No Komi

No komi refers to the fact that historically there was usually no komi to compensate White for Black’s advantage of playing first, i.e. no additional points for White. Although the earliest known games with komi took place in the second half of the 18th century, it did not become the norm until the 20th century, initially at 5½ points, eventually settling at about 7½ points.

Matches without komi

Before komi, evenly matched players would usually play multiple games with alternate colours. Otherwise, the stronger player usually took White in all or most games, according to the match handicap system. Jigo (a drawn game) was a possible outcome.

Players alleged to be invincible with Black

Shusaku's castle games are famous examples of no komi games, in which he showed himself Invincible with Black — but one should bear in mind that these games were stage managed, as John F remarks in his comment below.

Other players who never lost a recorded castle game (but again, see John F’s caveats in the discussion) playing black:

1. Honinbo Dosaku
   • Dosaku also never lost a recorded castle game as White, except when giving a handicap; he lost 2 games when giving 2 stones handicap.
2. Honinbo Jowa (disputed)

See also

• Komi Go.

Discussion

(bugcat: Removing a comment in which I confused Dosaku and Huang yet again...)

John F. There are several things wrong with this page, both factual and interpretative. To take some of the factual items first, Xie Youyu? never played Dosaku, nor could he as travel between Japan and China was prohibited. Xie's only three known games are against Huang Longshi (who you perhaps heard as being likened to Dosaku). Second, historically komi did exist. The earliest known komi game now is from the Horeki era, that is a little after 1750, and there are various 19th century examples. Third, Jowa did lose with Black.

To consider some of the interpretative problems. First, there is the strong likelihood that Dosaku did lose with Black but these games have been purged from the record. There are only about 30 games with Black anyway (a ridiculously small proportion of the 130 total Dosaku games known), but as reputation counted as well as skill in the old family system (sometimes for more - witness the Satsugen extravaganzas) there was extreme control of game records, and the Honinbos had the biggest lock on the system by far (they could control publication - or lack of it). Furthermore, when Dosaku lost as White, he sometimes lost by large margins (e.g. 17 points) that far outweigh the first-move advantage of 6 points or so. It therefore seems easy to imagine he could lose with Black against those opponents.

There is also the fixing of opponents, which we know about in the case of Shusaku from Yasui Sanchi. It is a lot easier to be invincible when you avoid the best players.

In short, the sparse facts known have to be weighed in context.

bugcat: Ah yeah, I confused Dosaku and Huang Longshi again. I keep doing that...