How many stones?

[Elesthor]

Hi all!

I play quite often with a friend, which has no rank (actually so do I ...). I always beat him by 70/80 points,
so how many handy stones should i've give to him to play a fair game?


Thanx

[Phelan]

The easiest answer is to adjust the handicap until you stop winning. But for a shorcut, I'll say 3 stones to start. Then whenever you win a game, lower the handicap. Whenever he wins one, increase it.

What I do with a friend I play often is to change after every three wins in a row, but we know our rank difference.

[Bill Spight]

Hi all!

I play quite often with a friend, which has no rank (actually so do I ...). I always beat him by 70/80 points,
so how many handy stones should i've give to him to play a fair game?


Thanx

I would start with 6 stones and change the handicap up or down by 1 stone after each game. After a few games things should settle down. Then you can adjust the handicap after three straight wins or losses.

[Harleqin]

I would strongly suggest to play on a smaller board. 9x9 is quite common, but it would not hurt to go to an even smaller scale.

When you make a beginner mistake on a 19x19 board, you will likely not even notice, because the board is so big that the effect is very dilute. When you make the same mistake on a 7x7 board, you see the loss much more directly.

[Redbeard]

I have slightly different advice.

My rule of thumb is 10 pts per stone. If you are beating him by 70/80 pts, give him a 7 stone handicap to start. Also, I only adjust handicaps after winning or loosing three games in a row. Since evenly matched players should have a 50/50 win ratio, changing the handicap after every game seems excessive.

My 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

[schultz]

I have slightly different advice.

My rule of thumb is 10 pts per stone. If you are beating him by 70/80 pts, give him a 7 stone handicap to start. Also, I only adjust handicaps after winning or loosing three games in a row. Since evenly matched players should have a 50/50 win ratio, changing the handicap after every game seems excessive.

My 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

I agree with this, and have had this work quite well for me in the past. Been able to get very close to even games by taking into account ~10 points per stone.