Quote:
Originally Posted by Black_Shield
i watched all 75 episodes of Hikaru No Go and i still don't know how territory works lmao
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It's both stupidly simple and incredibly nuanced. Here's the simple definition:
At the end of the game (when both players passed but no one resigned), you can count as your "territory" all empty intersections on the board that are surrounded by your stones. For example, here is how you would count territory in a finished game (notice in the lower left, there are 2 neutral points since they are not surrounded by a single color):
White won this game.
You might notice in this picture some transparent stones. This is where the nuance comes in. This means they were present when the game ended, but were automatically captured by the stones that surround them. This is because no matter what the player might try, there is no way for them to prevent being captured if the other player responds normally. How can I tell from a glance? It's because such groups cannot find a way to make "
two eyes", which is the only type of shape that cannot be captured.
Fortunately, we don't have to go that deep if we don't want to. There is always a way to keep things simple. If at the end of the game you notice stones from your opponent's color in your territory and you cannot determine if it should be auto-captured or not, simply resume play to figure out the final state of the group trying to survive. Indeed, no territory should be counted before both players agree on stones that should be auto-captured.
Hope that makes sense
