Life In 19x19

Cool. I haven't played go in years but you're in the rva area; I will have to check it out. I also made a post on reddit's rva page and on facebook's go players page because I recall seeing one or two people asking about go in rva on there.

After rereading what you wrote about in the second scenario with the thought of 13pt/stone I realize I was misunderstanding what you were saying. I agree that the handi-komi interaction is weird. With a figure of 13pts for each handicap then black should be receiving a reverse komi in one stone ...

The real oddity in handicap games is the komi. If we accept that 6.5 komi is fair compensation for playing second in an even game, then between players with one rank difference, either of the following would be fair:
B plays two stones, W plays next, W receives 6.5 komi;
B plays one stone, W plays ...