Crushed again :(

Played a game today where I feel like I was completely out played from the first ten moves. I tried to break up the moyo my opponent was developing and didn’t get the greatest result- he got territory and a very nice wall, whereas I got an OK well with only some influence. Then I tried an invasion and everything died- giving him more firmed up territory. At this point I resigned in frustration. Should I be studying the opening at this level? People have been telling me to just go through basic problems, so I’ve been reading through go problems for beginners, but that has only really been helping my 9by9 games. http://online-go.com/game/662685

Also, here are a couple of my comments: http://online-go.com/game/review/24146

From looking at your game, I think that Fuseki (the opening) is not your problem. For a 27k player, your Fuseki is very solid and okay.

The main problem seems to be the fightings against the other player, when you lost larger groups after a capturing race.

I would suggest you, to play smaller boards (9x9) + doing Tsumego (Go problems) for some time. Maybe a week or two. Think of the corners as 9x9 boards when you actually play a 19x19 board.

You will come back to the 19x19 board a lot stronger. :smiley:

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I agree with @Franzisa. Doing tsumego and tesuji problems will help quite a bit. In addition to familiarizing you with the shapes, it will improve your reading ability.

You might also consider studying joseki. Not simply memorizing moves, but taking the time to look at each move and try to reason out its purpose. Joseki are the result of intense study by professionals and every move has a specific meaning. Toshiro Kageyama in his book Lessons in the Fundamental Principles of Go (which all amateur go players should read imo) recommends this particular strategy for studying shape.

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I made a few comments: http://online-go.com/game/review/24233

I agree with the others, your opening is not a problem. The problem is in your basics (basic shapes, connecting and cutting, …). Don’t hesitate to ask if you have further questions!

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I just looked at your comments, thanks! I guess I’m just having trouble figuring out what makes “good shape”. I’ve been trying to avoid things like the empty triangle, and I know what some of the stronger shapes are (double table, table, bamboo joint, etc.). I have some knowledge of what weaknesses can be in shapes, but obviously players leave weaknesses all the time- it’s seems to be a matter of what kind, how many, etc. Would you also suggest playing on small boards for a while?

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