Another one of my favorite sayings is "Play the Game, Don't Game the Player". I think that making bad moves in the hopes that your opponent is too weak to answer properly is a total dick move.

I think it depends here myself. I am new to Go, so I don't know how players prepare for major matches in tournaments. That being said, in other games like Chess, it is pretty common for grandmasters to study the games of their opponents searching for weaknesses in their game that they can exploit over the board.

So, if the players are relatively equal, and the game is competitive enough, I would say it is perfectly legitimate to take advantage of a player's weakness to help you win the game.

On the flip side, if you are playing a much weaker player, you might not want to do this sort of thing since it will likely lead to only a more lopsided victory.

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Bill

I certainly think the top dogs study one another in depth looking for stylistic weaknesses, but they would never play anything we could call a "useless move" to exploit it. If they find something, their moves will still be severe, but with a slightly different style.

That being said, I find nothing wrong with gaming your opponent. Psychology is important, and saying "well that's not fair" is just asking to get beaten up by it and forced on-tilt.

What was that line in Pirates of the Caribbean? "The only thing that matters, what a man can do, and what a man can't do"

There's nothing preventing psychological warfare, so at the very least you should work on your defenses.

I myself, when I was about 2 dan, got rolled by a 3 kyu in an even game, because I self-destructed when I got impatient, and he would take a long time for each move.

It was an important lesson for me, and it helped me advance.

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Tactics yes, Tact no...