Hello, Ms. Chinen. I am 3-kyu and I enjoy playing on Pandanet. I would like to improve to 1-dan in time for a tournament which will be held in six months’ time. What would you recommend me to focus on in my study? Consultation One: Mr. Takada Hello, Mr. Takada. Thank you for your mail. So your target is 1-dan in half a year. There are various ways to study, but I would like to make my own recommendations. 1. Study easy life-and-death problems If you repeatedly study the basic life-and-death positions, you will not only become good at life and death but you will also learn good shape. I think that you will get stronger naturally. 2. Review your games How about reviewing your games and trying to find one good move and one bad move (of course, a larger number is also OK)? In particular, I think that reviewing your bad moves is one of the keys to making progress. I hope that you will find a study method that suits you and that you will keep on enjoying go. So long as you have the desire to get stronger, you will reach 1-dan in no time. Good luck!