Can I become pro? Two questions.

[Aureliano Buendía]

This is from Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game: "At the age of six [Cho Chikun] came to Japan and became a disciple of Kitani Minoru, 9-dan. In 1968, at the age of 11, he entered the professional ranks as a 1-dan [...] and it took him only 12 more years to reach the top professional rank of 9-dan."

I'm almost 30 years old, I'm no one's disciple, I'm not Cho Chikun, and I've just started learning about go. In terms of skill, is it still possible for me to become a pro?

I'm not Asian, I'm not American, and my country doesn't have a professional ranking system. Is it somehow possible for me to attain an official pro rank nevertheless?

[Kirby]

Anything is possible... People thought it impossible for humans to run a mile in 4 minutes, until it was shown to be possible.

[Bill Spight]

This is from Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game: "At the age of six [Cho Chikun] came to Japan and became a disciple of Kitani Minoru, 9-dan. In 1968, at the age of 11, he entered the professional ranks as a 1-dan [...] and it took him only 12 more years to reach the top professional rank of 9-dan."

I'm almost 30 years old, I'm no one's disciple, I'm not Cho Chikun, and I've just started learning about go. In terms of skill, is it still possible for me to become a pro?

I once read a letter in a go magazine in Japan by a man who said he had played some go in college, but had not played since then. He had retired at age 50 and started taking lessons from a pro. In one year he made shodan, in the next year he made 2 dan, in the next year 3 dan, in the next year 4 dan, and at age 55 he made 5 dan. In those days amateur 6 dan overlapped professional strength.

Why not take lessons from a pro? If you make shodan on IGS in one year, you may be able to reach pro level skill in a decade.

[macelee]

Note that being able to reach pro strength is not the same thing as being able to become a pro players.

[dfan]

As Kirby said, anything is possible. That said, if there were a thousand people in your situation (30-year-old beginner with an interest in the game) and I was asked to bet on whether any of them would become a pro, I would very happily bet that none of them would.

Over the years I have seen a bunch of newcomers to the game express the desire to become a pro and I'm not sure that any of them even reached the single-digit-kyu (intermediate skill) level before losing interest in the game. I personally think there are more effective ways to acquire motivation to improve. But everyone is different! If aiming for the heavens is what motivates you, then go for it. If I had more ambitious goals, I'd probably be better by now.

P.S. In any case, I hope you don't forget the day your father took you to discover ice.

[jlt]

Read this discussion: viewtopic.php?t=15691

[Aureliano Buendía]

Anything is possible... People thought it impossible for humans to run a mile in 4 minutes, until it was shown to be possible.

In the sense that my becoming pro would be as likely as winning the lottery or writing the next great American novel?

Why not take lessons from a pro? If you make shodan on IGS in one year, you may be able to reach pro level skill in a decade.

I like the advice and the timeline, and that takes care of the first question. What are your thoughts on the second?

Note that being able to reach pro strength is not the same thing as being able to become a pro players.

Yes, I'm asking two separate questions.

As Kirby said, anything is possible. That said, if there were a thousand people in your situation (30-year-old beginner with an interest in the game) and I was asked to bet on whether any of them would become a pro, I would very happily bet that none of them would.

Over the years I have seen a bunch of newcomers to the game express the desire to become a pro and I'm not sure that any of them even reached the single-digit-kyu (intermediate skill) level before losing interest in the game. I personally think there are more effective ways to acquire motivation to improve. But everyone is different! If aiming for the heavens is what motivates you, then go for it. If I had more ambitious goals, I'd probably be better by now.

P.S. In any case, I hope you don't forget the day your father took you to discover ice.

Fair enough, dfan. Your post was great. Many years later, as I face the firing squad, I am sure to remember the distant afternoon when you inspired me to become pro. =P

Read this discussion: viewtopic.php?t=15691

It really helped with the first question. When it comes to the second, just playing with possibilities (likely or not), I thought maybe Korea, or even becoming an American citizen and joining the AGA ranking system, who knows.

[Joaz Banbeck]

... Many years later, as I face the firing squad, I am sure to remember the distant afternoon when you inspired me to become pro. =P...

Ahhh. I thought your handle sounded familiar.

[Bill Spight]

Why not take lessons from a pro? If you make shodan on IGS in one year, you may be able to reach pro level skill in a decade.

I like the advice and the timeline, and that takes care of the first question. What are your thoughts on the second?

Start your own professional go association.

[baduk]

basically if you are strong enough you can go and become pro anywhere,but thats not rwally the issue,yiu have to become very strong,acutually do you have enough time and patience to study the game seriously?because if you want to get that strong go is not just a fun game all the time,but if you know that you will face a thousands of defeats and disappointments,and have the right methods it is possible,the right methods and mind is most important

[Tryss]

In the sense that my becoming pro would be as likely as winning the lottery or writing the next great American novel?

Close to that, yes. There are countless people that discover go at 30+ years, but in the last 20 years, how many made pro?

[Kirby]

I think having a higher goal leads to better result. There are exceptions, but I’ve met more than one 4~5d amateurs that told me they started out with the ambition to become pro.

I thought it’d be cool, but more practical to be a dan player. After several years, I’m a bit stronger than 1d, one of my original goals.

Maybe if I had a higher goal i would’ve worked harder and become a mid level dan player.

It’s just speculation though - who knows?

[Uberdude]

Starting with the second question: if you got possessed by a go spirit and gained Ke Jie strength overnight you'd have no trouble getting pro certificate in Asia, the various associations would probably be falling over each other to get you to join their club.

However, that's a cartoon and in reality the best you could hope for is to be scraping the bottom end of pro strength and then passing some pro test. The lowest bar would be as an American, European or woman so can you join any of those categories?

As for gaining the necessary strength that's very unlikely at this late age unless you are a rare prodigy. I'd say get to 1 dan first, then see how long it takes to get to 2 dan and multiply by 5 to 10. Some might say if you don't get to 1 Dan in a year no way to be pro but look at Pavol Lisy 2p for example: granted he was just a kid but he was a kyu for years but then when he started studying seriously (including a spell in Korea) aged 14 he shot through the low and mid dan ranks in a few years and was EGF pro 5 years later. http://www.europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/Pl ... y=12686597

P.S. Compare to me, who started aged 19 and was 2d in 2 years (and skipped 1d so my little heuristic says I should be pro already! though I did drop back), but then averaged about 1 dan improvement per 4 years until I got married and flat-lined. I would be happy to make 6d and don't think I'll ever get to pro strength. Of course I'm not studying go 8+ hours a day like you should if you seriously want to make pro. http://www.europeangodatabase.eu/EGD//P ... y=14337147

[Joaz Banbeck]

Sometime - in the next several decades - the fastest way to become pro will be with implants.
Soon after, pro strength will rise, and then the only way to become a pro will be with implants.

Sometime between those two points we will see airport-style full body scanners at the sign-up table at major tournaments.

[Vio]

If you have any chance to do it, play a real life game against a 5d child 7 years old.
I had that opportunity, it's very helpful to make estimation on your own chance to get to pro level.