I played a 5x5 game on Pandanet as black with no handicap. The scoring gave me 5.5 komi. Shouldn't komi go to white?

When I play as white, I get 6.5 komi.

What rating was your opponent ? The better your opponent, the more handicap you need for a more fair game.

That is called reverse komi, komi that goes to black. It is often used in smaller boards when having no komi is not enough handicap, but two stones is too much handicap. The area in between is mapped with varying degrees of reverse komi.

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Magics way up the hill (personal study journal)

Ok, thanks, I get it. I was beginner class or k17, playing robot level k12. So that's reverse komi.

So how is this scored? It's from here: http://goproblems.com/2694

How it is scored depends upon the rules.

The problem did not state which rules it was using, but it gave Black one point for the captured stone. That means the rules were Japanese or Korean rules, which do not count points for eyes in seki.

If Chinese rules or AGA rules were in effect, they count all points occupied or surrounded by the player as her score. Then Black would have 9 points and White would have 5, for a net score of 5 points for Black.

Normally, the score by Chinese or AGA rules is the same as the score by Japanese or Korean rules, or they differ by only 1 point. This is an exception.

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