If there is a truism in the game of GO, it is that everybody is dissatisfied with the system by which ranks are decided and thinks that his or her rank is wrong. Here is a conversation heard at every GO club in North America and US territories abroad within the past week.
Club member #1: The ranking system is broken as heck (Insert adult language here).
CM #2: Yeah!
CM #3: <something something> …algorithm…
Face it, your rank is NOT correct, nor is mine, nor is anybody’s. Frankly it can’t be. Ranks are a concept, like “democracy” or “free lunch,” they don’t actually exist except in some plane of perfection in the human imagination.
Could any given ranking system be better? Naturally! Why am I "1 Dan" in New Zealand, "2 Dan" in the AGA, "3 Dan" in my local club, "1 kyu" on OGS, "2 Dan" on KGS, and in the bathroom European. Should the AGA always be striving to improve its <something something> algorithm? Sure! If I’m at club, or even at a tournament, do I worry about it (too much)? NO! Life is too short to worry about the total and complete accuracy of ranks.
<Insert humble brag>: I was fortunate enough to win the 1-dan bracket at the Cleveland GO Congress. Yeah me! At the time, my AGA rank was 1.6 Dan. In fact, another Clevelander, my friend who I call “Killer Mike” due to his name being Mike and he always beats me, actually won the 2-dan bracket as well. We spoke during clean-up, and I discovered his actual AGA rank was 2.6 dan!
ME: After winning our ranks should go up. I’ll be 2 dan and you’ll be 3 dan.
KM: I doubt it.
Killer Mike was correct. This is not a joke: after we ranked up, I was 1.9 dan and he was 2.9 dan. Boy did we laugh about that!!! <something something> algorithm my (insert adult language here).
One other thing—we would like ranks to help ferret out sandbaggers, at both tournaments and on-line. My OGS rank is 1 kyu right now, and it sometimes dips as low as 3 kyu. Again, amount of sleep lost: none! But OGS shows my complete rank graph over many years, and back in 2012 it was actually briefly peaked at 3 dan. Recently, some random opponent quit a game after seeing my graph and accused me of sandbagging. Firstly, sandbaggers are a pain in the (insert adult language here) and Dante has a special ring of heck (aka hell) for them. Secondly, I don’t blame that random player for bailing, it is awkward. But thirdly, if you look at my last twenty games, I won some and I lost some, so my OGS rank is probably pretty accurate, for OGS.
And I guess that’s’ the point, “pretty accurate” is all you’re gonna get with a rank. Everyones rank is in constant flux, that's it, no way around it. Young or new players rank up fast, to the point where their AGA rank lags behind. Older players sometimes slip as they age. While in Japan, the fellow who mentored me from 8 kyu to 1 Dan was Mr. Fuwa. At the height of his power he was Japanese amateur 6 dan. When I could beat him at 4 stones, he is the one who got me my actual Nihon Kin 1 Dan certificate (signed by Cho Chikun!). Mr. Fuwa is still with us, over 80!! And he is active on KGS, actually, and we occasionally still play. But now, we play even. Sure, I’m probably, maybe a little stronger, he is definitely (sadly) a little less sharp, and we’ve met in the middle. And we still enjoy playing GO together. Life is too short to worry about the total and complete accuracy of ranks <something something> algorithm .