Is handicap system proper

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krv?: I wonder if the common handicap system is adequate.

If a 1k plays with a 2k then the 2k has the first move with no komi. If the game is even, then it is fair to "share" the first move right between the partners - to throw a die, or one partner pays komi to the other. Thus it seems like this is only a handicap of half a stone. Also, 2 stones handicap is really 1.5 worth and so on. A handicap system is used on the internet servers (IGS, KGS) to calculate ranks.

Having this in mind, to make the handicap system proper, we can use reverse komi or adjust the probability of winning (if a 1k plays with a 2k and the 2k has the first move and komi is 0.5 points for white, then the probability of winning is more than 0.5 for white - but less than if they played an even game with a komi of 6.5 points).

Another question - can anybody collect stats from any server to analyze it and check if this is right?

What do you think about it?

Harleqin: Yes, this is a known issue, and at least the KGS system does indeed take this into account. I don't know about the other servers.

MtnViewMark: The GoR rating system (used in Europe) also takes this into account: For a handicap H > 2, the difference in ratings is adjusted by (H - 0.5) * 100.

Velobici: AGA tournaments make use of both reverse komi and 0.5 point komi when deemed appropriate by the WinTD (Chuck Robbins) pairing program. Don't know if PyTD (Chistopher Sira) uses reverse komi and 0.5 point komi as well or not. See Tournament Directing Software.

axd: Is the assumption "2k against 1k equals no komi" correct? Where are the stats that show that the komi should be zero in that case? (And I'd like to see those stats for smaller boards too, see Handicap For Smaller Board Sizes.) Personally I'm more and more convinced that the handicap system is flawed - or only valid for a specific band of ratings (eg 30-10k? no idea.) We now do have several servers that tote thousands of games each whose outcomes could be analysed statistically to determine the correlation between ranks and komi, not only between equal-rated players; that should also confirm the existing value (5.5 - 6.5 - 7.5 ?). One of the reasons to know how far this system is correct, is to be able to say to anyone "go has an interesting handicap system that guarantees equal games" and know that is a true statement; now all I can say is "it is written so, it is believed so, someone says so".


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