Nobody really knows where the best move is for Black 1, yet it is no surprise to see that almost every such move by a pro is made on one of the corner points. Nevertheless, a move elsewhere does have shock value, if nothing else, and we might expect quite a few examples of pros trying to get an edge by throwing the game into disarray. Some of us may also expect that this would be especially common (a) in ultra-fast games as in Korea or (b) among the small army of very young pros in China. But life ain't
like that, apparently.

According to the GoGoD database, out of some 72,000 games only 141 began with a move at the centre point. 48 games began with the 5-5 point. Both these moves have been discussed formally by pros, and at worst considered "difficult" rather than "bad".

However, if these moves are not bad, we might fairly expect that moves close to them are not too bad either, yet the number of examples in the database of moves centrewards of the fourth-line astonished us at being so low.

There are 21 possible moves. Two have just been mentioned. Only 8 of the others have appeared in pro play, as follows:

9-10: 17 games
8-8: 12 games (all due to Chinese pro Gan Siyang)
6-10: 3 games
6-6: 2 games
5-6: 2 games
8-10: 1 game
9-9: 1 game
5-9: 1 game

(Although there are no pro 7-9 games, Robert Jasiek is notoriously fond of this.)

These very, very low numbers surprised us. But another surprise was that most of the examples involved Japanese professionals. Perhaps, because these moves are considered "difficult", the extra time allowed in Japanese events was a factor in the choice.

There is no special significance in posting this. It was just brought on by curiosity after discovering three games in the space of a year that began with 9-10.

Obviously, weird openings can result from later moves, but we've leave the study of that to others. But as it was easy enough to check the 4th line as well, you may wish to note the following first moves (again, mostly Japanese pros):

4-6: 38 games
4-10: 4 games
4-9: 4 games (but 3 due to Yang Yilun in US events)
4-7: 1 game.

And that concludes the votes of the United Kingdom Eurovision jury.

Best wishes.

_________________
No aji, keshi, kifu or kikashi has been harmed in the compiling of this post.
http://www.gogod.co.uk

Thanks for this. I had never heard of Gan Siyang before, I'm curious to check out some of his games.

Review of a Gan Siyang game by Alexander Dinerstein, showing how to use weird central stone:

http://www.eurogotv.com/index.php?menu= ... FImtHxZrEw