maximum handicap on a 9x9

[holiveira]

I was wondering whether there's consensus for the maximum handicap allowed on a 9x9 board and how much every single stone of handicap is equal to on a 19x19 and how much large the gap between the two players has to be to give the maximum handicap - according to the wikipedia page about go handicap, 5 stones on a 9x9 should be roughly equal to 28 stones on a 19x19 but it seems that this estimate depends upon which parameter are taken into account the most (the seize of the board, the average length of the game etc.)-

[DrStraw]

Well, there is no maximum "allowed" as you can do anything you wish. I've given 9 stones many times for someone's first game, but never tried more. I'm not sure what the current consensus is, but I was always told that on a 13x13 it should be one stone per 3 ranks, and on a 9x9 one stone per 5 ranks. So 9h on a 9x9 would be equivalent of about 45k.

[Uberdude]

Similar to DrStraw I sometimes give 9 handicaps on a 9x9 to complete beginners (and sometimes lose, sometimes win, but that's not really the point) but not more and agree it's more than a 30 kyu rank difference (it depends if you say complete beginners can be weaker than 30k, the junior club actually has a club ladder down to 45k that is surprisingly good at predicting results). For our 13x13 we use handicaps as here which is 2.5 ranks per stone. They are probably a bit generous to black, but with the 10 minute sudden death to help the stronger player they give pretty fair games and the tournament is sometimes won by DDKs, sometimes by SDKs, and sometimes by dans. I've both won and lost giving 13 (or was it 17?) stones in that tournament. (The free placement is important, as such weak players are typically also weak at placing the handicap stones).

[Bill Spight]

maximum handicap on a 9x9

79 stones

[Kirby]

maximum handicap on a 9x9

79 stones

Understanding when the game has finished can be challenging for beginners, so it’s possible that a 79 stone handicap could be more of a challenge than a 78 stone handicap. Hopefully, they know when to pass!