I have been playing go for 18 months and I play on Pandanet as a 5-kyu. I am now easily able to solve 1-dan life-and-death and other problems. When I play teaching games with professionals, they tell me, though they may be flattering me, that I have the ability of a 1-dan. However, I can't play well in actual games. I may think that I am attacking the opponent, yet he makes a big moyo and I keep losing. Can you advise me as to what sort of study I should do? Consultation One : Mr. Okujima Hello, Mr. Okujima. Thank you for your question. That's really impressive that you can solve 1-dan problems after playing go for just 18 months. I suppose that you are regularly studying life-and-death problems. It's only natural that people say you are 1-dan in strength. Perhaps, however, because of the shortness of your career, you haven't played enough actual games. When you are playing, you need to have studied all aspects of go, from the opening, to the middle game and the endgame. As you play more and more games, your own go style will gradually appear and you will become aware of which parts of the game you are good at and which you are not. The important thing is to enjoy playing! As for advice about how to approach your games, I think the important thing is to work out a strategy. When you want to attack the opponent, don't just chase him, but form an image of where you want to build your own territory or moyo while attacking. Another good study method may be to play through professional games. Playing through right to the end may be a lot of trouble, so I think the first 100 moves would be enough, I hope that you keep on trying to improve.