When you initially sign up, the lowest rank you can enter for yourself is 20k. I'm wondering why this is, since it seems like it shouldn't be that hard to just add ranks down to 30k. Sure, you can answer with "just play lots of ranked games with higher players" but that's such a cop-out.

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Sincerely, Chad R. Sobodash

Just remember that lower bounds are always artificial. The same argument to expand to 30k could be made to expand to 40k. If you are "30k" in some other server, the equivalent on Kaya is 20k.

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Founder of Kaya.gs

It makes little sense to distinguish ranks below 20 kyu. Not that absolute newcomers may not play better than, say, 35 kyu. But they may play their next game as well as, say, 30 kyu. Above 10 kyu, ranks are steppingstones, giving reasonable goals for advancement. Below 20 kyu, they may become stumbling blocks when people take them seriously.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

worrying about the difference between 25kyu and 26kyu is like worrying about your AGA sigma value. it's really silly, and no one is really sure what it means.

If you sign up as 20k and keep losing, your rank will adjust to 21k, etc.

umm yes?

Personal choice over all, but I have met several Chinese players of dan level who have come to my Go Club in Toronto, from china, and they will all tell you that in China (where the game originates) all players begin at 20 kyu. So I don't really know why 30 kyu seems so prevalent. That said, rank truely isn't that important when you love the game I have beat players in real life in even games over 10 stones stronger, through a mix of dumb luck, a good day for me and a bad day for them. Conversely, As a 13 kyu I have lost a good few games (embarrassingly I might add) against players consistantly ranked 20 something kyu on KGS. Alot of your performance comes down to composure and not being a lazy reader.