Hi there RedAgent14, I think I commented on a game you played not so long ago, so I’m happy to see you back here.
I took a look over your game, and have done you a game review, here is the link: Review
I have jotted a few notes in the review for you already. But what I didn’t put in there was some helpful information on where you can learn a few things.
The first thing you are going to want to work on is your opening. Coming to grips with different opening styles and what they do and why we play them and such. Many people will say that this is too complex for a new player, I say it the foundation for understanding the rest of the game.
Honestly, there are two ways you can go about learning that… reading books, or having someone show you. There are few good Go instructors out there that teach for free, But, on youtube, you can find a guy called Nick Sibiky, who had created hundreds of hours of Go related content, and I know for a fact he has dedicated several videos to opening strategy.
The next thing I would suggest working on is life and death. And I know how much of an absolute drag this can be for a new player, let alone a player that has been playing for some time. But… once you sorta get into it, it does become fun. So what you want to do is do life and death problems… and there are two super good ways of doing them. 1) is you do them on a computer, a great website would be Goproblems.com. its a website I use almost every day. 2) you can get an app for your phone, I use android, so I apologize if this isn’t possible for you, but I use tsumegopro, and while the problems on there are limited, what I have found useful is memorizing the problems on there as best as you can greatly improve your game.
Also, doing problems is great for increasing reading ability, which is basically the skill of doing variations in your head to find the best answer. Goproblems.com is a great place though because they do who board problems, and teach opening strategy as well if you come across the right problem.
I know I have put a lot into this response. So I am sorry for the length, but I figure for a new player just getting into the swing of things, the more places you know of you go improve your game, the better chances you will have.
But i will also add this one last tip for you. It is great that you have asked for a person to do a review for you, it means that you want to learn from your mistakes. But… that being said, it is also a good idea to go over your games yourself and work out the mistakes you made also. Go through your moves, and ask yourself a few questions like these:
- Did I need to play there?
- Am I alive?
- Is this an important/ big or urgent move?
- if I were playing as the other colour, where would I want to play?
- the best question ever… Can I ignore this?
I hope this helps, and any time you want me to go through a game, let me know, I’m usually more than happy to do a game review… I actually find them fun.