Losing on Korean Servers

SmoothOper · **#41**

walpurgis wrote:

SmoothOper wrote:

walpurgis wrote:

I've understood that the KGS system takes into account your opponent's performance even after the match you had with him (up to how long I'm not sure). E.g. you're 10k and beat a 10k dude. Then this opponent goes on a win streak and becomes a 5dan. KGS keeps calculating your rating and sees that you beat a player who in reality is 5dan, and your rating will skyrocket as well. When you have lots of games this effect is of course not so dramatic and it can even be hard to go up a rank even if you keep winning.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I remember it.

For stronger players, it just doesn't make sense that you would play a 10k who ranks up to a 5dan within the window of KGS ratings. Maybe from 25k to 10k, but there in lies the rub if as a 10k you play a bunch of handicap games as white, your rank will go up riding on the wins against double digit kyu who improve dramatically, but against even competitors, you lose.

I'm not sure if you mean that my example was quite extreme (which it is for the sake of demonstration) or the way KGS system works is. In any case, the above was just to show how KGS rating system also retroactively takes into account your past games / your opponents' future performance. Whether it's good or not is up to the player's opinion.

Personally I see KGS as waaaaay more stable in terms of rank accuracy (vs. WBaduk, Tygem) in the kyu range, and my understanding is that it mostly applies to dan ranks as well. The exception being what you pointed out, but I haven't seen that nearly as much a problem as truly random ranks elsewhere.

No one cares how accurate the double digit kyu rank is though, it might as well be irrelevant. The problem is sand bagging and the relatively inflated mid kyu and low dan ranks, compared to other servers.

otenki · **#42**

SmoothOper wrote:

No one cares how accurate the double digit kyu rank is though, it might as well be irrelevant. The problem is sand bagging and the relatively inflated mid kyu and low dan ranks, compared to other servers.

Couldn't the same thing be said about sdk and low dan ? They are all just ranks we have to get passed ... :-)

walpurgis · **#43**

I have never found sandbagging a problem on KGS. And while true that low dan/kyu ranks are stronger compared to Asian servers, they're very consistent within KGS.

SmoothOper · **#44**

otenki wrote:

SmoothOper wrote:

No one cares how accurate the double digit kyu rank is though, it might as well be irrelevant. The problem is sand bagging and the relatively inflated mid kyu and low dan ranks, compared to other servers.

Couldn't the same thing be said about sdk and low dan ? They are all just ranks we have to get passed ... :-)

No, not really. Some people will have quite stable sdk and low dan ranks for example AGA ranks.

BigDango · **#45**

I would gander a few things:

1) Style. Your being exposed to many patterns you don't see all the time, yet your opponents do. Playing on multiple servers in general will help your game for just this reason.
2) No disrespect mean but you are probably choking a bit at this point. Once you take note of something like that it's hard to get out of your head.
3) KGS in me experience is the "softest server." I like it for sure, but the ranks tend to be more relaxed, the style, the people, etc.

I would fix this by:
-Playing a lot on that server. It takes the brain at the very least 7 days in a row to "adapt" (form a habit) of dealing w/ the change.
-Concentrate a bit on life and death. The aggressive styles rely more on reading then strategy.

illluck · **#46**

BigDango wrote:

...3) KGS in me experience is the "softest server." I like it for sure, but the ranks tend to be more relaxed, the style, the people, etc.

Agree with most of your points, but this is probably true only up until strong sdk - in the dan ranges KGS tends to be more strict than Tygem and Cyberoro (not that it really means anything). I am probably 2d on KGS nowadays, but holds 4d Tygem fairly easily.

Loons · **#47**

My experience of KGS and wbaduk has been that on kgs, players stake bold claims and hope it never occurs to their opponent to fight them for it, while on wbaduk what they want is poorly defined but they're going to fight you for it.

And tygem is like wbaduk but people only ever escape.

So it may be that you play thinner than you can handle?

BigDango · **#48**

http://senseis.xmp.net/?RankWorldwideComparison

illluck wrote:

ith most of your points, but this is probably true only up until strong sdk - in the dan ranges KGS tends to be more strict than Tygem and Cyberoro (not that it really means anything). I am probably 2d on KGS nowadays, but holds 4d Tygem fairly easily.

Nifty & noted. You may want to add your experiences here: http://senseis.xmp.net/?RankWorldwideCo ... Collection if you haven't already.

Losing on Korean Servers

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