Well, I am currently rated 15k on KGS. I felt that this had to be a bit inflated, as I really just started playing Go less than a month ago. However, after defeating a 10k player with only four handicap stones, I wondered. Today, I played a game against Harmo543 [15k], and won by quite a few points. After this game, I am pretty sure that I must really be 14-15k. I know it is only two games, but I also played Wes yesterday from The Phoenix Go Club, and he is 4k. I had nine-stones, and only lost by about twenty moku. If I remember correctly, that would make my strength about 15k. I can't remember where I read it, but I believe that each stone is worth about ten moku, and each point of strength is one stone. Four Kyu, plus nine handicap stones equals thirteen. Add two more points (lost by twenty or so moku), and you have fifteen.
Here is the game against Harmo543.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It's great that you've made so much improvement in a short amount of time. However, the truth is that rankings are very inaccurate and variable from 8-20 kyu. The reason for this is that weaker players (myself included) tend to make large tactical blunders and have inconsistent openings that either go really well or really bad. Thus, the strength of such a player tends to vary widely from game to game. For example, I often play well against stronger players 3-4 ranks higher than me so that they say I must be stronger than 10 kyu. But I also lose games to 11 kyu players.
Also, rankings on any server or system do not follow the stone handicap levels at all. Generally, the stone handicap is bigger than a corresponding rank difference, and many players don't know how to play well when giving a handicap, since they have to play differently. Thus, being able to beat a stronger player with a large handicap is not a great indicator of your strength.
Still, it's obvious that you are getting better. I would only suggest that you don't put so much faith in the ranking system, but rather focus on your understanding/application of new concepts and ability to read as a measure of your improvement.
Thank you for the excellent and informative comment, and thanks for reading!
Post a Comment