Yose

Yose, a Japanese go term adopted into English, are moves that approach fairly stable territory, typically enlarging one's own territory while reducing the opponent's. Such plays are usually not as large as opening plays or middlegame plays affecting the life and death of large groups, so they typically occur in the endgame. However, they may occur at any stage. A large yose may even occur in the opening stage. Contrast this with small yose, occurring late in the game and typified by moves on the first and second lines.

Because the typical yose occurs in the endgame, both in Japan and the West yose is at times used as a synonym for endgame.

In Japanese, the term can be verbed to indicate the process of playing yose, in the form yoseru.

Note: yose (ヨセ) as in yose ko has a different, but related, meaning from yose as used on this page. Both are specializations of the general idea of approaching.

A suggested translation is boundary play.