I started this challenge on 24/12/16 at 13k on KGS. I have never studied go seriously like this before, just the casual games here and there.
I will be self studying using the methods below
1. Tsumego
This is where my improvement will come from. I will be doing as much Tsumego as I can everyday during my free time. The website I use to do Tsumego is http://www.101weiqi.com. They have the largest collection of problems online (currently 70k+ problems) and has organized sections where you can drill a particular Tesuji or do problems from a particular go book(all the popular go books have been uploaded). The website is in Mandarin, but an English speaker should be able to easily navigate it using translate tools.
I mainly do a lot of easy problems which I can fully read out within 45 seconds. The difficulty of problems that I can read out within 45 seconds has been steadily increasing and I find this really helps with reading speed during real games. There is a special timed challenge mode on the website where you can do problems in this form. The added benefit is that it adds a fun factor to doing tsumego, like a mini game.
2. Play and Review
One serious game per day on KGS, with detailed review with leela afterwards.
3. Blitz games with Leela
2-3 blitz games with Leela per day to help with intuition for direction of play.
My method of self study is inspired by this post,
https://forums.online-go.com/t/repost-to-become-a-master-of-go-is-not-easy-but-to-become-an-amateur-5d-or-6d-is-not-hard/789
where high dan player explains that the way to improve is continuous and relentless effort on tsumego. This advice is echoed by many other strong players both amateur and professional alike.
This journal will track my progress following this advice and maybe encourage others who hate tsumego to give it another chance!
