Hello everyone!
I'm new to the game and to the forum actually, so, my abject apologies if my topic is in the wrong section.

The answer to the question I'm just about to ask may be right over my head, but I'd still like you to shed some light on the following:
Why didn't White capture the group of black stones by playing n8 at his 70th move?



Thanks.

If Black plays at S2 instead of White, then the White group will die. If White plays at P1, then Black plays at R1, if White plays at R1, then Black plays at P1.

_________________
Occupy Babel!

Just as hyperpape said if Black plays S2 the white group will die.
I will go into more detail here:

If white captures at 1 he will get 5 stones (10 points).
But Black will kill the white group (marked), that are 9 stones + a few points in the corner. It's about double the value of white 1.
For that reason capturing with 1 is too small (taking 10 points by giving your opponent 20+ points).

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Move 70
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 O T T O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O T T T O . X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . O O O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . O O X X X X X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . X X W W W X . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . X X O . X . X W . W X . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . X W W W W 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 3 . 4 . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I hope this answers your question.

blade90, SuprunP,