When you refer to someone as a "high" single-digit (or double-digit) kyu, do you mean to say that they are stronger or weaker than a "low" single-digit (or double-digit) kyu? When I think of the term high sdk, I generally assume that the speaker means that they are on the stronger end of the spectrum, much the same way that a high dan is stronger than a low dan. But I've seen other people call weaker kyus "high kyus" because the natural number associated with their rank is higher. So is there a general consensus on what each term means? How do you think of these two terms?

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We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

I call them strong and weak kyus. I consider high and low to be completely ambiguous

It's better to use completely unambiguous terms, but I interpret "high single-digit kyu" to mean a kyu with a rank in the high single-digits, i.e. at the weaker end of the SDK range.

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KGS 4 kyu - Game Archive - Keyboard Otaku

You know what, Dusk, yesterday - no kidding - I thought about asking the exact same question here in the forum. I also thought I would set it up as a poll. So you saved me some work here, thanks.

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Stay out of my territory! (W. White, aka Heisenberg)

Agree it is ambiguous, so I try not to use "high" and "low" for kyus, though I can see arguments on both sides. I instinctively think "high" as in number, so "high dan" is strong and "high kyu" is weak. But I think differently when someone says "up to 5 kyu." Even though "up" might be associated with "higher" I still think, if the sentence is, "I'll play someone up to 5 kyu," they mean someone that is 5 kyu or weaker. I'm not saying I'm right, it is just my first instinct.

Kyu means class.

First class is high class.

First kyu is high kyu.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Hmm, to me, "5 kyu and up" means the set of people who are 5k or stronger.

_________________
We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

I agree. But "up to 5 kyu" is different . It doesn't necessarily make sense, it is just what I would assume--that is, if I had to decide, because I would recognize the ambiguity in any event.

You are right! I knew this, but never thought of it. Now when I say it to myself in Chinese its utter unambiguous

Whenever I think of High Kyu I am reminded of Japanese poetry. Am I the only one?

That's an absolutely terrible pun. I think it was bad enough I actually had to try and not give a little chuckle.

And since I'm already posting, I find it makes sense to my brain thinking high as high numbers and low as low numbers (surprise!), which means the meaning switches for dan vs. kyu players in my mind.

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KGS: schultz [?].

I'm surprised how most of you got this wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%AB

High kyū are the low numbers.

This topic drives me nuts, repeatedly. I am always in the position of needing to get trophies, and select national title holders, and what, exactly, to name them is always a problem. There seems to be no consensus, so I end up with something lame like "5-10 kyu division". Personally, I always feel that a high player is stronger than a weak player. So 5 kyu should be stronger than 20 kyu.

Bill's answer is the best

First class is at the top of the class. 2nd class is lower, etc.

I think we should move away from numbered kyus, since they are so vastly confusing, and move into a coloured rank system. We can make them headbands or armbands, and you can know that green gives yellow a stone.

Clearly, I'm joking.

On the other hand, it would amuse me if go ranks were structured more like martial arts ranks, with each rank given out by the teachers of a dojo, and 'tested' for by performing up to some codified set of knowledge. (Must know 10 joseki, and how to monkey jump to be 10k.)

Must understand this to be one dan.

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_________________
We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

That was about being 1p and not 1d if I recall correctly.

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Sanity is for the weak.

IMO, high kyu is strong kyu, and I think korean and japanese words agree with me:

고급 (高級): advanced/high ranking or grade; 고/高 can be thought of as high, and 급/級 is kyu.

Guess how you might write the same word in Japanese: 高級(koukyuu), which also means high class or high grade.

I do not think there is ambiguity. High sdks are strong sdks (well, weaker than dans, presumably ).

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be immersed

How about using flights? E. g., 1 - 4 kyu = Kyu Championship Flight, 5 - 10 kyu = Kyu First Flight, 11 - 15 kyu = Kyu Second Flight, etc.?

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

I've always liked belt systems, such as those in martial arts. In most martial arts, your first dan is your first Black belt rank. So how about something like:

1d+ = Black class
1-4k = Brown class
5-8k = Blue class
9-12k = Green class
13-16k = Yellow class
17-20k = Orange class
21-25k = Red class
26-30k = White class

Or whatever fits into the grade of players you have