Ranks and Grades

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Please also read Sensei's excellent rank overview.

Worldwide ranking systems

Traditional ranks in Go are taken from the Japanese grading system, and are separated into "kyu" ranks and "dan" ranks. A beginner, who has learned all the rules and played one or two games will be around the 30 kyu mark. As the player improves this number will steadily decrease, and a decent club player would be expected to have a rank in single-digit kyus or better. Once a player has progressed beyond 1 kyu, they earn the rank of 1 dan, or "shodan". The dan ranks then continue up to 7 dan, which is the highest amateur rank normally available. The ranks are often abbreviated with "k" (for kyu) and "d" (for dan).

In Korea, a different system is used, though the separation between each rank is still considered to be 1 handicap stone on a full size board. Ranks in Korea range from 30 gup to 1 gup, with 1 gup being the strongest. There is a lively discussion on gup ranks here, and a country rank comparison here.

The difference between each individual rank (e.g. between 17k and 16k) is normally referred to as "1 stone", as this is the expected handicap required on a full 19x19 board to make the game roughly even (though as 1 stone handicap games don't exist, normally black would play without komi to even the game).

There are also professional ranks, which are awarded based on the judgement of other high dan professionals or "promotion" tournaments, which go from 1 dan all the way up to 9 dan. To differentiate between amateur and professional dan ranks, the professional ranks are normally referred to as "pin" (abbreviated "p"). There are very few 9 pin players in the world at any one time. The difference between pin ranks is far smaller than that between amateur ranks, and currently the difference between a 1 pin and a 9 pin player is considered to be between 2 and 3 handicap stones. Professional players, even at 1 pin, are considered to be above the skill of a 7 dan amateur. An overview of how professional ranks are awarded can be found here, with the new Japanese promotion system (having replaced the Oteai system) described here.

OGS

This site has a ranking system very similar to the traditional scale, and also incorporates the ELO rating system to keep track of players' ranks, with 100 ELO points being the difference in ability of about 1 stone. 1 dan is normally considered to be about ELO 2100, and 1 kyu about ELO 2000, working down 100 points per kyu to a beginner (30 kyu) with an ELO rating of about -900. To see a list of the active players on this site click on the "Player List" link in the menu.

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