Whoa, I have a KGS rank

On Oct 12th, I played Timmy who is 17k. My provisional rank was 21k, so KGS gave me 4 handicap stones. I won by 8.5 points - talk about close!

Despite winning, I made several bad moves in that game. Again, I lose groups by not reading ahead. Don't get cut off. Just don't. Don't miss ataris. Just don't.

Winning this game gave me an unqualified ranking of 19k. Let's see how that changes over the next few ranked games. Probably up into the 20s again. I certainly feel weaker than the OGS players who are 20 and stronger, although their ranks may be artifically weaker until they've completed enough games against their equals/betters for their own ranks to become reliable. With the slow turnaround on OGS, it can take months to reflect reality.

Still, now I'm on the map, and it's not a bad rank for a beginner! In fact, at the Bristol Go Club I attend every couple of weeks Peter, a 2k player thinks I'm slightly stronger than 19k. We'll see. I'd like to get my games there recorded for analysis.

Still, it pleased me immensely to a) win on KGS for once, and b) finally have a rank.