I was just watching a review from 2015, by former Dutch Champion Merlijn Kuin 6d.
He’s reviewing a Go Seigen game. At the start, to establish the context, he discusses no-komi games (even though the game was actually at 4.5 komi).
Merlijn suggests that for a professional of that time to play White without komi required the same level of effort as for a shodan to give three stones to another shodan.
What do you think of this comparison? It seemed overblown to me, but perhaps it’s not.
I think it’s a bit overblown. In terms of point (komi) handicap, it looks like 1 point komi shift amounts to about 25 Elo shift at pro level. At 1d EGF it’s more like an 8 Elo shift.
No komi handicap at pro level would amount to about 150 Elo shift and 3 stones handicap at 1d EGF would amount to about 250 Elo shift.
So I think 2 stones handicap at 1d EGF would be about the same as no komi at pro level.
That assumes that the players are very equal in strength. If Shin Jinseo would give 3 stones to a European 1p, I think he odds would be about even.
Is it possible that “Shodan in Japan when there was no komi” is not the same rank as “1d EGF”?