Ranked games may be played with varying handicaps. How does the handicap affect the players’ ranking?
For example, if someone wins a game against a player of a higher ranking, is this more beneficial to their rank if there was no handicap?
Yes. If you are 10 kyu, and you play a 5 kyu, and win without any handicap, then you go up in rank by a lot (and the 5 kyu loses a lot of rank).
If you were to play with 5 stones handicap, the rank would roughly only go up as much as if you’re playing an even game (5 kyu vs 5 kyu).
Roughly, because 5 stones is not truly the same as 5 ranks, but the rating system knows this and takes that into account.
If you want more detail; there’s a thread that has a much of the formulas and math worked out. However, it’s a long read and not at all necessary to read if the above answer is what you were looking for. Yet another ratings thread
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