From: "'Ben Bednarz'" AOL COM> Date: 21 may 1999 Subject: Re: Still Problems with the US Shogi Championship Larry Kaufman wrote: << I disagree that handicap games don't belong in a serious event. They don't belong in an event in which a substantial prize such as a trip to Japan is being awarded, but they certainly do belong in events with nominal prizes (say up to $100 or so in value). The point is that in tourneys with >> Again, I'd like to take Larry's comment further: I think handicap is good for ANY tournament in which you have a wide disparity of strength. The US Chess championship doesn't require handicap (assuming would could invent a good chess handicap system) because the players are all more or less comparable. They're supposed to be able to compete on even ground. For the US Shogi championship, it sounds like we had a wide range of player strengths, so handicap makes more sense. In terms of ratings, if you have players spread over 300 or more points, then you probably should require handicapping. On the other hand, once you use an accurate handicap system, you no longer need class prizes. At that point, we are all equal; that's the purpose of the handicap. In chess, we are forced to use class prizes because we have no handicap system. A key point here is that the handicapping has to be accurate, which means the ratings must be accurate. Since, US Shogi is so new, it sounds like the rating are not quite firm. They will never be completely firm - there are always people who are new or young or out-of-practice or sick or whatever - but as the rating system comes into more common use in this country, it should become more accurate, which will help with handicaps. Bottom line: a broach rating spectrum should be the deciding factor in using handicap, not the size of the prize. Otherwise, why not just hand the prize to the highest rated player before the tournament starts, and then tell him to go home so the rest of us can have fun?