It may seem rude but he's right. Having "the whole winter break of some almost non-stop go" isn't enough. A month or two of studying and playing as much as you can isn't going to get you where you need to be, as Araban said there are kids much younger than you who are already much stronger and are spending almost all day everday on Go, not just their breaks from school. If you really want to be a pro you'll have to do the same. Get a job if you don't have one already and start saving up money so you can go study with pros and other players that are trying to become pro in Asia; and when you're not working you need to be playing or studying.

Edit: While you're saving up the money to go study in Asia you can also use that time to see if it's really the right path for you. If you end up deciding it's not you'll have money saved up so when you go back to school your budget won't be so tight.

I recently spoke with a guy who took a couple months off of university and went to a korean baduk school for 9 months. He said his spendings were the same here and there.

I perfectly understand that. However, school's very important too. If I decide to stop going to school and play go 24/24h, then I'll fail my exams and have to take back another full year of school. I'll first finish school, then I'll start studying go "full time".

Still working towards the shodan. However, I'm starting to notice how hard the path really is. Not only is it hard, but my time has almost ran out already... School's so time consuming, I'm starting to doubt.

I found a teacher, Li Ang. If some of you know him, it would be nice if you could give me some critiques about him. As far as I know, he's a good teacher. Any of you have experienced his lessons yet?

Just a couple of weeks (2-3) left before school finally ends. As soon as it is over, I'll start spending my days in front of my goban. I hope I can make. I must find a way. But going shodan with only 1 month of intensive training seems impossible to do.

Let's not think about the future. Step by step I'll climb this hill and achieve my objective. I can't fail. Otherwise, I know I'll keep on thinking about it. Let's focus on making the first step, for now.

Don't complain about outrageous prices but choose teachers with reasonable prices. E.g., I (went from 14k to 3d in 19 months, am now 5d and) offer the discount prices 6.4 EUR/h for playing, 12.8 EUR/h for analysis, in between for mixed mode:
http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/teach.html

For becoming pro quickly, invest at least 14h/day (ok, if you are still visiting school, it has to be less). Read all the good books:
http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/isbn.html
For a start, solve 1500 problems, study 1500 pro games and study 1000 openings. Let your blunder rate drop to 10, then 5, then 2, then 1, then 0.5 per game.

Robert, I add you to my list of future teachers then Leyleth's thread is very useful for me so far

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Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

No time to play, no time to play... Can't wait finishing school!

Have you tried playing on DGS? Some people don't like it, but I think it's good if you don't have a lot of time to devote to playing. I'll gladly play a game with you

Plug for another correspondence server: http://www.online-go.com

A smaller player base than DGS, but offers ladder and tournament system. Might be worth a try too if you are interested in turn-based play

I don't like the idea of turn based play. When I play, I like to see the movement of the stones. How they evolve. I also see the game as a discussion with your opponent. It should be made face to face (okay, seems weird to say such a thing on a forum, but )

Nothing like 1500 games of server play to break any artsy-fartsy "feelings" one has about the game

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1k KGS

Stop focusing on the end result and start focusing on the means of getting there.

Forget your goal and crack open that tsumego book (btw free tsumego at http://tsumego.tasuki.org/ )

That's exactly what I said I was going to do when school's over...

Today, I noticed I had a weird taste for some cosmic go (fighting while off balance). Maybe my moves are mistakes. However, I managed to pull them off against a 3 dan, today. Was happy even though I lost by 21 points (with 3 handicap)

Who are those 2-dans and 3-dans? 1-kyus I know would crush you on 9 stones every single time. Don't let yourself to be carried away by thinking you are actually near dan level. You are nowhere near. Show some respect! Reaching dan level and pro level is so much harder than you think. Hikaru no Go is a great tale for kids, but reality is so much harder.

No need to say that. Disillusion will come anyway, earlier or later.
Better to get disillusioned when already amateur dan than at mid- to low sdk level

Thx you for your support... Those dans players are some "real" dan players. They got their rating in tournaments (real life ones) all across Canada. When I talk at the go club, I'm talking about real life go. Improving my KGS rating by 2-3 kyu to get my level in real life (my friend who's 6d and got second place in a recent tournament in France told me there was this difference between my 2 levels of play.

I know I still got to improve. I know I'm very far from being a dan player. You won't learn me anything by that. However, I won't let such details get in my way. If you want to stop progressing because the goal seems "too far", then it's your decision. Having 3 stones against a 2d player is unacceptable, in my opinion. I will keep on climbing. I will get stronger. And I'm wondering how you can judge my level just like that, Sur... You never played against me and probably never saw me play in real life. Once I stomp you, maybe you'll start to understand...

Stupid trolling doesn't impress me or anyone else. Frankly my dear, it makes me sick to my stomach.

On a more friendly note, talking about getting stronger and actually getting stronger are two entirely different issues. If you want to get stronger spend more time solving tsumego puzzles and reading go books and less time trash talking.

I actually believe your disillusion can hurt your progress, so I'm trying to open you eyes. Everyone playes better in live serious games, it's not only you. Your KGS rank actually tells something however much you choose to ignore this fact. If you like real life players so much, let me tell you that KGS 7-kyu is only 13-kyu at EGF tournaments in my country. That's the reason I can't possibly believe in your dan players strength.

If it's unacceptable for you to play handicap games against 2-dan, you are being very rude to strong players. It's considered to be a heroic achievement to reach shodan in two or three years in my country and very few actually did it so fast. And here you are after few months of playing claiming that you are near dan level strength and on his way to become a pro.

When you say you are "creaming" KGS 7-kyus by 70 points, it may not be because you are that much better. It may be because you are overplaying and you opponents don't know how to punish your moves. If you were able to win your games by that much playing solid and calm moves, you wouldn't be 7-kyu. I saw a few of your KGS games and you tend to overplay a lot.

If you want some advice how to improve, mine is playing on different servers. I don't like KGS much because players at kyu levels play ugly and impolite go in my opinion. I like IGS where most players are from Japan. They seem to have a very good feel of the game and are playing very nicely. Try IGS and look. Then I have to recommend playing on Tygem, korean server. They are natural fighters and will attack your every group even if they shouldn't. It's nice place to learn fighting and playing solidly.

Another advice is not try to become a pro just right now. You are still in the beginning and go changes as you reach higher and higher levels. You may see this game very differently once you reach another level of your play and then it changes again when you grow even more. High level go may be completely different game than how you see it now.

I may seem a little bit harsh, but seeing everyone supporting you, I thought someone should take the other side and tell you off.

Hey, both sides? Cool off and relax. Surely both sides have been underrated at some point and expected to rank up soon, and both sides have similarly realized they weren't quite as good as they may have thought, before. Regardless, there's no reason here to be so harsh to each other. Cool off, and give the benefit of the doubt, please.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Sur, I have to say, that comes across really nasty. You might consider toning that down if it's not what you intended.

Gah, ninja'd

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com