From: Larry Kaufman <lkaufman <at> WIZARD <dot> NET>
Date: 27 may 2000
Subject: Re: Tournament formats

At 04:36 PM 5/27/00 +0200, you wrote:

>3) To be fair to all players, irrespective of strength, the same handicap
>    should be given to all.

     That applies to players with the same score, fighting for the top
prize.  But there is no reason that in a Swiss event players who have
already lost more than once could not get a larger handicap, so long as the
rule was the same for all.  For example, one loss = Bishop handicap, two =
rook, three = Rook & Lance, four = two piece.  This is in the spirit of
getting easier pairings when you lose.

>4) Some players may be better/worse playing handicap games than even
>    games, and their performance in essentially an even-game event may
>    be affacted unfairly by their (lack of) handicap skills.
>
     There is a long tradition in shogi for combining even game and
handicap play.  For example, to become a Pro you must achieve certain
results in the Shoreikai, which includes both handicap and even games.
Another example; in title matches, there used to be a rule that a player
down 3-0 would receive lance handicap.  This happened more than once within
my lifetime; Oyama Meijin found himself on both sides of this situation at
different times, and in both cases the player giving the handicap won!

>Ciao,
>
>Pieter
>
     Larry Kaufman