I'm new to go and tonight I got my butt kicked. I felt like I would be able to make two eyes in the beginning but I failed to accomplish that. On the left side of the board I feel I played alright--captured a nice group and secured a large territory, but then he had the whole middle of the board surrounded and when I tried to invade he crushed me.

So my questions are:

How could I have saved the top-right group?

Did I play well on the left side?

Should I have tried to attack in the middle at the end or just ended the game as it was?

Any other advice would be welcomed, too.

Edit: I think move 24 is where I lost the first group.

Would Q3 or R3 at move 134 been better? His stones are far away from the corner there.

_________________
I came to go through Kawabata and was introduced to a whole new world.

Good game. You're still at the point where you can improve a lot just simply by playing, but I've tried to comprehensively address the areas you asked about.

Also, just to answer your final question, yes, both R3 and Q3 should live easily in that corner of his. I think I briefly touched on that in one of the variations, but I didn't go too indepth there, as showing too many variations for that situation probably wouldn't be helpful.

_________________
We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

Thanks for the help. I played another game today and while I still lost I think my play was much better.

Also, I'm not sure what the etiquette is for posting games here as far as how often you're allowed to post and if you should make a new thread for each game or post all your games in the same thread. So I apologize if I do anything wrong.

_________________
I came to go through Kawabata and was introduced to a whole new world.

As Dusk Eagle said, the best thing at this point is probably just to play more games. That said, a little life and death will go a long way. Consider this sequence:
First, white plays on a dead group. You can play elsewhere now, the stones are already dead.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Move 90
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O O 1 |
$$ | . . . . . X X . . . . . X . X O O . X |
$$ | . . . X X O O X . . X X O X X X O . O |
$$ | . . X O O . O . . X . O O O O X X O . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . . . . . . . O X X X |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . O O O X . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X X . . . . . . . . . O O X . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . X . , . O . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . X O O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X X . X X O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . X X O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

You play an unnecessary attack, white responds, but it still isn't enough to live.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Continued
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O O O |
$$ | . . . . . X X . . . . . X . X O O 2 X |
$$ | . . . X X O O X . . X X O X X X O . O |
$$ | . . X O O . O . . X . O O O O X X O 1 |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . . . . . . . O X X X |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . O O O X . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X X . . . . . . . . . O O X . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . X . , . O . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . X O O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X X . X X O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . X X O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

You answer again. White realizes they are dead before you do, and plays elsewhere. You spend one more (unnecessary) move to capture:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B not needed.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O O O |
$$ | . . . . . X X . . . . . X . X O O O 3 |
$$ | . . 2 X X O O X . . X X O X X X O 1 O |
$$ | . . X O O . O . . X . O O O O X X . X |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . . . . . . . O X X X |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . O O O X . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X X . . . . . . . . . O O X . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . X . , . O . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . X O O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X X . X X O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . X X O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

When you can see why this shape is dead, you'll be a long way down the road to better go:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Moves 90 to 90
$$ ------------------
$$ . . . . X X O O O |
$$ . . X . X O O . X |
$$ X X O X X X O . O |
$$ . O O O O X X O . |
$$ . . . . . O X X X |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . O . O X . . |[/go]

If you have not done so already, try to finish 100 games as quickly as you can.
Board size does not matter so much; so 9x9, 13x13, or 19x19 are all OK --
but the smaller boards will help you complete more games in less time. Enjoy.