Hi all, I looked through the index of useful posts but was looking for a bit more on attack and defense in games. I usually feel pretty strong in the beginning of the game, but once it gets into harder fighting over specific areas I feel like i start to get lost and end up falling behind. What good posts or other pieces of reading material are there so I have a good idea of how to attack or handle an attack?

You should really think about getting yourself a copy of "Attack and Defense" from Kiseido.

Michael Redmond also wrote a really good book called "ABC's of Attack and Defense" but unfortunately it seems to be currently out of print.

According to Redmond, the basic principles of attack and defense are:

Attack
1. Separate your opponent
2. Seal in your opponent

Defense
1. Connect your stones
2. Move out into the center

Obviously the book elaborates much more on these principles, but if you think carefully about these principles and try to apply them, it should help you improve quite a bit.

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Or a copy of 'Attack and Kill' by Masao Kato.

And, if you want instant gratification, here's a thread that started with a similar question, to which John Fairbairn wrote a particularly good response:

viewtopic.php?p=79300

N.B., "attacking" refers to different things. I've noticed that in the books written/edited by Richard Bozulich (resciat in pacem ), "attack" can mean just about anything... a moyo reduction, a corner approach, a checking extension, a contact move, a nice endgame move, capturing a few stones, whatever. We could probably be more helpful if you were more specific about what you think "attacking" is, or if you posted a game where you wanted to "attack" or "defend" but didn't know how to.