At least as alive as one nearby enemy group Let's not forget seki.

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1k KGS

Just thought I'd say - thanks to your commentaries, when a similar situation came up in a recent game, I was able to create dual life. It's the first time I ever managed to get a seki off the computer!

Thank you guys for clarification on this. However the whole pass-alive thing gets a little confusing. Is there a way to tell if a black enclosed region of X territory is alive regardless of white's attempt to capture from within? I'm familiar with nakade and their vital points.

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<(^.^)>

In general, if you are able to make (or already have) more than two eyes, you're 100% safe. That includes situations where one of your eyes is big enough to make another eye in it.
If you are able to make two eyes, and the opponent can not make an eye inside your eyes, you're safe, too. In general, that is very unlikely. Eyes need to be very big for the opponent to make another eye inside, especially when you react to the moves. And when an eye is that big, it's often easy to make a third eye . But in that regard the corner is special. You only need three or two stones for a eye in the corner. So especially when you're low on outside liberties, that's something to watch out for.

Note that the converse is not true: If your opponent can make an eye inside your eye, you may still be alive. When you have enough outside liberties, you might be able to capture the inside group.

Of course, to decide whether the opponent can make an eye inside, you have to read. For the original situation, that's not so hard:
P12 is an atari, so it's a natural move to consider. The answer is forced. N14 is also natural to consider, because it also forces an answer. After the connection, P14 again forces an answer. And with the next move, white can already atari, and black cannot defend.

The whole sequence just consists of forcing moves, it doesn't really branch. Ok, at N14 it may take some thought to decide that you really have to connect. And it may take some skill to see the other forcing moves after the initial atari. But that comes with practice. For now, it's sufficient to just try to read a few moves ahead. Especially when there is an atari, just try to imagine what will happen after playing the atari and connecting.