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Complete beginner help!

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 2:45 pm
by truego
Hello, I just started playing yesterday. I am a total noob :) I played a game against the computer and my question is, how come the territory I marked did not count for me when the game ended? (I am playing as black and am talking about the bottom right with the red borders).


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Re: Complete beginner help!

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 2:48 pm
by cyndane
your black stone are not connected.

I suggest going through this tutorial:
http://www.playgo.to/iwtg/en/

Welcome to go!

Re: Complete beginner help!

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 2:56 pm
by Jujube
Ah! What a lovely diagram :)

Your black group has 2 liberties. The white group in the lower right corner has more than you. No matter who was to move first, white would be able to capture your black stones. Can you read this out?

Since the fight is settled, the computer marks your black stones as dead at the end of the game.

If you were playing a human, and each of you differed in your opinion about whether a group of stones were alive or dead, you would play out the sequence until you were both satisfied of the outcome.

Re: Complete beginner help!

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:02 pm
by truego
Oh thanks a lot Jujube. I see, It makes perfect sense. What happened was the computer skipped a turn, so I skipped back. Did the computer skip because it knew the game was over?

Re: Complete beginner help!

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:31 pm
by xed_over
truego wrote: the computer skipped a turn... Did the computer skip because it knew the game was over?
You mean it "passed"?
Yes, the computer thought the game was over. You can continue to play if you disagree.

Re: Complete beginner help!

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:54 pm
by Jujube
That's right, your opponent passed because all of the territories are fully defined, and there is no possible sequence of moves (not including blunders) to alter the score in their favour.

Notice that you shouldn't play additional stones to capture a dead group, as by doing so, you are reducing the empty intersections in your own territory, which loses you points. Instead, dead stones are automatically removed at the end of the game.

Re: Complete beginner help!

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:15 pm
by truego
Oh thanks a lot. You guys are really helpful. I hope to learn this game eventually. :)