I think the basic problem with setting higher goals and dates like "I'll be Shodan in 20xx" is, that the effort to take the "next stone" is increasing exponentially and most players cant imagine how much work it is to rise a single stone in dan ranks.
F.e.: It took me nearlly as long to get from 1 kyu to 1 dan as to get from 15k to 2k. Of course this differs from player to player but the saying "the time to make the next rank is as long as the time the previous ranks took all summed up" isnt for nothing.

At which rank does it get that hard? Most people I know started to slow down at about 3k kgs.

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Sanity is for the weak.

I hit a slow period around 2k-1k KGS, but I hit 1d in april and now I'm almost 2d, so I dunno.. Study habits have not changed (in that they are nonexistent now and before), so I think these statements about improvement do not always apply.

You've reached 2D in 2months from shodan?
What are your learning methods?

*points to signature*

EDIT: When did I remove that?

I play games on kgs. When I run into a joseki I don't know, I look it up. I went to Feng Yun's Rutgers go classes when I was 6-5k, but have since stopped going. I do not go over pro games and very rarely do tsumego. And I'm not quite 2d yet, but I expect to hit it sometime in June.

Good luck man, i hope you can actually make it.

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There´s always more important things than someone´s dreams.

Shaddy
Quite impressive. I couldn't just play on KGS for improving, although I definitely should play more, but well, no time for a serious game at the moment. Furthermore I'm gifted with the ability to love doing Tsumegos ^^


Day 4 out of 29:
29 Tsumegos (2 wrong) from “Graded Go Problems for Beginners Vol. 3” - check!
30 Tesujis (1 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Sounds like a good idea to me

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"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level." -- Bruce Lee

Day 5 out of 29:
35 Tsumegos (2 wrong) from “Graded Go Problems for Beginners Vol. 3” - check!
29 Tesujis (1 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Count me in. I've been hovering on the border of 6 kyu and 7 kyu for months - I just don't know what I need to break the 5k barrier, let alone the shodan barrier.

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Attack your enemy where he is vulnerable. Invincibility depends on yourself. Your enemy's vulnerability depends on him.
If your enemy has no weakness, make yourself invincible. When he develops a vulnerability, attack!
Sun Tzu - The art of War

Phase 1 - complete!
Day 6 out of 29:
Last 20 Tsumegos (0 wrong) from “Graded Go Problems for Beginners Vol. 3” - check!
29 Tesujis (2 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!


By the way, I spotted a slight flaw in my plan. I wrote, I would start today with studying "Tesuji" and the other stuff, but I actually wanted to start tomorrow
So, I changed this in the first post.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Great job! The hardest part of a serious undertaking is beginning. Keeping up with your plans for six days so far, you've certainly gotten a solid foundation. Good luck continuing everything, and I hope it all works as well as you hoped. Keep us posted!

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Day 7 out of 29:
9 Tsumegos (0 wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
29 Tesujis (3 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

1 Principle from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!
2 Josekis (basic 3*4 high approach [Tsuke-Nobi] and basic Small-Nadare) from “38 Basic Josekis” - check!


What itches me a bit is, I think my biggest weakness is far too less practice. I noticed this in the game against karaklis today, but also in one game against someone from the Go-club. I make huge strategic blunders because I tend to not see my prospects (In the club-game I had two huge walls facing the center but it never occurred to me to use those walls. In the end my opponent managed to get ~10 points in the center while I had like 5 left) or just see the local impact (I knew that by playing the Hane, karaklis could never live locally, but I completely overlooked that he could start a hell of a fight inside my Moyo by just cutting).
Sadly playing games is one thing, I barely have time to. I wouldn't want to play under 25 minutes and so I need to calculate at least one hour and half, maybe more, because I always review my games.

Well, I need to come up with something.
At least I can't say, that doing problems harms me. At the contrary, I managed to make life for a group by using the Nose-Tesuji for the first time in my games =) (Go-club game) That's something one always hopes for, after learning new things!

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Besides the strategic issue there are also some tactical issues involved. I think your invasion should have lived. Twice I was able to avoid that group to make an eye (134 d6, 142 b8). Just have a look at the "eye stealing tesuji" (and the natural counterpart is the "eye saving tesuji" as James Davies names it, iirc).

Yep, that's right. I overlooked this, too, although the Eye-stealing-Tesuji is really nothing fancy ^^ But then again, too less practice with invasions.
At least experience is actually easier to obtain than anything else. So, still dreaming

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Day 8 out of 29:
9 Tsumegos (1 continuation wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
29 Tesujis (3 wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

1 Principle from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!
2 Josekis (3*4 high approach with Tsuke-Nobi at the outside and Keima-response) from “38 Basic Josekis” - check!
1 Chapter from “Tesuji” - check!

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Because of a slight sun-stroke, I found it hard to concentrate on more problems from "1001 Life-and-Death-Problems" but because I already am ahead in my plan, I think it's okay.

Furthermore, I will play some games now as part of the training. Tomorrow I am going to play with karaklis and after that, I'm going to play another on KGS. On Monday, I'm going to play each a game on KGS and on WBaduk. Tuesday will be the same. Wednesday is Go-club meeting, so that will be enough.
I'll see how this work out to make further plans. But because playing 'so much' might cause some time troubles, I dare to drop or take my Joseki-studies a bit more casual. So I'm going to just read through the named chapters, but don't go over it on a board to memorize.

Day 9 out of 29:
1 Tsumego from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
29 Tesujis (6 wrong [2 times the right idea, but the wrong first move]) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

1 Principle from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!



post scriptum:
9 Tsumego (3 wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Agreed. I'm 6k, studying quite a bit, and have been stuck at 6k (even LOST a stone in the process, but got it back) for over 6 months now.

If anything, tsumego made me weaker. Go figure.

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Heretix [24k]: Anyone care to give a little bit of commentary, this game is confusing...
mattn [1d]: commentary: "oh my god"
tartrate vs. redrose game

Forgot to update this yesterday.


Day 10 and 11 out of 29:
18 Tsumego (5 wrong) from “1001 Life-and-Death Problems” - check!
58 Tesujis (7? wrong) from “Get Strong at Tesuji” - check!

2 Principles from “Opening Theory Made Easy” - check!
1 Chapter from “Tesuji” - check!


So far, so well. Played a couple of games yesterday and today.
I was able to beat the local Dan-player on 4H for the first time and today for the second time ^^ Furthermore it was a great feeling to hear from him, that I did improved.
Funny thing is though, the most improved part seems to be my endgame ^^ I managed to win two games today just by playing a good endgame. But well, I still do a lot of stupid blunders, almost mental misclicks, so still a long way to go. But the mountains seem to come closer : )

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go