This is where you're going wrong. You aren't required to turn your entire territory into a twisted network of eyes. If your opponent plays inside your territory, consider: is he threatening to capture any of my stones or make two eyes? If he isn't, then don't respond.

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Do you have to answer ? Can black actually do anything (i.e. make two eyes, capture your group) if you just pass?

_________________
We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

Well yes... if you intend to keep passing forever because you have ran out of stones, then black can live inside.

I would have to see the game to be sure but it really sounds like you're missing something, like the fact that you don't have to capture things immediately. As others have said, prisoner exchange FTW.

+1 to learning area rules (then prisoners don't matter and he just gives back to you any stones he captures).

To everyone: what the OP is saying is possible, I think-- if you have large masses of useless blobs of stones and significantly more than half of the board, you could indeed run out of stones. The problem I have is in this condition I don't see how the opponent could do anything useful inside your territory, so it still shouldn't be a problem.

_________________
That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

Basically the answer is: If you run out of stones, take extra bowls with further stones. (Informally, prisoner exchanges are possible, too, provided both have left some.)

There is an exception, of course: Ing Rules let it be ambiguous what happens if one runs out of stones because all of one's exactly 180 stones (19x19 board) are on the board. Therefore, under Ing Rules, it is good to agree (or let the tournament rules declare) before the game how to treat the supposedly constant number of stones and how to count in case more stones become necessary.

Haha, I guess under Ing rules, if you run out of stones, your opponent must resign...

_________________
That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
--
My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

When I tried it on a 3x3 against a small boy, who did not know the value of tengen yet, the player without stones had to pass. It was quite some fun related to whole board repetition.

As you improve you will realize that there comes a point where it is not truly necessary to make a play. At that point, you may decline to play (pass). If your opponent wants to play, let him -- re-evaluate the situation, move if you need to, or don't make a play if you don't need to -- just pass.

His strategy doesn't really work.

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