Here is the game: https://online-go.com/game/26791213
(Game was private, but maybe mods can still access it.)
Handicap was set to automatic. I was a 6k playing with white against a 5k with black. Game info showed handicap: 1, and indeed no handicap stones but komi reduced to 0.5.
the first handicap is removal of komi, no stone is used because it would be equivalent of black going first and nothing else
Indeed. But the stronger player should be playing white with reduced handicap. Not black.
I think this can happen if color is not also set to automatic - since this is a private game, it must have been a custom challenge, in which that’s possible to do. E.g. if your opponent was set to play black explicitly, but handicap was still auto, I think this would be the result.
That’s a good guess for an explanation. I definitely have not consciously set the color though. And I think the chances that I accidentally did that are very slim. No way for me to check that now unfortunately.
Maybe you set the option to “Random”?
If you haven’t created any games since then, you could try making a new challenge. It should remember the settings from your last time.
I left the color setting untouched. (Possible accidential misclicks aside.) Actually I think I never touched that setting since playing on OGS.
I haven’t created games since and the defaults when creating a new challenge now are:
Which seems to indicate the settings are not kept, since I did choose handicap automatic for that game. Or I mistakenly did not set handicap to automatic, in which case the reduced komi we got would need an explanation.