[thangalin]

Play many 9x9 games; play against the program Igowin: it can beat dan players. Keep playing 9x9 and 13x13 games until you are 8 to 10 kyu in strength.

Play on 19x19 games and study fuseki theory -- how to play the opening. Start to study joseki, but do not memorize them; understand the principles behind joseki.

Replay professional games. I am a fan of Shusaku (the book Invincible is a must read for any serious Western player). Don't simply click through games on the computer. Get a set of stones and a board. Play through the games. Get a feeling for the moves. Try to understand the strategies.

Once you get to 4 kyu, study tsume-go problems (http://senseis.xmp.net/?Tsumego). Start with problems around the 6 kyu level. Keep studying the same problems over-and-over until you can solve them in milliseconds. Then move up to 4 kyu problems. Repeat. Keep doing this until you become a dan player. If you study 1 hour of tsume-go every day like this, you might reach 5 dan in about four months.

As soon as you can, if you can afford it, take private lessons with professional players. KGS has many.