This is actually an amateur game, the final of the Chinese Waobao Cup, representing the highest level of the Chinese amateur players. Playing black is Yi Lingtao, a 13-year-old Go talent. His opponent, Ma Tianfang, is also very famous because he reaches his current high level without having any professional training.

Black played several wonderful moves in this game. I cannot pretend to understand them all, but I will try to explain the most interesting part of the game. The complete record is at: http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/39949

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[go]$$W
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . O X X X . . . |
$$ | . . O O O X O O X . . . O X . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , X X X X X , O X X O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . O O O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . a O O X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O X X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . @ . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

I don't know if is a good move or not. 'a' is apparently a huge move. Black's plan following that is quite amazing...

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[go]$$B
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . O X X X . . . |
$$ | . . O O O X O O X . . . O X . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , X X X X X , O X X O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . O O O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . 5 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3 a . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4 2 X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 O O X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O X X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

starts a fight and is an interesting tesuji. After , the weakness at 'a' is obvious, but black cannot cut directly because of short of liberties. So a next tesuji follows...

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[go]$$Bm9
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . O X X X . . . |
$$ | . . O O O X O O X . . . O X . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , X X X X X , O X X O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . O O O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . X 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9 O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 3 O O O X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 5 4 X O O X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 0 8 . X X O X X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

is a good move. White can play but black will happily run out at adding more pressure to the right side. So white chose to defend safely at .

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[go]$$Bm19
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . O X X X . . . |
$$ | . . O O O X O O X . . . O X . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , X X X X X , O X X O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . O O O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X 5 . . O a . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . 3 X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 1 X X O O 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O O O X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O X O O X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . 2 . O O . X X O X X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

turned weak stones into a wall. was a must, otherwise hane and double-hane would be painful for white. seals the outside in sente. appears to be necessary too, without it black 'a' would be a great way to attack and white would end up losing too many points.

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[go]$$Bm29
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . 8 . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O 5 6 7 . 9 . O X X X . . . |
$$ | . . O O O X O O X . . 0 O X . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , X X X X X , O X X O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . O O O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . O X . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O O O X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O X O O X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . O O . X X O X X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

At black's plan become clearer, he wanted to attack the white group which several moves earlier appeared quite strong. Next the climax of the game:

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[go]$$Bm39
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . O X . X . O X X X . . . |
$$ | . . O O O X O O X . . O O X . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , X X X X X , O . . O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . O O O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X O . O X . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 1 O X X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O O O X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O X O O X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . O O . X X O X X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Have you guessed ? Black did all the preparation and now he was ready to kill the group! This involved a lot of readings. Black eventually managed to capture the white group.

After this game, as the new amateur champion, Yi Lingtao is eligible to apply to become a professional. It's reported that he will immediately apply (although he has 12 months time to do so), which means he will give up his right to play in this year's WAGC representing China. He is more interested in playing in real pro tournaments! I am sure we will see more his wonderful games.