Hello all,

Any sources of information out there on the history of the use of handicap stones? Do any of the ancient go manuals mention the use of handis? In area scoring (or earlier) was there originally white compensation for handicap stones? (Is there now?) What are the earliest handicap games we have a record of?

If its all speculation to delve as far back as the stone scoring days, would anyone venture a guess as to whether the idea of handis would have been used AND whether or not they would have compensated white for blacks extra stones?

More generally, what ARE the finer points in the debate between compensating white for handis versus not doing so?

Thanks as always