KGS and Proper Handicap
First off:
- There is no significant reason to force the use of proper Handicap on KGS. Its ratingsystem is aware of the situation and does not expect people to perform with equal winchances in handicapped games. Thus your rank will not suffer if you use traditional handicap.
Yet, if you you are a 'fairness-junkie' (like the author) and want to uphold the spirit of handicapping (which is to offering equal winchances) then you may be interested in reading on and learn how to apply proper handicap to KGS rulesets.
- KGS Japanese Rules:
- Handicap = Rankdifference + 1
- Komi = 6.5
This is the case referenced in the Proper Handicap tables (with reintroduced tiebreaker)
- KGS Chinese Rules:
- Handicap = Rankdifference + 1
- Komi = if (rankdifference=0) then Komi=7.5 else Komi=6.5
For a Handicap H where H>1 KGS Chinese rules will award H moku to white at scoring in order to uphold equal rankspacing between chinese and japanese systems. For even games (which could be considered Handicap=1 games) no additional compensation is needed as regular Komi already includes one moku for the added value of the first stone under area scoring.
- KGS AGA Rules:
- Handicap = Rankdifference + 1
- Komi = 7.5
For a given Handicap H, KGS AGA rules will compensate white with H-1 moku at scoring. Even games are to be considered H=1 games. The last handicap stone placed is not compensated as its compensation is included in the Komi.
- KGS New Zealand Rules:
- Handicap = Rankdifference + 1
- Komi = Rankdifference + 7
New Zealand Ranks do not try to conform to japanese rankspacing by awarding additional compensation for handicap stones. When NZ rules are used together with players ranked by a system using japanese rankspacing (like on KGS) then white needs to be compensated for the added value of each handicap stone safe for the last (which is included in the NZ default komi).