Let's take Kobayashi's opening or mini-chinese. If black approaches u and you think he wants to play formentioned openings, do u let it happen and back off in the corner or do you destroy it right away by pincering or countermoves? I kind of hate it to let my opponent build big moyos as black, because he's always one move ahead, so I will end up in necessity to reduce or invade this moyo. And I don't like that, because I feel it's an psychological advantage for black. So I usually pincer to avoid those moyo-kind openings. How about you?

I dislike letting my opponent play large moyo games, because I don't find the style very fun, which is because I'm not very good at it. Most moyo games at my level seem to involve a large group wriggling in the centre to find life and then either living or dying, and one person winning by 50 points or more. I'd much rather have little silly fights all over the board than one big one.

I have no problem with letting my opponent get what he wants. I'm comfortable playing against most openings and I don't see what the problem is with letting black get a moyo-styled opening. I don't really feel any psychological advantage for black in those circumstances. Since I'm comfortable with handling my opponent's moyos, I feel on even ground with black. On the other hand, if I wasn't comfortable with handling moyos, I would definitely feel pressured when black formed one. Perhaps you just need to get more practice and comfort with fighting these kinds of moyos?

The only time I usually go out of my way to block my opponent's opening is against this one player weaker than me who I know who gets really confused when anyone does anything unorthodox against him. Against him, I sometimes go out of my way to block his usual methods of playing so that hopefully he learns more through playing in a situation he's not familiar with.

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We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

I'm a very flexible player. I don't mind letting my opponent make a moyo. On the other hand, I'm the guy who likes his influence, doesn't go out of his way to kill groups and doesn't worry about territory. I still manage to win up to dan level somehow. It's hard to explain, really...

The thing you have to remember is that for millenia, White has had second move. For millenia moyos have been built and torn down. Thousands of moyos have either blossomed or fallen apart daily for longer than history books go.

It's not about comfort. It's about finding the best moves and winning (or at least die trying).


Edit: I thought about it, and I think I turn influence into thickness when my opponent inevitably forces me to, then use that indirectly to catch up on territory. It's like chasing and trying to kill groups except safer, and I get to milk my position comfortably until the very end.

I like preventing moyos. I feel confident with my endgame and fighting so I prefer to have smaller groups(more boundaries) and not let my opponent have a huge wall to run off to. But playing against moyos isn't any more difficult then a normal game and I usually decide on a whim rather then as a standard response. That said you have to play the board. If your opponent opens up with 5-4 points then you should probably just give him the influence, take the corners and then start reducing.

It's more fun to crush players when you've given them everything they asked for.

I like moyos. I play moyos a lot myself. I likely overvalue moyos.
Other player's moyos, though? I usually try to mess them up somehow, even if it's not through direct prevention of the moyo. Though it usually is. :p

I wouldn't consider myself a "destructive" player, though. Not sure why, but my understanding of that concept does not involve the preventing of moyos.

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