Reduced handicap?

[dst]

Hi! Thx so much for ASR League!

One question, though. I find myself playing differently against players with ranks more than two higher or lower than myself. Against the 2d+ I feel lost from the start, against the 4k- I feel overconfident. Yes, I know, first that is a fault of character of mine ...

But may be the situation could be helped with playing games with reduced handicap?
If playing a better opponent I could still learn a lot and a had a realistic chance to win on a good day. If playing a weaker opponent I should start playing from the first move and not after some sluggish play got me with the back to wall

May be it would just be allowed by the rules, not mandatory?

But whatever, it is already a nice offering as it is! Maybe it just could still get better?

Ciao
Detlef

[cdybeijing]

Hi! Thx so much for ASR League!

One question, though. I find myself playing differently against players with ranks more than two higher or lower than myself. Against the 2d+ I feel lost from the start, against the 4k- I feel overconfident. Yes, I know, first that is a fault of character of mine ...

But may be the situation could be helped with playing games with reduced handicap?
If playing a better opponent I could still learn a lot and a had a realistic chance to win on a good day. If playing a weaker opponent I should start playing from the first move and not after some sluggish play got me with the back to wall

May be it would just be allowed by the rules, not mandatory?

But whatever, it is already a nice offering as it is! Maybe it just could still get better?

Ciao

Detlef

Sorry, I totally disagree. I want to play the stronger players even - it's the only reason I joined the league. It's not too much of a chore playing the weaker players even, either. Against anyone within 2 stones you have a realistic chance of both winning and losing.

[stalkor]

sorry for the late reaction, but i also disagree here.

the league is supposed to be a competition and i think that leagues should be played on even terms.

also i would like to point out that KGS ranks are rarely right and players who would want to win in the league will sign up with a lower rank so they can get in more easy wins.

[topazg]

The idea is interesting, but the lack of stable ranks of a lot of players in the ASR makes it hard to implement even if the idea was popular. It could be something worth revisiting once we have streamlined and worked further on the league entry processes.

[regiongo]

I think handicaps should be optional. I really doubt it would be abused and even if it was abused on a small level I think its benefits outweigh its flaws. I would rather play games that are a chalange for me then to beat every DDK outright.

[topazg]

I would be in favour of allowing handicaps as optionally agreed by the players on a case by case basis (with the default being even). It's more important to have people wanting to play the games I think

I'll speak to the others

[daal]

I would be in favour of allowing handicaps as optionally agreed by the players on a case by case basis ...

Optionally allowing handicap games would introduce a quibble phase which I would find off-putting. Playing even games is one of the core tenets of the league, and I would not like to see it changed.

[jdl]

I'm not active in the league anymore, but the two best experiences that I had involved wild differences in skill. In one case, I was much weaker than my opponent and he spent a long time reviewing and explaining. In another case I got to be the teacher, showing some major errors in direction of play, which was well received.

I always thought that the reviews were more important than the games anyway.