lose within komi margin, obviously. If you see youâre gonna lose by a few points, you go for a last ditch attempt of invasion or something and lose by resignation. We both know that.
This reminds me of a game.
At move 23 I (black) wedge in, and if komi was 6.5 white couldâve submissively protected and win by 0.5 still. But since the komi is 5.5 I would win. So white has no choice but to try and eat my stone. After some imprecise continuation I win by resign with large advantage.
Thus, komi matters, should be 6.5, I donât understand why are we even discussing it, is it so hard to change one variable.
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7.0 komi and properly scored ties when D:
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6 for Japanese, 7 Chinese and allow jigo
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This was immediately disproved by the subsequent posts 
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Integer komi is best. Properly handled ties definitely needs to be a priority.
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Yes.
Needs an overhaul anywayâŚ
Not a good enough reason for a core game mechanic to be non-functional.
Almost everything needs this, so thatâs not really a point of differentiationâŚ
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Perhaps we could have both 6.5 and 7.5 komi rated for Japanese-rules 9x9?
That seems most diplomatic.
But then, would people complain that they expected 6.5 and âshould have won by a half-pointâ?
It is not but it should be that one can have any Komi for rated games. Non-standard Komi is just like giving or taking some fraction of handicap. For example: Result with standard Komi, rating changes by X points. Result with non-standard komi, rating changes by X+/-dX where dX is some small adjustment to account for greater/lesser advantage due to non-standard Komi. Just like how the rating change from a no handicap game between evenly rated players is smaller than the rating change from a no handicap game when a lower rating player beats a higher rating player.
GoQuest uses a 7 komi and has been working fine. Ofc OGS doesnât have to be GoQuest. Just saying integer komi isnât bad. If non-integer komi is used, one could argue that itâs not a balanced game after all, based on our current knowledge that 7 is the best komi.
Also, Iâm not sure if this is a serious issue: under non-integer komis one can abuse 9x9 bots to rank up (guess how I get to 5d).
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