Jubango handicaps

    Keywords: Rules, Culture & History, Tournament

Moved from jubango. See also uchikomi # 2.

BlueWyvern: Does anyone know how exactly handicaps are shifted?

BobMcGuigan The handicap was changed one level when one player achieved a lead of four games in the series. One level did not equate to one stone, however. The handicaps were related to rank differences and went: one rank difference, black two out of three; two ranks, always black; three ranks Black, two stones, black; four ranks, two stones, two stones, black; five ranks, two stones always; etc.

Charles See tagai-sen, sen-ai-sen (should continue sen, sen-ni-sen, ...). Normally (pre-komi), it would have been sen-ai-sen between pros one dan level apart, and so on?

Bob: Yes, Charles, you have given the correct Japanese terms. After sen-ni-sen it would continue ni-sen-ni, ni-ni-ni, ni-san-ni, san-ni-san, san-san-san, etc.

John F. Bob: have you actually seen ni-ni-ni and san-san-san? I don't think I've ever come across any term other than the standard jou-ni and jou-san.

Since uchikomi matches were predominantly classical affairs, it should be noted that older terms were in use: e.g. sen-tagai-sen instead of sen-ai-sen, and there are variants: e.g. senzenni for sennisen, and sen-futatsu for sen-ni. [1]

Apart from series of three there were series of two, but I haven't come across a series of four. The number of games used to determine a shift in handicap is not always four. History students will recall this was one of the big issues of the one of the first ever challenge matches, where precedent differed from what was proposed.

Bob: No, John, I haven't seen these terms. I made them up to indicate briefly the fact that the handicap didn't change but I agree jou-ni and jou-san are correct (like jou-sen). If I'm guilty of perpetuating an incorrect usage, I apologize.

HolIgor: Recently, Rui Naiwei played a jubango with Pak Chi-eun. But they changed the handicap after two wins in a row. The match was interesting as, first, Rui forced Pak to the handicap and then, Pak fought back and forced Rui to the handicap. They ended even.

Bob: The system I described above is the one used in the Go Seigen matches and the one used classically, but the terms of change in playing conditions could be negotiated by the sponsors before the match. The games between the amateur and pro Honinbo have a handicap that changes every game, for example.


[1]

John F. My own method in GoGoD, where I introduced a private sgf token OH[], for Old Handicap, is to use BBW (or BWB in modern games) and to put brackets round whichever game it was in the series of three e.g. B(W)B.


This is a copy of the living page "Jubango handicaps" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2005 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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