OGS

    Keywords: Online Go, Tournament

http://www.online-go.com/images/misc/banner200x40.gif

The [ext] Online-Go Server (OGS) is a turn based / correspondence Go server that started in November 2005. This means that the expectation is of making anywhere between one move every few days to a few moves a day -- games almost never get completed in one sitting. If you wish to play Go in real time, then your best bet is to try out KGS or IGS.

What the creators of OGS are trying to do with OGS is to create a site with a heavy focus on organised tournament and competitive play, with a fully integrated coaching and game reviewing system coming in the next few months to help players improve their ability. On OGS there are some features that are unique to Go servers such as conditional moves (the ability to set up pre-programmed responses to your opponent's moves, thus speeding up the flow of the game), pictures in profiles and on-site game reviews.

Table of contents Index of sub-pages


Rating System

The site has a ranking system very similar to the traditional scale, and also incorporates the ELO rating system to keep track of players' ranks, with 100 ELO points being the difference in ability of about 1 stone. 1 dan is normally considered to be about ELO 2100, and 1 kyu about ELO 2000, working down 100 points per kyu to a beginner (30 kyu) with an ELO rating of about -900.

Provisional Ratings

On OGS, to keep it fair for all players, new players start with a provisional rating (set at a rank they decide is most appropriate to their ability). Any user claiming a dan rank currently has to verify this rank with a link to either a RL rating for the page or an account on another internet Go server. To get their first established rating, they must complete a certain number of rated games against non-provisional players that do not end by timeout.

For every win earned the player gets a number of win gamepoints, and similarly receives the same number of Loss gamepoints for losing the game. When either 6 win gamepoints and 6 loss gamepoints, or a total of 24 gamepoints (win and loss) have been reached, the player will get their first established rating based on their performance (calculated on the result of the game, the opponent's rating, and the handicap used in the game).

Established Ratings

Once your rating is established on the server, all ratings are adjusted at the end of the game based on the well documented ELO rating system with a variable value for K. The given value of K is taken by the rating of the winning player, with higher values for lower rated players (due to the lower variation in playing performance with more experienced players). At the end of the game, the ratings for each player at the beginning and end of the game are taken, of which the highest is used. The rating used for the winning player then determines K from the following table:

 +--------------+-------+
 |   Rating     |   K   |
 +--------------+-------+
 |    < 700     |  128  |
 |  700 - 999   |  96   |
 | 1000 - 1299  |  80   |
 | 1300 - 1599  |  64   |
 |   >= 1600    |  48   |
 +--------------+-------+

Tournaments

OGS has an excellent built-in tournament system.

There are three kinds of tournaments: Mini Tournaments, the Main Tournament and the Title Tournament.

Mini Tournaments

Mini-tournaments can be created by any users, and are designed to give tailored competitive tournament play at any time.

At the moment all mini-tournaments are with set values (decided by the creator of the minitournament) for board size, scoring rules (Chinese or Japanese), komi, handicap stones and timing details (system: blitz or fischer, and timing length with options available based on system chosen).

Bi-monthly Main Tournament

There are three categories, a 19 x 19 double round robin tournament (the main Tournament), a 9 x 9 double round robin tournament, and a proper handicap single round robin tournament. The handicap class varies in board size, with the latest of the tournaments using a 19 x 19 board.

In each group in the first round, the top 1 player(s) will progress to the next round. In the event of a tie all tied players will progress.

In later rounds the number that progress is decided to create a final with a sensible number of players involved in (normally between 5 and 10).

Any players that have reached a final in the main and nine by nine classes receives an automatic bye to the second round of future tournaments of the same class. This bye does not apply to the handicap class tournament as that it is unsuitable for a tournament with proper handicap games.

The results of all of our bi-monthly tournaments are now being displayed and kept up-to-date on the OGS Tournament Results page.

Yearly OGS Title Tournament

At the moment this tournament has not been played, but it is currently being discussed with the likelihood of it happening in the next few months.

The idea being to take the winners of a number of the bi-monthly tournaments and allow them to play for a site-wide Title holding position. When enough further bi-monthly tournaments have been played, the current title-holder will have the opportunity to defend the title against the more recent winners of the mi-monthly tournaments, and the cycle will repeat.


Site subscription

Subscribing is optional! You can continue to play for free, just as you currently are, and there is no obligation.

By becoming a subscriber, you are supporting the server costs and supporting the administrators time and effort in making the site as good an experience as possible. In return, you will receive the following benefits to your account:

  • Your gamepoints limit increases from 32 to 160, allowing you to play 160 non-tournament 9x9 games, 80 non-tournament 13x13 games or 40 non-tournament 19x19 games.
  • You minitournament limit increases from 3 to 10, and the number you can start increases from 1 to 3.
  • Your holiday days will be reset for the year, and increased from 80 to 120 days, and you will be allowed to take off 30 days consecutively instead of 20 as a non-subscriber.
  • Subscribers have 5 votes for improvements and new features instead of 3, and each of their votes carries 3 points instead of 1.
  • If you are still provisionally rated and have an account with an established rating on another internet Go server with the same username, we will also be able to set your rating on this site to match.
  • You get an icon by your username so everybody can see you are a subscriber.

The subscriber costs are £15 for one year. (This is approximately €22, $29 and ¥3400)

Subscribing is optional! You can continue to play for free, just as you currently are, and there is no obligation.


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This is a copy of the living page "OGS" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2007 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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