Bantari wrote:Bill Spight wrote:Somewhat surprisingly, we can answer this question. We may not be able to say that one is better than the other. In fact, by symmetry the average value of each is zero. But we can say that if one is better than the other, it is parallel star points. The reason is that, given the choice between the two, each player can enforce parallel star points.
This is confusing to me. What you say "better" what do you mean by that? Better for whom? Better in what sense?
Here is what I am thinking. Look at the following position:
This is what it boils down to. Can we say that Black should now play (a)? Or is (b) better? And why?
What we can say is that if one is better than the other, it is (b) unless
is a mistake.The same can be said for White's second move. Can we say (1) is better than (a)?
We can say that if one is a mistake, it is (1).
Do we want to say any of that, anyways?
If we want to avoid a mistake, even at the cost of preventing a mistake by the opponent, we play for the parallel star points.
By the same token, you can say that both players can always prevent, for example, chinese fuseki, or san-ren-sei. Does that make ni-ren-sei in any way "better" than either of the two?
You cannot always answer such questions. For instance, which diagram is better?
If this is the question before us, only Black gets to choose between the two. Therefore we cannot say which is better with that kind of argument.
