This is one reason that go has handicaps. Take more stones from this player. Like 13, maybe.

A lot of us regard high handicap games as teaching games, where the object is not necessarily to win. But some people play all out, even when giving 9 stones or more. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as the handicap gives each player a 50-50 chance.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

If this is the only thing you got out of this experience, then it's sad indeed.

Of course, how to teach or how to help beginners is another huge topic,
very deep (with many other threads of discussions. )
Maybe this person could have taken a better approach, maybe not -- we were not there, so it's not easy to tell.
Some people can wipe us off the board but still make us feel nice about it.
If they're genuinely trying to help us improve, instead of just crushing for fun,
we can often feel it.

At the same time, Go can be brutal sometimes -- many of us here already know this.
Take some of the vocabulary for example: punish, severe, vital points, kill, life-and-death, painful, etc.

This may sound cliche, but often, our worst opponents are ourselves.

So we need to find a balance, between:

• Taking responsibility for our moves -- after all, nobody else forced us to play them.
• Dealing with people such as the guy early in Hikaru who enjoy tormenting beginners with bad moves.

The final result of your game depended on both you and him, yes;
but what you can learn from this experience depends on you, not him.

I think you have discovered an ultimative truth.
Asuming the same opponent taking a handicap should always give a better winning chance than giving a handicap to him


@tynan: When using the concept of "dishonest move" it shouldn't imply a "dishonest character". If your opponent plays a trick move he actually gives you some extra chances to punish it. If you don't find the correct counter he gives you some extra chance to learn something about life & death or tesuji.

When I play a game I usually don't care who is teacher and MUST play some special style for some reasons, but I prefere to set up a handicap that gives both a 50:50 chance to win and requires that both do their best. This way BOTH players can learn something.
If white thinks that trick moves gives the best chance there is nothing wrong with it (independ if it's really the best strategy).

Actually if it's a sure-win-strategy for white to play only calm moves I think the handicap is too low and I would consider it as unfair in a game played for fun. And for white it will be quite boring. (Of corse there is nothing wrong with reducing the handicap for a teaching game, but it should be treated differently than playing a "fair" game and be clear for both players from the beginning.)

You should welcome if you force white to take risks when making trick moves and fight back as hard as you can instead of trying not to die and accept losing on points for sure. Better to die big in a semeai (and have at least a small chance to win) than simply losing for sure without a fight.

Just a truth about myself. As a 2 kyu I could take 4 stones from a 4 dan but could not give 5 stones to a 7 kyu.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

I'm just curious, are you now equally good with w and b in handi games?
And how is handicap vs even games?
In theory a KGS like rating seems to give white a small advantage (because the effective handicap is 0.5 stones too small.
For me it seems somehow that I'm slightly stronger in handicap games (with b and w) than in even games. What does this say about me?