Go/SenteAndGote

(I may well have spelt these incorrectly. Any ideas?)

Essentially, these denote who has the 'initiative' and who is simply responding.

I have a feeling that this is very, very important and something I don't play very well in my games.

A move which is 'Sente' is one that requires an immediate response from the opposite player. A move that is 'Gote' is one that the opponent can ignore and go whereever they choose on the board.

Your move may look important to you, but if your opponent feels that they can ignore it for just one turn then they can play elsewhere on the board and look to attack you instead of defending...

Japanese