Thoughts About Studying Pro Games and Kifu by Not-So-Pro-Level Players

Ever since I encountered my first pro kifu in Richard Bozulich's The Basics of Go Strategy (a wonderful book that I suggest for anyone under shodan, at the very least for reinforcement of the basics) I've wondered about the appropriate time to start studying records of pro-level games. When I was a much weaker player, the moves seemed all but incomprehensible, and even when I could paste a number of meanings to many of the moves, I couldn't help but feel I was just lying to myself about my level of understanding. To be frank, I think the games made me feel a little insecure about the vast scope of possibile moves that could be used to wreak havoc on all of my structures.

As I've gotten stronger, however, I'm sure that playing through kifu of pro games is beneficial at all levels. What's important is how you examine the games and what you're looking for. As a weaker player (perhaps from the range of 14 kyu up all the way to 25 or 30, depending on the ranking system you go by)it's probably best to just apreciate the games, notice general patterns, and if you want something to examine thoroughly, try to examine why pro players defend when they defend and run when they run, rather than looking at how they attack, or how their complicated tesuji work.

I've seen some great developments come from weaker players going through pro kifu. Enough of it seems to sink in through relative osmosis that finding the right move, or a good move in a tough or vague spot during a game becomes easier. It seems to me that even if players often don't know the best way to follow these moves up, and they are merely making them on principal, it's still tougher on your opponent, and starts to lead weaker players in a good direction as far as move experimentation.

If I were to give advice on studying pro games, I'd probably say that once you're past 14 kyu, it's important to be more actively involved, analytically speaking. Playing through pro games without a lot of attention and specific analysis seems like it might breed some half-baked understandings of in-game aims, or perhaps move aplication. And by the time you are a 7 kyu, shouldn't one be trying to cut down on plays without clear aims (albeit, occasionally misguided ones)? Playing moves you see pro's play, without understanding the implications can be fine if you're looking to experiment with them in-game, and see what can happen, but not paying attention seems careless to me, if not dangerous.

I believe that it's important to understand the followup if your opponent doesn't see the threat- otherwise a significant cap is placed upon the level of sophistication and enjoyment available in a game. A player should always be looking to make effective threats-- it seems to me that this is what puts one in touch with the gears that roll beneath the surface of the board.

At my current level, examining pro play is proving to be extremely valuable. My current mindset is to look through all the games I play for similar themes- allowing of course for excursions into other areas of interest should they come up. I try to stay away from playing the "guess the next move" game, because while it absolutely keeps the mind engaged with the play through, I think it muddles the impact of observing good play, and goes against the general goal of studying high pro-level kifu, which is not to compare your thought processes to those of the best players of the game, but to try and understand them. Of course, it's always great fun to gauge your improvement by sucessfully guessing the next moves in a game ^.~

I believe specific study of pro games has helped my understanding of the opening, influence, attack situations, and tesuji in general. More than anything, I probably owe my current understanding of tenuki and preparation to pro play. Commentary is always good, but when studying games with a subject decided on before-hand, I don't believe that it's necessary.


So in short. . .
I've come to the conclusion that studying pro play, like studying joseki and life and death, is something that is not only good, but important on all levels. What are your thoughts on the matter?

But What About Kifu of Less-skilled Games???
Now then, we all know about pro kifu, but there are also books that contain amateur kifu played at the 1 dan to 4 kyu level-- occasionally stronger. If you search around online, you can find game examples at almost any level. And this one seems to be a bit more of a controversial subject. There are a large number of people that say, "if I'm going to study examples of play, I want to study the best, so that I don't pick up bad habits." There are two problems I can see with this way of thinking, however.

First, many of the intricacies that make pro play so good, and are absent from lower level play are the same ones that go right over the heads of the people playing through them. Merely having exposure to these intricacies- while certainly very interesting and very beautiful, is perhaps not at all beneficial without a very precise understanding of them to follow. The second issue is that there are rarely horrible mistakes or variations from the direction of play in top pro kifu. But amateur games are filled with such examples. Studying bad moves can be a powerful tool to find and understand good moves.

That said, there is something to not studying games with lots of mistakes. It's my personal belief that amateur games (aside from very high level and sophisticated amateur play) should not be studied without commentary from a stronger player until the player studying them is significantly strong, and firm in their understanding of the basics.

But I guess these are just some thoughts on the matter and observations from my own study habits, and the ones of those around me. What does everybody think about the appropriate timing for studying pro kifu and amateur kifu?