So I registered for Tygem, since I was all excited about how it is now available in English. I played in the beginner room and made myself the same rank as in IGS: 13 kyu. Incredibly, I have lost 10 games in a row and have yet to win one game against people supposedly of my own rank . Anyone else have this happen? Or is it just me?

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"shinigami" IGS server, "Entautista" Tygem Server

Obviously Tygems suffers from the same desease as Wbaduk. Tons of sandbaggers that corrupt the ranking system. I am around your strength - around 12-13+k on IGS) - and on Wbaduk 18k on Korean servers. I will start at Tygem at the weekend at 18k and we'll see what happens.

I guess it's time to praise the ranking system of KGS

There's also a factor of getting used to the style on tygem or wbaduk. You have to be prepared to have a massive fight that spills out over half the board. People on kgs start to seem really timid after playing a bunch of koreans.

They aren’t sandbagging, you just have to get used to Korean ranking. All native Koreans are born with a 10k rating. If they say they don't really play they are SDK and anyone who admits to playing Baduk is at least 1 Dan. The rest of us just have to work harder to keep up.

Yeah, and if they say they used to play years ago then watch out, they're 4 or 5d...

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

I have to say that as a DDK, and even as a weak SDK, I found Oro very unpleasant - the frequency with which you met sandbaggers made it a pretty grim experience. I stopped using it until I got to about 2k, and when I tried it again I found it much more enjoyable. I've played about 10 Tygem games so far, as a 1d, and have found it pretty good as far as sandbagging goes - so far no one has been significantly weaker or stronger than myself (although I have lost more than I have won )

It's fun to me one of my personal goals is to work my way up the ranks and play any sandbaggers that wants some. Besides sandbaggers make great games for review. And that makes u stronger in the long run...
Isn't life good!

In the long run, I know it is better to play in Tygem though. It's not about who falls but rather who rises. All hail South Korea for the amount of amazing players that they have.

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"shinigami" IGS server, "Entautista" Tygem Server

I feel like I have been fooling myself all along about my strength. In IGS, getting 13 kyu was rather easy. Walking into Tygem I felt something like "I have been living in my own little made up fantasy world were everyone is weak. Welcome to the real world."

I noticed that Tygem has more active users at any given moment than IGS or KGS. Maybe it is the IGS system and KGS ranking system that are flawed for making ranks easy rather than they Tygem server being flawed for being too hard.

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"shinigami" IGS server, "Entautista" Tygem Server

I've registered as a 5k having read all this, I'll see where I end up

I weighed in at 10k, which is what I've reached so far on IGS, and so far I'm 1-1. Nice opportunity to fight to make sdk again.

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Patience, grasshopper.

meh, I'm 2/2 as a tygem 4k, and you're at least 3 stones stronger than me...

I found the playing style a bit more "normal" than on wbaduk.

Hmmm, maybe I'll reset it then, seems to be wildly changing experiences oin there :S

I have no problem with sandbaggers as long as the game is even or they take white in a handicap game. Having to give handicap stones to a stronger player on the other hand is very annoying.

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Sanity is for the weak.

The great irony is that all this hype about sandbagging just caused an otherwise honest man to become a sandbagger too...

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207

It's rather embarrassing really. I had a train of thought after Lorill's post that made me think:

a) Wow, what a silly reason to enter as 5k (I always hate the idea that I'd enter too high and people would think I was just over-bragging about my ability or something)
b) Wait a minute, now I'm a sandbagger
c) Wait a minute, what if all the other sandbaggers are people who have heard of Tygem's rank issues and sandbagged
d) I'm part of the problem, oops!

Ah well, I suppose I'll change it up a few ranks

If it helps, Topazg, I registered as 1d on the English client, and one my first (and only) game.

I'm 2d on my Korean account, where I've played many more games (I started out as 5k as the initial rank there). Maybe you could try out 3d or so...

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be immersed

I think the proper way to express this chain of reasoning is like this:

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

I dunno, I had more of an image of this:



Seriously though, Topazg, you have too low an opinion of your skill. =) I think you should enter as 3d and have done with it. =D

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Tygem 3d is really not that strong. KGS 1k actually feels stronger to me, but then again, it may be that I'm just so used to playing on the Korean servers that I sometimes have trouble with very solid playing styles...

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"Those who calculate greatly will win; those who calculate only a little will lose, but what of those who don't make any calculations at all!? This is why everything must be calculated, in order to foresee victory and defeat."-The Art of War