At present, I am 1-dan. However, I can’t solve 1-dan life-and-death problems. Please tell me how I can learn to solve them. Consultation Two : Mr. Oto Hello, Mr. Oto. Thank you for your inquiry. Hm. Go is difficult. Doing life-and-death problems is one of the ways I study go, but sometimes I can’t find the answer no matter how much I think and my thoughts just go round in circles. At such times, I get sick of study and give up. At times like this, let’s just look at the answer! We can learn the technique involved in the problem and see what the vital point is. However, if it’s a difficult problem, we can’t remember the technique by doing it just once. The way to improve is to do the same problem again and again. You should keep doing it until you can solve it easily without looking at the answer. The only thing is that finishing off a book of difficult problems will be really hard. I always recommend doing problems two or three levels below your actual level. The first step is to get used to life-and-death problems by training at a leisurely pace. This way you will really come to enjoy life-and-death problems. I hope you keep trying to improve. Good luck!