Move was useless, no idea why I played it.

What to play as 31? I didn't want to approach from top for some reason.

And then at move 39 I had no idea how to reduce or invade or what ever was I supposed to do.

I have all 4 corners right? So maybe shoulder hits? I have no idea.

Rest of the game is me trying to do something fancy and ending up not reading the ladder and screwing up..

Even at your level mistakes occur in play. :b17" at P6 would've bee more effective, as it would aim to split White's group with a cut at Q5. In coordination with the Black stone at Q10 this would be painful for White to deal with if it were to occur.

:b31: violates the 2nd Golden Rule of Go, to invade enemy spheres of influence lightly. Points such as F10, E5, or G15 would've been better. F10 would've probably been the best spot as it is not too deep inside the White moyo. You had the right idea, though. Invading from the top left corner would've only allowed White to consolidate further her moyo.

Attaching with is definitely a no-no as it only allowed White to get stronger. I would've played at D12, to make use of the Black group on the top left. Shortly afterwards I would begin reducing the White moyo on the bottom left quadrant.

O15 is an important pivot point early in the game. I am sure you could have won the game had to taken this point as soon as possible.

As for the ladder, avoid getting into one if reading it out proves difficult.

All I can recommend right now is that you get a few games by Hon'inbo Shusaku, if nothing else, and with board + stones replay each one from start to finish. I find it a bit strange that a 2k makes such mistakes as what were seen in this game.

I am probably not at that level yet.. maybe 5 kyu atm.

The sad thing is I have not made any progress after a year of active studying...

Then again I don't play a lot so that could be the problem. The 25 minute game was very short considering time management.

If I had 60 minutes on my clock then I could probably enjoy playing more.

Then again it would take too much time to finish a single game.

This is the main reason I don't play go so much.

I did not say those things with the intention of being disrespectful. I just found it rather odd that such mistakes would occur in a game between 2k players.

What would be meant by "active studying"? Reading books? Intensively analyzing reviews of your games? Lessons from a dan-level player?

Playing as many games as you can on a regular basis is important. However, if you do not take the time to eliminate bad habits from your play, they can persist and plague you everywhere you go. This happened to me for the first few years that I played Go. I found that a solid program of replaying pro games and doing exercises helped me to begin shedding the bad habits.

I play mostly turn-based games and ought to play more real-time games. However, I notice that replaying pro games and doing exercises in different skill categories (life & death, tesuji, endgame, middle game, fuseki, and joseki) help me to read more accurately. If only I played more, I'd be well on my way to shodan.

No harm in being a slow, deep-thinking player. Hon'inbo Shusai (1874-1940) was just that kind of player and he did not like time limits. I believe this is why replaying games by Hon'inbo Shusaku (1829-1862) and other classical players, Hon'inbo Shusai included, is a good idea; they did not have time limits back then for the most part, so they had ample time to find the best move. Which means that their games are beneficial for the amateur player, even if one only replays move by move from start to finish.

I recommended Shusaku since I imagined you were a Hikaru no Go fan; he is mentioned in the first episode of the anime. Shusaku was the strongest player of his time, so strong, in fact, that hardly anyone could beat him consistently. Even Hon'inbo Shuwa and Ota Yuzo, the only 2 players that offered any real challenge to his skill, knew that Shusaku was the best of the best in his time and place. Even today Hon'inbo Shusaku's games are still good models of study for many an aspiring amateur and even professional Go player.

If Shusaku is not your cup of tea, there are also Hon'inbo Shuho (1838-1886), known for his attack-oriented style of play that has been compared to that of Rin Kai-ho (b.1942), and Hon'inbo Shuei (1852-1907), whose games are the most studied by Japanese professional Go players out of all those of the pre-1900 era. Shuei's style of play was compared to the flow of water. Not very confrontational, but very effective. From 1896 Shuei never again took Black. His games from 1897 and after are definitely worth looking at.

There are many pros out there from which to choose. They important thing is to get acquainted with how they do things and to apply that in your own games.

It is possible to play blitz games and improve. For one, it will force you to analyze board positions accurately, more rapidly. In the blitz games that are the norm in most online Go servers, rapid reading is vital to winning your games.

Hon'inbo Jowa, an old Japanese master known for his crazy fighting ability, once said that analyzing too much is never good. Better to just play what comes to you naturally, review the game to see if it worked, and then keep it or change it as needed. Constant practice and refinement is the point that Jowa is making with this statement.

I want you to play less and study more. Two or three 30-minute games a week should be enough. The lion's share of the time is to be spent replaying pro games and doing exercises. Pick up good playing habits and practice applying them through exercises and practice games. When it comes time to play those 30-minute games, you should have a clearer idea of what to do during play, even if you will not have all the time in the world to read everything out accurately. This will translate into victory after victory, especially against players that still have bad habits in their play. Of course you will lose some games, but at least you will be winning some as well and avoid a fiasco like what happened in the above posted game.

You are playing out joseki without apparent consideration for the whole board. Coming back for B29 is one such case. Choosing B33 although you say you are not sure how to handle the White framework, that arises rather predictably between B33 and W38, is another. Playing e.g. C6 instead isn't so hard, if you can not handle a framework. I don't think B39 is as bad as you make it out to be, B45 looks like the mistake to me. You may end sacrificing the inside stones anyway but not for nothing like in the game.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Complicated but surely better for Black than the game
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . 6 5 . . . . O X X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . 4 1 O . . . O O , X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . 3 2 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Indeed now I see that by playing black 7 at your diagram I could have got a better position.

I can't seem to find a good response for white after that and I think I could have won the game if I just managed to live or split white there.

Ahh well

Also tekesta I am not really a fan of old japanese pros but I do enjoy watching and playing out pro games. I do that at least 4-5 times a week where I actually replay pro games (not review).

Sometimes however I do actually try to guess the moves and if I don't understand a move I try to analyze it.

I am a huge fan of Gu Li and I always enjoy watching over his games.

I guess there are plenty of options, some way above my head, but

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B something possible might be this
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 7 9 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . 0 . 6 5 8 . . . O X X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . 4 1 O . . . O O , X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . 3 2 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B something... II
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . 2 X X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . O . O X O . . . O X X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . O X O . . . O O , X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . 1 X O 4 a . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . 3 5 . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Still sacrifice, but Black can later cut White on the left or hane at a in sente, they certainly look more comfortable than in your game.

OK After a long time of replaying pro games as a form of study, one begins to understand why X pro played Y move in Z position. It's as if one begins to understand what is being said after a long time of listening to conversation.

Basically, there is only one real difference between amateurs and pros. (See below image.)



That is a healthy habit. This is why it is often said to lose the first 100 games as quickly as possible; with that many games you get some background experience to begin asking questions about what happens in a game of Go and why.

Gu Li's games are worth replaying, especially for the fuseki. You may want to look at Chen Yaoye's games as well, since using thickness is an important skill and Chen is good at this. I suppose you can replay Shi Yue's games, too, since he is one of the strongest Go players in the world right now. A Korean player such as Lee Se-dol or Lee Chang-ho tends to have strong endgame skills. (Could this be why Lee Se-dol won that jubango last year?) Replaying games by different pros is good for keeping your options open when it comes to ideas that you can apply in your own games.