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[Samraku]

@pdg137

So for, say, 8.0k black vs 7.0k white, you would get a “strength gap” of 14 and give -7 komi?

That is correct.

@pdg137

I think OGS would call that a “handicap 1” game with no extra stones and 0.5 komi.

A “1 stone handicap” actually only accounts for a 0.5 stone difference in strength: stone handicap games being played with -7 komi would be more consistent.

Imagine a no-komi game between equal players: Alice and Bob. Alice takes Black and wins the first game by 7 points, as expected. They switch sides with Bob taking Black and winning by 7 points. The swing between these two results is not komi, as would be implied by taking a full stone difference in strength to be worth a “1 stone handicap”, but twice komi.

Katago also gives roughly twice komi as the value for an extra handicap stone when evaluating in Japanese rules:

Handicap Games

I asked KataGo to estimate the komi value of handicaps on different board sizes. This is what it says (Japanese rules and standard placement of handicap stones): 9x9 h1 = 5.5 komi h2 = 15 komi h3 = 24 komi h4 = 45 komi h5 = 71 komi so roughly 15 points per full handicap stone 13x13 h1 = 6.5 komi h2 = 18.5 komi h3 = 30 komi h4 = 44 komi h5 = 51 komi h6 = 63 komi so roughly 11 points per full handicap stone 19x19 h1 = 6.5 komi h2 = 19 komi h3 = 31 komi h4 = 46 komi h5 = 59 ko…