I'm super-keen to arrange some. I have some thoughts on method.

-Volunteers volunteer

-Professionals they'd like to pick up from
-What stage(s) of the game they'd like to pick up from
-Preferred time settings
-Preferred times to schedule

-A third party picks a game for matching players and presents an SGF up to the game's beginning (to be viewed shortly before the game starts).

-Meet up on KGS L19 room or alternately start a Malkovich and play!

Pros:
-Picking up a game from one of your go idols sounds awesome
-At least a few moves will be very interesting to contrast to the actual pro game
-Can emphasise practising your middle game or endgame skills
-Get to play from "normal" pro fuseki that amateurs never permit (re: kobayashi)

Suggestions:
-Close ranks (+-3?) and/or reverse komi
-Alternately could pick a textbook fuseki/joseki variation you would like to pick up from
-No databases if a Malkovich game, obviously
-Probably list professionals in reverse-chronological order?

----------------

Me (1 dan KGS):

Yamashita Keigo
Chang Hao
Yang Yilun

Ishida Yoshio
Fujisawa Hideyuki

Go Seigen
Kitani Minoru
Hashimoto Utaro

Karigane Junichi
Honinbo Shuei

Huang Longshi

-Honestly, I'm also happy playing a "villain" against any of my heroes .

From: Late fuseki or early midgame.

Time settngs: "Medium" KGS, though I'm open to ideas. I prefer 30 second byo-yomi periods. I'm fully loaded on Malkoviches at the moment, sorry .

Time schedule: Within a few hours after 0300UTC weekdays, any time weekends.

_{No Korean players made my list because I'm afraid of romanising their names. You could also post comments and suggestions, I guess...}

_________________
Revisiting Go - Study Journal
My Programming Blog - About the evolution of my go bot.

I've thought about this too. I particularly like the idea of starting a game after the fuseki is over so you can jump right into the thick of things. Often in a real game, I find that by the time the middle game starts, I've already spent a significant amount of my mental energy, leaving me more apt to miss things in the middle game, which isn't my strong point yet anyway. Also, when reviewing a game, a stronger player will most often focus on something one did wrong in the fuseki which led to the inbalance later in the game. By starting the game after a professional fuseki, one can be assured that the game is theoretically even.


BTW, When I mentioned this to a friend online, he told me that something similar already exists called Sunjang Baduk, in which the games starts so:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Black moves first, but has to play at a
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . X . . O . . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . a . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . X . . O . . X . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

_________________
Patience, grasshopper.

Pro pick-up.

I'm down. I'd be looking to find an opponent near 6 kyu. I'd like to negotiate the game a few days (or more) in advance, study it a little, and then play out our variation on KGS. You can break from the actual game at any point. I'll likely break when I forget the next move... heh. I'm not playing Malkovich... For me, it destroys flow. I'd rather play with standard time controls.

I should warn my would-be-opponent. I am rusty, and may very well blow the game with a blunder.

My favorites are Kitani and Park Jieun. I'd agree to play out almost any reasonably balanced game that I can find a game record for. (I own a copy of GOGOD, about a year old.)

Offtopic: I will play sunjang anytime, anywhere. You don't have to ask me twice.

I'm also interested in playing Sunjang baduk, though my rank is little higher than you guys' (you two could possibly have some good games together).

@rubin
So, you're thinking both players study the whole game in question, and then just deviate naturally (as go games tend to...)?

If you don't mind games against me going in a slightly teachingish direction, I'd be very happy to be Hashimoto Utaro to your Kitani Minoru in, say, the attached SGF. Or play Sunjang baduk, yeah.

Possibly shoot for this weekend, sometime? I'm mostly free for the States' Saturday.

_________________
Revisiting Go - Study Journal
My Programming Blog - About the evolution of my go bot.

Hey Loons,

I'm quite interested in the Pro Pickup idea. I'm not QUITE at your rank, but I'm willing to waive that ... we should totaly set something up.

Hi Loons, I have some previous commitments this weekend, so I wouldn't be able to play until next Tuesday or later.

I'll start looking at the game you chose to get ready for the next time our schedules might work out.