Yeah, I know, but still: I crossed that magic border and I gotta say: it feels quite good!
How did I get there?
I started back in 2003, so for me it was not 'Shodan in a year' but more like 'Shodan in a decade'.
After starting out very motivated, playing a lot on KGS, reading books and doing problems, at around 5 kyu, my progress slowed down and I had to realize that I am not as talented as others. I also realized that because of Go being the addictive game that it is, it can be REALLY time-consuming. So I started to put it further down on my list of priorities, but I always knew that I will probably never quit this beautiful game that can give you so much joy and satisfaction. There were times when I was not playing at all but was enjoying to watch youtube videos, especially the games of dwyrin, Mrhaandi, BobWhoosta, Viktor Lin, the lectures of Murughandi, Nick Sibicky and recently of course the games of Haylee. From watching those great players I learned that there is not really something magical about their moves. Basically, you 'just' have to play according to the basic principles of Go. That may sound easy, even too easy to be of any practical usage.
What I did and want to recommend is to take every lost game (and I mean every game) and right afterwards click through the moves to find the one move where you were not playing according to the basic principles.
I always found this move and I bet you will, too.
