I was in the shower this morning and I started thinking about the perfect opening. My train of thought went like this:
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Nirensei vs nirensei is the opening most likely to be perfect. It’s been the top professional opening for, I don’t know, forty years. It’s also the favoured bot opening.
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There are basically two routes that seem most credible. Firstly for Black to approach from outside and White to keima away. Tthis has been professionally mainstream for many years. Secondly, for Black to immediately invade at 3-3, which bots are very happy with.
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So what if we combine the two openings? Black approaches from outside, White keimas away, and then Black invades at 3-3.
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A look at professional and bot games suggests that White should block the 3-3 on the inside. This step might be the weakest point in the chain of reasoning, though.
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In the AlphaGo Zero vs AlphaGo Master games, White (AG Master) then played the hane wall variation in ten games and lost eight of them, eg.http://ps.waltheri.net/database/game/79223/. So perhaps this suggests that the hane wall variation is a mistake here? Although, ofc, AlphaGo Zero was known to be the stronger player.
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Professionals and bot don’t seem to like the extension variation, and I can understand that as it looks a bit soft on Black who can simply keima onto the side and take the corner.
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So in light of this, my best guess at the first ten moves of the perfect game of Go is:
My main doubt, though, is whether White should actually respond in the corner at (6). If it’s going to turn into a bad exchange with respect to the value of the left side, he could tenuki instead, perhaps to one of Black’s 3-3 points.