I’ve just published a book on how to improve at Go, available for free here:
There are 8 chapters, ranging from “Solving Problems” to “Analyzing Your Games” and “Accumulating Knowledge,” and it includes a method for creating an effective learning plan.
I received help from very strong teachers in the creation of this book, as well as a psychologist. All the details are provided in the intro! The book is available for free reading on the website, for download as PDF and EPUB, and as print-on-demand for those who want a physical copy. I don’t take any share from the print copies; you only pay for printing, shipping, and service fees.
I hope you enjoy this guide, and most importantly, that it helps other players avoid falling into the (numerous) traps on the path to learning Go!
Wow, thank you, everyone! I’m blown away by the amazing reception over the past two weeks. The feedback on the content has been overwhelmingly positive, and I’m thrilled that people love the illustrations too.
A huge thank you to Michael Chen 1p for making a video about it as well:
It’s also been fantastic to see quite a few orders for the physical copy coming in. I couldn’t be happier with how this has all turned out.
Thank you for the book, I very much liked the to the point style.
There is good advice here and it is great that you have written it down.
However you confessed that you are one of these people who say ‘I reached SDK level in 1 year. I just played lots of games and I learned naturally.
I have been working hard to improve for a year and struggling to break 21k. I am already doing pretty much everything in your book, including tournaments (I have done 5) and getting games reviewed. Plus working through Tsumego hero to 9k puzzles.
A common thing I am not seeing in go learning advice is a systematic association of specific skills with rank.
For example which joseki will a 15k player know that a 20k player will not know. Some sort of skill list for 20,10,5k would be very helpful.
So what plan will get me to 18k level ?
BTW The AI opening practice sounded like a good idea.
I took the liberty of looking at your OGS account, and you seem to have a fair number of games. If you can solve 9k problems, reading probably isn’t the main issue.
Perhaps the issue is your understanding of Go strategy: weak vs. strong groups, how to use thickness or influence, etc. I would suggest watching DDK strategy videos on YouTube or on a specialized website (I’ve heard good things about GoMagic).
You can also try a guessing game: replay, for example, an SDK or Dan game, and for each move, try to guess where they will play. When you don’t guess correctly (which will likely happen a lot), try to understand the meaning behind their move. This may help you understand strategy a bit more.
My analysis of your issue may be wrong. If anyone wants to chime in, please do!
Thank you. You are right, my issues are understanding how to use influence (I don’t get it at all) , building walls , using walls, my walls get invaded. I’m getting better at the opening and have just started playing up to move 30,40 against GNU GO (10k) and then reviewing a game against the OGS AI, to see where my priority was wrong.
I’ve got a couple of other threads going on my struggles so probably best if I don’t go on too much.
Thanks for the idea about guessing moves on a sdk game. I will give that a try.
