Atari (2)



Atari (burying a stone in the opponent's territory)
If you touch the stone with your mouse, the breathing spaces will appear.
How many breathing spaces does the White group above have in total?
On the outside, it's got 3 x 4 = 12, plus 1 in the middle.
All together, it's got 13 breathing spaces.

The White group has been surrounded by Black stones. But please look at the centre.
White still has one breathing space. This state is called atari.

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If Black plays a stone in the middle, all the White stones are captured.





Atari (burying a stone in the opponent's territory 2)
If you touch the stone with your mouse, the breathing spaces will appear.
One White group is in the corner and one is one the side, but each has only one breathing space inside, so it's the same thing. The groups are in atari.

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If you seal up the White groups' breathing spaces, you can capture all of the stones.





In a game
In a game, you take it in turns to play moves, so a group can't be immediately surrounded. But if you are careless and overlook atari, you will be captured.
When you get stronger, you may ignore an atari on purpose, using your move to take profit elsewhere. It is this kind of strategy that helps to make Go such a profound game.