Now and then when I have some free time, I'll tune into Baduk TV on YouTube, since they're pretty much always streaming these days.

Yesterday, I was watching, and a familiar face stuck out to me: Kim Myeongwan. He lived in the US for awhile, and was a popular teacher in California. A few years ago, he moved back to Korea, got married and had a kid. So I haven't seen him around that much.

Anyway, the game being shown was him vs. Choi Jeong, who as of the beginning of this year, the top rated female player in the world, according to Go Ratings. Checking into it further, though, it turns out the game was played back in February. Sometimes BadukTV will air old games when there's not a big event going on.

Nonetheless, since folks are familiar with Kim Myeongwan, I thought I'd share the game.

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be immersed

I'm not a big watcher of pro games, but at least to me, Myeongwan stuck out to me as an "old-fashioned" player from the start, even from his third move:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Again, I don't really follow pro games that much, so I could be wrong... But it'd seem to me that more modern pros are doing larger enclosures these days, if they even play 3-4.

Following the game with KataGo, Choi Jeong seemed to have a lead the entire game, with Myeongwan gradually falling behind up until here:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O X O . . . . X . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . O X O . . . . . , . . . . . , X X . |
$$ | . X O O . . . . . . . . . . W X O . . |
$$ | X . X . . . . . . . . . . X X O O . . |
$$ | . X . . . . . . . . . . B O O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X O . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Black's winrate was down to around 34%, and Katago was interested in exploiting black's weakness in shape:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

But Choi Jeong didn't play there, and let black kind of solidify shape on the top:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

I suppose she was interested in the marked black stones on the right. But in any case, black's winrate jumped up to nearly even - around 47%.

However, black's winrate plummeted again with black's move here:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O X O . . . . X . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . O X O . . . B . , . . . . . , X X . |
$$ | . X O O . . . . . O . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | X . X . . . . X . . . . . X X O O . . |
$$ | . X . O O . . . X O . X X O O . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . C . X O . . X X O . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . O X O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X O . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I guess it's a bit of a strange move, and Katago simply wanted black to enclose at the marked point. The win rate had a couple of turns later on, but white maintained the lead and won the game.

Anyway, I don't see Kim Myeongwan playing that much these days, and it was nice to see a game of his from this year - even if it's from back in February.

_________________
be immersed

I noticed recently that the small corner enclosure is back in fashion among humans, I saw it played among several top pros.

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Sorin - 361points.com

Good to know. That's what I get for making an arbitrary claim like that

Personally, I thought shoulder hit at O16, etc., was too good for white. I guess not.

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be immersed