No idea what I'm doing. Looking for a general plan to improve. (see text)

Straight off the bat, if you are anything above 20k - then you don't actually need to study. Not that you can't, but in these early stages, it's just about absorbing a 'feel' for the game. And that happens through playing lots of games. I'm sure you've already read the old proverb 'Lose your first 50 games quickly'. This is one of the best peices of advice you can get in this game - get out there and start losing!

After about 50 games you'll probably be hovering around the 20k or late teens mark (although it doesn't matter where you are - rank is just a number). Then you can start thinking about study. The amount of time studying vs. playing is an impossible question to answer because it's different for everyone. I'll say this: The most effective use of your time in the early days is spent playing. As you get stronger and it gets harder to progress, that's when you start introducing a higher ratio of study.

First of all, books

The Second Book Of Go - This is the perfect book for someone who knows the rules but has no idea what to do next. It will cover every aspect of the game in short, self contained chapters and will start to help you form a picture of the different aspects of the game - opening, mid-game and endgame.

Secondly, there's the Janice Kim series, "Learn To Play Go". This basically takes The Second Book Of Go and expands it in detail. These are very, very well written books so don't be put off by the crazy covers - mastering these books would, when complemented with regular play, bring you down to the lower single digit kyu rank, of that I have no doubt.

Finally, you'll want to supplement the theory and tactics with problems. Studying problems is another way to get strong FAST - and quality trumps quantity in this regard. I cannot reccomend better than the 'Graded Go Problems For Beginners' series, and the Elementary collection at http://tsumego.tasuki.org/ (free, and problems created by one of the strongest Go players in history).


Now to answer your other questions:

The aim of Go is to have more points than your opponent by the end of the game :) There is a cosmos of different play styles and strategies you can use to achieve this goal, but I think your assessment of 'protecting your own groups whilst restricting the development of your opponents' is a very good principle. In particular, note that there's no mention of killing your opponents groups - often beginners feel like it is necessary to kill their opponent's groups outright, but if you watch professional games you'll notice it's very rare to see a group killed - unless of course, it's traded for an equal amount on the board.

The game is indeed split up into three phases:

Opening: Marking out potential regions of the board with your stones, with the hope that you can develop them into territory at some point. This is a time of great uncertainty, and it's very hard to determine which move is the 'best', or gives you the most points. Often we are going by instinct from having played lots of games in the past, although you will start to learn the principles as you go. See 'Opening Theory Made Easy' for an introduction to the principles.

Mid Game: The board is loosely marked out and rough frameworks are in place, and now the players start trying to solidify or reduce territorial areas. Fights break out, and trades are made between players in the fight to 'get ahead'. The book 'Attack and Defense' is a classic for this one.

End game: This is where the game has settled down and the overall picture has been drawn - what remains is to make the most optimal plays for smaller amounts of points to settle the board completely and end the game. But don't be fooled - the endgame has a precise, almost mathematical quality - it's the complete opposite to the opening in this regard. And a lot of points can be made. Players who are weak at the opening can be strong end-game players and use it to turn the tide of the match. Typically the endgame is considered a more advanced subject and isn't taught to beginners because of its dry nature. But as you get stronger, it becomes increasingly important.

As far as studying players - you will get the most benefit out of studying modern players. They have the benefit of all the games that have come before them. There's definitely value in studying older players, but they tend to use out-of-date approaches that have been shown to be less efficient than modern ones. Of course, studying any pro as a kyu-level player is fine - the difference between 70's Go and 2010's Go will not have any significant impact until you start hitting the Dan ranks, where players are using modern styles. I have some books of games played from over 600 years ago and trust me - you don't want to learn from those!

I don't know much about this, but current trends in Go tend to be about fast, light development and agressive play. The light development came about in the mid 20th Century thanks to players like Go Seigen. When the Koreans rose to power in the 90s (and still dominate to this day), their aggressive playstyle came with it. In fact, if you play on an English-speaking server like KGS then a Korean server like TYGEM you will immediately notice how much more agressive Korean players can be in general!

As for mental shortcuts, the main thing you want to improve at is counting how much territory you have, or estimating roughly how much you have. This is important - if you know you are ahead by 15 points, it means you don't have to play such risky moves, and so your game is less in jepoardy. There are many techniques for fast counting - I would research them.

Finally as for books - please read the ones I reccomended above, they are the best beginner books. One book you might want to consider is "Lessons In The Fundamentals Of Go" which is a more anecdotal, philosophical treatise on what it means to be a Go player (although it contains plenty of theory). It's a humourous, light-hearted yet serious book that you will read many, many times over at different strengths and always walk away with something new in your heart.

The very best of luck to you, this is the greatest game ever made.

/r/baduk Thread