Hello. I’ve been playing go for two months. My opening has finally become respectable, and I am always satisfied with my results in the contest for influence in the opening. However, in the middle game fighting, I find my groups separated before I realize it, and virtually all my territory disappears in the endgame. Is playing a lot of games the only way to learn the technique or the knack for making best use of my opening? from Mr. Ito Hello, Mr. Ito. Thank you for your question. If you have been playing just two months, you are almost as much of a beginner as Mr./Ms. Hagiwara. But the nature of your question is impressive. When I had just started playing go, I wasn’t so well grounded. I just flung stones on the board and finished a game in five minutes . . . The interesting thing about your question is that it includes the answer. You find your groups separated in the middle game. This is a common complaint of beginners. What should you do? The answer is to take care so that your stones are not split up. You should always confirm that you can link up your stones. You have to be a fairly strong player to cope with having your stones separated into weak groups. Also, as you suggest, playing many games and getting a lot of experience is the only real way to improve. It’s through getting into trouble and having their stones captured that everyone gets stronger. The opening is something that you can study in books, but the middle game is different. The reason is that the opponent won’t play the way it’s written in books. Through the experience of many fights in which you capture stones and your stones are captured, your reading ability improves dramatically. Since you haven’t been playing very long yet, you should accept that you will lose a lot of games, and enjoy playing regardless.