I don't know what you mean by "follow the popular moves". I enjoy playing through pro games without any particular background knowledge. There are often moves I don't understand, and I'm sure there are moves I think I understand, but I'm wrong. I don't think any study short of "get to 5d" will make that go away. But I can still play through, get a feeling for the flow and pace, and see some cool tesuji, epic battles, etc.

There are often moves I don't understand, and I'm sure there are moves I think I understand, but I'm wrong. I don't think any study short of "get to 5d" will make that go away.

So I have studied the ancients, I have studied the classics, the beginners, the shin, the problems etc. Now I want to follow the popular moves in the games, is there anything that will get me there? BTW, No I don't think I have to be a pro to appreciate the moves.

To understand professional play fully you really do have to be close to professional strength. To appreciate brilliant moves made by great professional players you can get a sense of them from good pro commentaries, but you have to understand the commentaries . Part of what makes a brilliant move brilliant is that it is an exceptionally effective move that would not be seen by ordinary players (pros). So, to begin to appreciate it you have to be able to see that it is effective and also have an idea of what ordinary, less effective, moves would be in the situation. It is a bit like appreciating great poetry in a language you don't speak or read well.

For myself, great games are life-long companions. As I live my go life I revisit great games like the classics of Dosaku, Jowa, Shuwa, Shusaku, Shuho, Shuei, etc., and more modern games like the insha game and the game of the century. I'll never understand these games completely but I always appreciate something new each time I study them, as I would in looking at great paintings. There is a historical side of things, too, that adds flavor to the games. To begin this study I would recommend the book Appreciating Famous Games by Ohira, published by Ishi Press originally and later available from Kiseido. It is written for kyu level players but of course anyone can benefit from the great games. Unfortunately it is out of print but you might be able to find a used copy.

One thing I've noticed about current professional play that makes it particularly hard for us weak amateurs to understand is playing tenuki in joseki and other situations. This seems to happen more often these days than it did 50 or 100 years ago. It makes it hard to understand for us because there are many complicated and delicate positional judgments to be made which, almost by definition, we are unable to appreciate fully. Obviously, when a pro leaves a joseki unfinished the moves he/she made elsewhere were equally valuable compared with finishing the joseki. But, as the position becomes more and more complicated it also becomes harder and harder to judge when and how the joseki should be resumed. Anyhow, we amateurs soon get out of our depth in these situations and knowing the overall reason for playing this way doesn't help to understand the detailed decision-making.