Life In 19x19

What makes people strong at go? If you have to choose one thing, what would it be?

I think the main problem is, there is not single way.

i do most of those and it makes me stronger each time. sure you can focus on one aspect until your jesus at it.

and then work on the others, but you wont see a dramatic increase in doing just one. if you do all little by little the overall strenght of your play will be seen quite quickly

Doing what you enjoy, IMO. Though to get really strong, this should be combined with learning to enjoy tsumego

I think that at least up to around dan level, doing what you enjoy will be far more beneficial than forcing yourself to do tsumego if you dont like them (or similar for any other pair of study methods).

I agree with James Kerwin here, just play a lot with someone considerably stronger up until 1k than just study, study, study.

I predict skewed poll results. Mostly weak players will answer and they (we) don't really know what it takes, since we obviously haven't pulled it off yet or we wouldn't be weak to begin with.

Having a pro teacher, what else?

I mean, if you get one, you're certainly interested in becoming stronger, so motivation is not a big deal. Then pro teaching includes playing games and reviewing them with one considerably stronger and I assume, you are constantly getting lectures on different aspects of the game.

So, all inclusive.

Play stronger players, do tsumego, and get a pro teacher. It's that easy. The problem is time and money.

Hi,

I voted
>Learning foreign language vocabulary for go terms
which seems an odd choice, although I have at least company in selecting this item.

I became interested in Go when I picked up in a bookshop a copy (at a reduced price) of
"Die Mitte des Himmels" meaning "The Center of Heaven" or "Tengen":
http://www.gobooks.info/koulen.html

It has great stuff on Go history and many Go fables which I liked especially. I finished the book the same evening and on the next day I bought an introductory Go book. I like Go, and I especially like doing Go problems, which I can fit in more easily into my schedule, but Go became just a part of my growing interest in Asian cultures and I started to study Japanese, Korean and Chinese; I really do not know that much, but it is interesting to see how these languages differ from European ones and I enjoy to pick up a few new words now or then if I have time.

This explains my choice: learning Asian vocabulary Go terms is really just a substitute of my interest
in these cultures and languages which in turn keeps me interested in Go and that happens to be a prerequisite for becoming stronger.

Cheers

hackinger

It seems too obvious to me that the best way to get stronger would be to train with a pro or nearly pro teacher. I mean, you'd be playing a stronger player all the time, reviewing all of your games, solving lots of tsumego, and learning many new josekis.

I'm not going to vote for two reasons: one, I don't know, and two, it's a dumb question. The way to get stronger involves many of these things; I very much doubt that any one is sufficient. If it were, we'd all know that.

There are no dumb questions, just silly answers ...

Cheers

hackinger

In my experience, playing against much stronger players is the fastest way to get stronger (so I voted pro teacher).

I am reading books on Go theory (assuming this means books on Go which are not problem books) and think it is a good way to become stronger, if you like it. Surely not the most effective, but it's fun.

Oh, by the way, Kirby, I was missing one important option here :

• Getting a KGS Plus account

Honestly, I think that it is a very good deal and for small money you get lots of lectures by pros where you can even participate real time and post your questions. Thereby, you get some of everything: go theorie, pro games, kyu game reviews, joseki, tesuji, ... Together with playing games and solving some problems to improve your reading, this is a very effective combination.

answer is different for different level of players.
kyu level need life and death which will help them reading.

at dan level your reading is not too bad..so you need to play stronger player preferably professional.
they will help you broden your view of go.

most of people here are kyu level so i selected life and death.

I voted for a pro teacher. But there are good amateur teachers, too. And anyone who is 5 stones stronger than you can recognize many of your weaknesses.

But there is one way that is not in the list. Watch and play Malkovich games.

Edit: Hmmm. I guess that falls under playing and reviewing games.