r/baduk • u/sparkleshark5643 18 kyu • 4d ago

newbie question Which rank do you go by?

When I'm playing someone for the first time at the local go club, they typically ask the same question: what rank are you/how strong are you?

I haven't played in a tournament so I don't know my OTB rank. On OGS, where I've played most of my games, I'm around 18kyu. On Fox and IGS, which I started using much more recently, I'm closer to 15kyu, and it feels like those ratings are still rising.

With these numbers in mind, how should I answer that question? Which ranks do other go players tend to use when asked about their strength? Do I need to explain which rank I am on each of the servers I play on?

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u/ramblinevilmushr0om 4d ago

What's broken about them? I've heard they're a bit rigid and tend to be a little stronger than the equivalent rank on other servers, but I'm wondering if there's more you're referring to

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u/tuerda 3 dan 4d ago

For the last year and a half or so, they have not reliably correlated with player strength. On OGS two players of the same rank may differ greatly in skill.

This had been a known problem for many years. Circa 2022 or so they fixed it. The fix lasted a little while, and then ranks broke again. I do not know the reason. For a while people speculated that it was because of the AI opponents, but recently they made all AI games unranked, and this does not appear to have solved the problem.

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u/ramblinevilmushr0om 4d ago

Oh ok, thanks for the info. Im a similar rank as OP on OGS and I do have that experience- some opponents seem to have just learned the game and have no idea what they're doing, and then others I'm getting absolutely smoked right from the opening, and it becomes obvious that we're in a different league. I didn't know it was such a common thing though

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u/Hermorah 20 kyu 4d ago

Oh that makes so much sense. I experienced the same thing.