Korean man told me that tengen opening is disrespectful

[Solomon]

If you have time, you should have a nice chat with this person on why he feels it is considered disrespectful.

He told me, "you are not a professional player! Playing tengen is rude, because you won't know what to do with it."

He also said, "I am 5dan, but I have no clue how to continue from a tengen opening, my head would hurt. You are only a weak player, don't be rude by playing tengen."

Tells you not to be disrespectful playing tengen by being disrespectful of your playing level, got it.

[ez4u]

If you have time, you should have a nice chat with this person on why he feels it is considered disrespectful.

He told me, "you are not a professional player! Playing tengen is rude, because you won't know what to do with it."

He also said, "I am 5dan, but I have no clue how to continue from a tengen opening, my head would hurt. You are only a weak player, don't be rude by playing tengen."

Tells you not to be disrespectful playing tengen by being disrespectful of your playing level, got it.

Just quietly smile at the idea that a 5d amateur knows how to continue from traditional openings. The only reason his head does not hurt then is because he plays traditional without really thinking, like the rest of us.

[Celebrir]

If you have time, you should have a nice chat with this person on why he feels it is considered disrespectful.

He told me, "you are not a professional player! Playing tengen is rude, because you won't know what to do with it."

He also said, "I am 5dan, but I have no clue how to continue from a tengen opening, my head would hurt. You are only a weak player, don't be rude by playing tengen."

This sounds really weird because a "weak" player doesn't know how to continue from a traditional opening as well (no harm intended, I include myself). It is as if he tells all "weak" players to never start a fight because they wouldn't know how to finish it correctly. Besides I believe his head only hurts more because he is not used to it. So is it also disrespectful to play a joseki he doesn't know?
Go is a game of skill, and it is your skill if you understand something better than your opponent.

[tapir]

What I find disrespectful is fancy pants 2-2 openings telling me "look I prepared a trick move for you", but then this is how the trick move works by provoking a local answer.

[wineandgolover]

Yilun Yang said he could be very comfortable playing tengen as black against another pro. His rationale is that there are many josekis that involve ladders, and the tengen serves as a ladder breaker from all corners. Seen thru the eyes of Mr. Yang, careful joseki choices would be required to effectively make use of the tengen stone.

Sensei Yang requested that I play a tengen combined with 3-5 opening when I was around 5 kyu. He felt that my go was too risk averse, and thought this would be a good way to force me to fight. I got my butt kicked for a long time, but it did help change the way I see the board. He's a smart man.

[Calvin Clark]

Maybe when he learns a good trick move that involves tengen, it will be okay then.

Seriously, there is no reason to believe he isn't telling the truth as he has experienced it in the places he's played. Whether he speaks for all Koreans is another story. Or maybe he is from Sacramento. I shouldn't assume. I always play my first move in the upper right quadrant as this is how I was taught. I realize others do not adhere to this convention and I honestly don't know where it matters and where it doesn't, so why take the chance? It doesn't cramp my style to follow at least one common tradition.

[TheBigH]

I, for one, won't be pissed if my opponent plays tengen against me: I might even be at a loss as to how to play properly against it. On the other hand, I WOULD be pissed if my opponent had a problem with me playing tengen against him, and would find HIM disrespectful towards me.
That being said, I would totally be pissed if my opponent played his first move at the 1-1 point (unless he's a total beginner, obviously ), because then I would know FOR SURE that he's messing with me ... or that he misclicked!

I once opened on 2-3 due to a misclick- I'd intended to open on 3-3. But I won the game anyway and my opponent accused me of being a jerk afterwards. It's just because I hate asking for undos.

[Anzu]

I once opened on 2-3 due to a misclick- I'd intended to open on 3-3. But I won the game anyway and my opponent accused me of being a jerk afterwards. It's just because I hate asking for undos.

I once let a guy have three undos in a game, because I wanted to beat him at his best.

Don't be shy.

[jdl]

Yilun Yang said he could be very comfortable playing tengen as black against another pro. His rationale is that there are many josekis that involve ladders, and the tengen serves as a ladder breaker from all corners. Seen thru the eyes of Mr. Yang, careful joseki choices would be required to effectively make use of the tengen stone.

More than one of Yilun Yang's KGS+ lectures have involved high level players opening with tengen or something equally "weird". Those tend to be great lectures, because he ends up having to explain the reasoning behind many of the approach moves that we take for granted.

[pitirre]

Maybe that was the best way for the old man to tell you to please don't play tengen because he doesn't know how to respond