In the 6.0 era, clean programs meant much more than in the COP era. Kwan definitely has the advantage here. Kim rarely skates a completely clean program, and would hurt her a lot. Kwan beat Slutskaya and Cohen many times because she skated clean. One or two mistakes was enough to lose the title.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kwan had at least a dozen clean programs while Kim maybe 5 her whole career. I do agree that with the triple lutz-triple toe combo and bigger jumps, Kim has an advantage in terms of the technical mark, even with just 6 triples instead of 7.
Even then, I think a majority of World Championships would look like this.
Kwan: 5.8/5.9
Kim: 5.9/5.8
With a clean performance, Kim might earn a 5.9 and beat a clean Kwan, but again, this would be rare (5.9/5.9). However, with just one error, Kim's scores would likely be reduced by .1 either in the technical mark and/or presentation mark. Either way she loses.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kwan had at least a dozen clean programs while Kim maybe 5 her whole career. I do agree that with the triple lutz-triple toe combo and bigger jumps, Kim has an advantage in terms of the technical mark, even with just 6 triples instead of 7.
Even then, I think a majority of World Championships would look like this.
Kwan: 5.8/5.9
Kim: 5.9/5.8
With a clean performance, Kim might earn a 5.9 and beat a clean Kwan, but again, this would be rare (5.9/5.9). However, with just one error, Kim's scores would likely be reduced by .1 either in the technical mark and/or presentation mark. Either way she loses.
As to some of the earlier comments Kim from Vancouver or London would definitely have a chance, a good one, to beat even the Kwan of Vancouver under 6.0 IMO. Irina Slutskaya at those Worlds managed only 5 clean triples, had a mistake, a sloppy performance that was below her season standards, and relatively weak presentation that is below both Kwan and Kim, and still won 3 judges, and had the higher technical marks. Kim even with 6 triples would get the higher technical marks no problem vs Kwan's 7. While I would agree Kim overall is a more devastating COP skater than 6.0, the judge under 6.0 would actually credit some of her very difficult triple-triples more than COP does. The judges would give huge value to her triple lutz-triple toe and reward it much more highly than a mere triple toe-triple toe and it would more than make up the difference of a triple loop. That is presuming Kim wouldnt even add a triple loop and probably land it if she felt it was important. Kwan when COP was introduced took out her triple loop as well, lol! Add to that Kim's jumps are much bigger and of higher quality, her spins are better, and her footwork are on par, and she generally skates with more speed, and she would easily win the technical mark. Slutskaya's much weaker (relative to Kim's best performance) 2001 Worlds performance even beat Kwan in the technical mark, presumably mostly since the judges felt a triple salchow-triple loop value over a triple toe-triple toe was enough to make up for all the other deficiencies of the performance. As for the presentation mark if Slutskaya was holding her own, Kim would be just fine there too. I actually found Kwan at the 2000 Worlds even better than 2011 but here Slutskaya with only 6 triples attempted, no triple-triple attempt, a big pop open, and one of the most generic Carmens I ever saw, still took marks off a perfect 7 triple, triple-triple, and again had higher technical marks than a skating with more speed and attack than I ever saw her Kwan, so again Kim at her best with her trusty mammoth triple lutz-triple toe combo I dont see being shut of a chance of winning even if she did only 6 triples, lol!
6.0 between Kwan and Kim both at their best and in general (keeping in mind the general consistency level of both and that most times they dont skate their best level despite being two of the most consistent skaters ever) would be very close either way though I agree. However that is the difference, Kwan vs Kim under 6.0 is a very close battle, but Kim at her best vs Kwan at her best under COP would be a blowout and Kwan would lose badly in that scenario. Notice how we are only debating who would win in these hypothetical competitions under 6.0, nobody even dares to propose under COP as it isnt even worth discussing. For Kwan to dominate under COP she would certainly have to avoid people like Kim and Asada at their best, and even Slutskaya at her best as it was already pretty clear their rivalry would have been very different under COP than it was under 6.0 (not that Irina was ever an easy opponent for Michelle even under 6.0). Even Cohen would have defeated Kwan many more times under COP than 6.0, and possibly Arakawa (although not too often only since she was a skater who dropped bombs on the ice 80% of her competitions), and probably some others too. I like Kwan alot but between her and Kim which skater would be more capable of dominating under both COP and 6.0, it is Kim easily, as Kim being a dominant force and winning most all competitions she skated her best under 6.0 (just as Kwan of course was under 6.0 and Kim of course was under COP) is much easier to imagine than the reverse being true for Kwan under COP.