Life In 19x19

In response to a reddit question
https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments ... _approach/

some kick variations:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +--------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . 6 . 1 O . . . .
$$ | . . . X . 2 . . . ,
$$ | . . 5 4 . . . . . .
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . , . . . . . ,[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +--------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . 1 O . . . .
$$ | . . . X . 2 . . . ,
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . , . . . . . ,[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +--------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . 1 O . . . . .
$$ | . . X . 2 . . . . ,
$$ | . . 5 4 . . . . . .
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . , . . . . . ,[/go]

a year ago, the most common response to a low approach to a lone komoku or hoshi was to back off, perhaps another knights move, or maybe a pincer...but now everyone kicks, which I thought was considered bad. why?

184 kicks versus 1011 knight move back offs in my pro game database for 2018 (empty quadrant). What are you talking about?

1197 versus 297 with smaller search window (aka positions with other stones around included)

I'm pretty sure the answer to "why does my amateur opponent do x" is not found in a pro database