From John Fairbairn: A lot of misinformation is being bandied about on the history of komi. I'm not going to write it up here but a few dates culled from the GoGoD database of 17,000 games will, I hope, allow readers to infer some of the errors. The table below shows the various possible Japanese/Korean komis and the first date of their use in the database, plus a few comments.
2: 1935 2.5: 1935 3: 1852; first used in a tournament in 1907; first used in the Oteai in 1931 3.5: 1929 (in the Oteai) 4: 1931 4.5: 1934 5: 1890; 1932 in tournament play. There was a tournament then called the Hochi Shinbun Win & Continue Komi Tournament 5.5: 1955 (the Oza) 6: 1978 (Taiwanese Mingren); also 1998 in the Korean Promotion Tournament 6.5: 1984 in Japan (Amateur Strongest Players); 1997 in Korea (Tong Yang)
I would expect even these dates to be modified with a bit of research, A fuller treatment would cover not just Ing komis, Chinese (now 3.75 throughout), komi and reverse komis, but the use of komi combined with the old B-W-B kind of handicaps. There are also a few examples of 0.5 komi. I have never seen 1 or 1.5
JF: I have now dug out my notes and can modify my statements above slightly. I too have queried there the 6.5 entry for the Tong Yang but have now bestirred myself to check it. It should definitely by 5.5. I also have a query against the 7th TV Asia Cup Final, given as 6.5, but it was in Japan that year, which makes it unlikely. However, the available sources for that event do not mention the komi. For the Amateur Strongest Game, I can neither confirm nor deny. It matters because the result of the game was W+0.5. But the game record gives only 148 moves and I have no other games from that event to compare with.
The earliest games for which 6.5 can reliably be stated are the 4th LG Cup (the international event). Interestingly, in that year the LG company retained 5.5 for its domestic cup, the Techron?.
The reference to the Oteai games refers to the final playoffs where komi was used (the "Oteai Select" games).
Of course the Almanac has mistakes but that's only to be expected where a mass of figures and foreign names exist and it's unfair to call it unreliable. I haven't checked the statement quoted. If it's quoted correctly it's wrong. If it says this was the first use of komi in a true even-game tournament where the old B-W-B style handicaps did not apply, it's correct.
The Amateur event was the Hochi Ama Igo Saikyo, which became the Nihon Ama Igo Saikyo (in 1992 I think) and the term numbering was change to reflect that.
The missing Tong Yang runner-up was Chang Su-yeong.
I noticed a comment in my notes that Shusaku once said he would give 5 points to keep Black, but Shuwa said he'd take White with 5 komi.