It isn't as bad as it used to be, but finding pro games on the mid-size goban is hard. I was glad to find an admitedly fast game between Yoonyoung Kim 8p [KOR] and a 7d Ama. Kwan Ja Nim [*] Kim posted the stream on YouTube and the game is public on OGS.

Take care.

[*] I hope that's a proper form for Baduk professionals. Also... is she using Western-style surname ordering ?

_________________
一碁一会

Hey, that's me!

I played alright at the start of this game but it devolved badly pretty quickly

There was one really interesting point in the game, right after I played here:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm32 W tries to get eyeshape in the corner
$$ -----------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . . . W . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . O O , X . . |
$$ | . X O O . . X O X X . . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------[/go]

In the game, I knowingly took a slight local loss and tried to continue adventurously later (which all got punished). The game proceeded:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm33 W lets black swallow the 3-3 stone efficiently \n in order to save the three stones.
$$ -----------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . . 1 O . . |
$$ | . . X O . . 2 O W 3 X . . |
$$ | . X O O . . X O X X . . . |
$$ | . X X O . . 4 X . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------[/go]

Yoonyoung said that I should cut, and she was scared of what would happen. I had read that the after I cut there's only one way I can save my stones, and she gets a really nice squeeze:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm33 W gets squeezed
$$ -----------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X 7 . 3 1 O . . |
$$ | . . X O . 5 4 O O 2 X . . |
$$ | . X O O . 8 X O X X . . . |
$$ | . X X O . . 6 X . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm41 I think B can play 43 at M10 as well, for less corner aji.
$$ -----------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X X 1 X X O . . |
$$ | . . X O . X O O O O X . . |
$$ | . X O O . O 2 O X X 3 . . |
$$ | . X X O . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------[/go]

When I saw this result in my mind's eye, I thought it was disaster for white- I couldn't possibly cut, hence why I went for the best trade available. But surprise surprise, when I plugged this into AI after the game, Yoonyoung was right to be scared of the cut: the result above is actually almost even.

How can that possibly be? Well, if I actually judge who I think is better on this board, I get the same result. The upper left black is just a little more than komi, and the white influence + sente seems a little more valuable than black's upper right. Overall, close to even.

So getting squeezed so painfully here in the upper right, where every stone is working well for B, was actually no problem at all for white. I have a few takeaways from this:

1) Squeezing stones but not killing them often results in the squeezing side getting "broken" shape (i.e. J11 J10 J9 and K11 K10 K9), and thus is not necessarily much better shape for the squeezer. AI tends to like the squeezed player's position more than I think.

2) When you're very much on the defensive you should globally evaluate your seemingly bad local results - are they actually bad, relative to the weak position you had to start with?

3) Transforming a weak group into influence is a really, really big positive change, even if the influence isn't that great.

Anyway, the rest of the game was mildly interesting but mostly ruined by me ignoring a sente move

We don't talk about that part!