What is the right moment to start watching pro games?

[bierjunge]

Hi everyone,

I'm 17kyu right now on OGS and I literally never watch any pro game because I never understand their game plans.

So, what do you think is the right moment for a beginner/amateur to start watching pro (or dan) games?

[DrStraw]

Start watching the games online of people about 5-9 stones stronger than you. That will be more beneficial. But do watch a few dan blitz games along the way - it cannot do any harm. Watching pro games is painful as they are slow, but replaying them occasionally cannot do any harm.

This means that you should regularly start watching dan games when you reach SDK.

[jeromie]

Welcome!

The simple answer is "whenever you want to." You don't need to watch pro games to get better, but if you have an interest in doing so it can be a fun way to engage the game. I find it more enjoyable to replay games with high quality commentary; this also makes them more accessible. There are lots of sources of commentary, but the ones available at GoGameGuru are a good place to start.

[bierjunge]

Ok, thanks for your suggestions

[EdLee]

Hi bierjunge,

Find pro games that you enjoy to watch (or replay).
For example, Mr. Cho Chikun is a very funny commentator

[dhu163]

Personally, I found gogameguru very useful throughout the kyus and dans, repeatedly returning to it. But while 5-15 kyu, my main learning time was spent on the youtube channels Nick Sibicky and Dwyrin. As I got stronger, perhaps around 8kyu, my time was increasingly spent skimming over pro games on go4go, and these days, its the number 1 thing I do, though I can spend much longer on each game now.

Pro games can help teach you joseki and make you think about what you are doing wrong if you don't guess their move.

[Bill Spight]

When? Now!

[DrStraw]

When? Now!

But it's almost bedtime! Can't it wait until tomorrow?

[daal]

Start watching the games online of people about 5-9 stones stronger than you. That will be more beneficial. But do watch a few dan blitz games along the way - it cannot do any harm. Watching pro games is painful as they are slow, but replaying them occasionally cannot do any harm.

This means that you should regularly start watching dan games when you reach SDK.

I think that the advice to watch people 5-9 stones stronger is quite good. It's interesting that while pros of course play great moves, there are a lot of things you just won't see when watching their games. For instance, you won't see many snapbacks in pro games, because the pros will have prevented it from happening without you even noticing. Or you don't often see stones dying in pro games because one player didn't see a shortage of liberties coming. In other words, there are many game deciding moves you can learn by watching people a few stones stronger than you who in contrast to pros, actually get to play them in games. This of course is not to say that you can't learn from pro games, but on the other hand, it is also possible to be misled. For example if you see a pro leave some insecure stones somewhere in order to start an attack elsewhere, you might be inclined to do something similar yourself but without being able to judge whether the insecure group can be salvaged or sacrificed or just plain killed. Nonetheless, watching pro games can just be fun, and although trying to copy them might make you a bit reckless, I doubt that much long term harm could come from it.