Dear osu diary,
'I want to get to shodan quickly.' That must be the first thought of everyone who
learns to play go, but the barrier turns out to be unexpectedly thick. I sometimes
hear people who are stalled at the four- or five-kyu level say, 'I don't have any
talent.' Nonsense—no special talent is needed to reach shodan. These people are
simply falling back on that convenient term 'talent' to justify their mistaken
methods of studying to themselves.
From where, then, comes the difference between those who make steady progress
and those who do not? That question can be answered in one word: fundamentals.
When a person knows lots of joseki, practices life-and-death problems, and plays a
great deal, but still makes no progress, it is because his fundamentals are all wrong.
'Fundamentals' should be interpreted, not as something narrow like joseki, but in a
broad sense, as one's whole approach to the game. Think not of some flimsy
structure that will collapse in a breeze, but of a tall skyscraper that gives itself to the
wind, with only its foundation planted firmly in the ground.
