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Balance
    Keywords: Strategy

A game of go is a contest for territory. At all stages of the game, both players keep track of the amount of territory they have secured. We say that they assess the balance of territory: who has the most territory so far?

However there is a second balance to consider: the balance of power. The question analysed here is: who has the stronger positions on the board at this stage? Although it is not easy to quantify, the relative strength or weakness of a player's positions is known as the concept of thickness.

In order to win your game, it is important you don't fall behind in either balance. If both players have equally strong positions, the one who is ahead in the balance of territory has the better chances to win. That much may be obvious. But if both players have accumulated the same amount of territory, the one who is ahead in the balance of power has the better chances to win. That is less obvious, and let's be clear: the winner is the one who is ahead in the balance of territory at the end of the game, period. There are various techniques to convert a power advantage into a territory advantage. Examples are using the position of strength to set up an attack, or using it as a support position to invade a territorial framework.

If one player is ahead in the balance of territory, and the other in the balance of power... well, that makes for an interesting game then :-) This situation occurs very frequently in games between opponents of equal strength.



This is a copy of the living page "Balance" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.