White 2 seems to be prefered on adjacent side, any reason ?

[oca]

Hi,

When I click on the top/right hosi on "Waltheri's go pattern search" (http://ps.waltheri.net), the most played continuation for white is
on an adjascent corner (18'932 game).

I wonder why this seems to be prefered to the opposite corner (11'282 games)...

At what I may guess, playing in an adjascent corner let black choose between a split game or a facing game... looking a ranking position for , it seems that black choose more often the facing game.

and then seems to be preferred on hoshi if is played on "a" or "b",
or on c if is play on komoku like that :

$$Bc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . a 3 . . |
$$ | . . . c . . . . . . . . . . . b . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . a 3 . . |
$$ | . . . c . . . . . . . . . . . b . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

so... still with the original question... why seems white 2 to be preferd on the adjacent side ? does white feel to have more control over the last corner move ? because the facing position will allreay be choosen by black maybe ?

any thought on this on this ?

[quantumf]

Actually, I generally play at c in your diagram for my first move as white. But to answer your question, I would guess that it's about ladders. If black chooses to approach white's first move instead of taking a second corner, then black can do so confident that most ladders will be in his favour. This was perhaps more relevant when first moves in the corner were on 3-4 rather than 4-4, in which case approaching immediately is a very viable option.

[Uberdude]

Possible reasons:

1. It's closer to white on a real board where black traditionally opens at top right in a bowing action and by playing near to white (the senior player) it means white doesn't have to stretch as far.
2. Habit
3. 4-4s are direction neutral but if black plays the lower right 3-4 preparing for Chinese opening for example you can now play the lower left as a 3-4 at c4 which means Chinese bcomes bad as white shimari is good. Or if black wants to get a mini Chinese you can stymie that too.

[ez4u]

See this post and the subsequent post #20 for analysis of the adjacent versus opposite choice.

[oca]

Thank you for the link, that's what I was looking for !