You mean i can't just play 1000 blitz games in my spare time and become 1dan?

That's certainly possible, for some people. May you be one of the fortunate ones.

Few 1-kyu-ish comments on your last game: Overall you played much too timid in my opinion and followed Black with almost every move. I think that is not good in handicap games because you have to catch up. You also should consider playing Tenuki to get to bigger points much more often. To do this I would try to play more resilient shapes or Tenuki if you can find a good move locally. My feeling is your play in the upper right made it close to impossible for White to win. You invested stone after stone but still your shape was full of holes and after Black poked everywhere you ended up very clumsy and overconcentrated but with almost no points.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Yeah, that game was very timid. i was very afraid of those cutting stones just coming alive and ruining everything.

It makes sense to me to wait on and to see which one is more useful later.

but in game i would never think of that. it would just feel like i passed my first two moves.

i finally played a bigger move and it was at the wrong time D:

playing away does sound crazy, I just want those cutting stones dead ]:
but i do like B better then what i played and better then A

I like the though of considering tenuki more often but i hate having weak groups.

A complicated fighting game I have one question about the opening and a few other questions.
I was a lot braver this game!

is 3 better because both black and white want to play there
or is 2 better because it is the bigger space

i think this was a bad move too but i can't see a better one?

and are both of us playing away from what's most important.

Again some 1-kyu-ish comments =)

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

yes! i was wondering why the double hane wasn't working.
Yeah i would have liked A better. I just assumed my move was sente.
uggh if i had read one move further I would have cut him. I saw the cut and just brushed it off because i was afraid ]:
I don't think your 87 works. white plays J13 and then nets. Black won't have enough liberties.
:b107: I don't even know what i saw... I thought there was some way white was going to cut me off.

You've reviewed a lot of my games.
Any suggestions on what I should think about during a game?

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This is what I read. As of now it seems to work ^^

Hm, general advice... play moves which have more than one purpose. Like: Take territory while threatening your opponent's groups or have another substantial follow-up; don't just run with weak groups but defend them by either seperating your opponent's stones to gain momentum or by playing moves which threaten your opponent's positions; be always ready to sacrifice unimportant stones when there are a bigger places on the board.
Sounds like a collection of proverbs but I feel just thinking about (and then following) these three could lead to some improvement.

Of course you need considerate Tesuji and Life-and-Death skills to pull them off neatly, so never forget to do those =)

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Interesting question. I used to ask myself this question too.
I wonder what's your own answer or ideas about this?
(I have some ideas on this general question and am happy to share them,
but I'm curious to hear about yours first. )

@edlee

Well i liked the idea of planning to use a certain joseki over and over until I've learned it and when to use which variation.

Another thought was to start counting during a game. And playing calmer moves once I realize I'm winning. Because I always try to play the move that grabs the most, even when I know I'm ahead.

Or to focus on attacking for territory like Sodesune suggested. Often I find myself attacking a group until the point where if I don't kill, I lose. And i want to stop just before that point and solidify territory.

I would definitely work on the opening somehow. But I can't think of how.

@sodesune

Ah, you are correct. I missed

I wish I could find those dual moves more often!
I was really excited when I found threatening to kill one or the other.

I'll try these.
I think my problem with sacrificing is I invest too many stones trying to be solid, and I just end up making all my stones important stones. heavy ]:

But, I suppose i'll try a game of attacking with purpose.

I played a game today and won. That was pretty cool.

Interesting fight. B played really well at first and had great chances for a kill, but then chickened out at a few critical moments and made some mistakes in the fighting.

Here are a few pointers. Not the most important moves in the game, but moves which struck me as things you could improve.

33) is a lapse at the start of a difficult fight. This move is too soft and produces an inefficient shape in the corner. Certainly you must not let W capture the cutting stone at Q14, but you need to find a more severe continuation. Let's look at some possibilities:

The suggested R14 would be much better. The corner shape is more efficient, W would still have to defend against the O14 cut, and W would also have to worry about an R11 attack on the other group. This would still lead to a difficult fight, but B would have better prospects.

As a simpler alternative, B could cut at O14 to force W to make a commitment. If W lets B capture the cutting stone, B gets a great result, with a large corner territory and no weak stones. If W extends to P15, B could still play Q15 as in the game, but with much more impact. There is no way W could save everything. Force your opponent to force you to make the move you want to play.

47) is a little too complacent, as you discovered. Moreover, it is aji-keshi, as it gives up forever the possibility of cutting at S8. That cut does not quite work now, but it comes close. Try reading out some sequences and see where an extra B stone would make a difference. B could play P6 or even O7 to threaten this cut. With all this aji in play, W would be highly constrained playing around here. I would just defend calmly at O9 and look for an opportunity for a stronger move than Q7.

At move 73, you should spend as much time as you can to read out a game-winning capture of either group. My first thought would be to hane at J14, leaning against the upper stones, to build strength to capture the center stones. If W cuts at J13, B simply jumps to K11, and W appears over-extended. But if W lets B hane and connect in sente, B probably has enough thickness to capture the center with L10 or K10.

The game move 73 lets W escape easily above, with no more forcing moves left there. Is it sufficient to capture the W center? It looks like B can hane at L10 or jump to K10 to net the W group. Note that if W plays L9, B can defend at L8 and still keep W contained.

I really like this advice. It's something I've read before but I don't get many chances to apply it so it quickly becomes forgotten.
I want to say it's kind of like the idea of creating miai in your game but it's different then that.

Inducing moves in Attack and Defend ; )

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Yeah inducing moves!
But like i said i forget to think about those. :[

here's another game i played where i sacrificed like 11 times to keep sente. I was pretty happy about that.
I thought i was losing by a lot because his area looked pretty good but i guess i reduced it pretty well.

This is how my games have been going lately. Which is good for morale.
I just see more and more of my opponents moves as passes and ignore them. Or force them to catch my stones.

The most memorable quote I know about inducing moves is from Invincible, or maybe one of JF's game collection books. It basically says that the correct use of inducing moves is the sign of a high-dan amateur. Not exactly an encouraging description, but I suppose it's something to aspire to.

Well then i suppose it's okay that I don't know how to do them. I'm not even a low dan player. :]

At move 22, you could P18-Q18-P16-Q17 to keep sente one more time
The sequence up to 43 was too good for B, better to take gote
(Note that P7 is huge and sente for W, because of the aji of R2.)

Proof that I learned something!

viewtopic.php?p=126545#p126545

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Also I did this too on the LR corner :]

Uh for the R2 aji I did want a better move. I thought about P7 but I was too afraid. hehe