Recently the 6½-point komi has become the mainstream in international professional go.
Korea started switching over from the old 5½-point komi in early 2002. China switched to a
3¾-point komi in spring 2002. This is actually equivalent to 7½ points in Japanese and Korean
counting, but under the Chinese counting system there is no equivalent to 6½ points.
The reason for this change is that statistics have consistently shown that the player taking black
has an advantage, winning more than 50% of games, with the old komi of 5½ points. It has become
apparent, therefore that in the interests of fairness the komi should be increased to 6½.
In September 2002 Japan decided to adopt the 6½-point komi also. Starting in November, the new
komi has gradually been phased in as new terms of tournaments have started. There is one exception:
instead of waiting for a new term, the Meijin tournament adopted the new komi with the start of the
28th Meijin league in November 2002.
In Japan, all amateur tournaments organized by the Nihon Ki-in and the Kansai Ki-in adopted the new
komi as of 1 January 2003. The IGF Office has also decided to adopt it for the 25th World Amateur Go
Championship, scheduled for June 2003.
We would like to suggest to our members that they also adopt the new komi, not only because it is fairer
to both players but also for the sake of consistency on the international go scene.
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