having a fuseki of choice

[hyperpape]

Yes, I think the benefit of a common opening is that you can read about it, and see if your thinking makes sense--then you can try and apply the principles from what you read to the new situations that arise.

One thing: I think the orthodox may be the simplest fuseki to understand at our level. I'm sure there's great depth to pro games, but it seems straightforward, and doesn't require as many difficult variations as appear in the Chinese, or worse, the Kobayashi. For Kobayashi, I think you really are supposed to know some hairy 3-4 pincer joseki.

Of course others will find that straightforward feeling a bit stultifying.

I personally played orthodox for a long time and still do, then tried classic japanese/enclosure fuseki, mini chinese, and (rarely) micro-chinese or kobayashi. Once in a blue moon, I'll play sanrensai, chinese or a diagonal fuseki, but that's really just to push my own boundaries. And I'm definitely no model of go study either.

[emeraldemon]

I think if you like the Kobayashi formation you should go for it, it's a lot of fun to play and there's plenty of pro games with it to study. There's a great lesson about it by Charles Matthews (pretty detailed) here:

http://gobase.org/studying/articles/matthews/fuseki/18/
continued:
http://gobase.org/studying/articles/matthews/fuseki/19/

The basic idea is that white doesn't want to directly approach the bottom right because of the pincer:

$$B Kobayashi Fuseki
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . 7 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Kobayashi Fuseki
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . 7 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Now is perfectly placed to harass . As someone mentioned, the pincer joseki can get a bit complicated, but you don't need to know them, you just have to be able to use your stone in the fight that ensues. So pros usually play this way:

$$B Kobayashi Fuseki
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . 7 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Kobayashi Fuseki
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . 7 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

[Kirby]

Maybe try to think of a time your opponent did an opening that intimidated you. Think of an opening that you fear as white. Then play that opening as black.

[Chew Terr]

I started using the Kobayashi before I knew it WAS the Kobayashi, because I saw a few opponents using it against me, and all of the moves were fast, developmental, and made a lot of sense. Because it fit so well with how I think about the opening, I generally do that or diagonal openings. I should probably mess around with different ones, though...

[Marcus]

I guess I kind of do this, but I try to be a bit more flexible than "force this opening as Black".

Here's a few branches of my preferred style of opening for the first handful of moves:

[sgf-full](;GM[1]FF[4]AP[Drago:3.17]SZ[19]CA[UTF-8];B[qd]C[Recently, I've been experimenting with playing a 3-4 stone first. Previous to this, I would always start with a 4-4 stone, which gives Black more ways to force a specific opening. With 3-4, White has the ability to trim certain options depending on which corner they play. In this small SGF, I've mostly stuck to White playing 4-4 stones.]
(;W[dp]C[Both D4 and Q4 lead to the same continuations ...];B[dd];W[pp];B[qn]
(;W[nq]
;B[lc]TR[pj]C[I'm a big fan of the Kobayashi Opening, and I've played a lot of games with it. However, recently I've been experimenting with this particular extension at M17 in various formations.])
(;W[ql]
;B[nq]C[This is a relatively new branch for me. I haven't studied too many games yet with this formation, and I don't often get to play it.]))
(;W[dd]C[White can play in this corner in order to avoid playing against a traditional chinese variant. However, it does open up the possibility of a mini-chinese variant.];B[pp]
(;W[dp];B[fc]
(;W[cf]
;B[lc]C[Here we see again the extension to M17 that I'm currently experimenting with.])
(;W[hc]
;B[oc]C[When pincered, I have begun to revert to an Orthodox Fuseki.]))
(;W[od]C[I have on occasion seen White make this approach.];B[co]C[In this case, I've been experimenting with a 3-5 like this.]))
(;W[pp]C[Both D4 and Q4 lead to the same continuations ...];B[dd];W[dp];B[qn]
(;W[nq]
;B[lc]C[I'm a big fan of the Kobayashi Opening, and I've played a lot of games with it. However, recently I've been experimenting with this particular extension at M17 in various formations.]TR[pj])
(;W[ql]
;B[nq]C[This is a relatively new branch for me. I haven't studied too many games yet with this formation, and I don't often get to play it.])))[/sgf-full]