Life In 19x19

How did I lose at this game? I had more territory, but when we ended the game, it said White had way more territory than he actually had.

https://online-go.com/game/985448

Thanks

I think this gets to the heart of your questions about go: you have a misunderstanding about what makes territory. All of the areas of the board that are surrounded by white stones at the end of the game are part of white's territory, not just places where white has an adjacent stone. So in the diagram below, all of the shaded area is black's territory.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Corner
$$ ------------------
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | X X X X X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]

This is why you keep losing: you're playing your stones too close together to make territory efficiently. If black did this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Corner
$$ ------------------
$$ | X ? X ? X . . . .
$$ | ? X ? X X . . . .
$$ | X ? X ? X . . . .
$$ | ? X ? ? X . . . .
$$ | X X X X X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]

He or she would have lost 7 points from the previous diagram (on most go servers, intersections where you have a stone don't count as territory, only areas that are surrounded by your stones) AND wasted 7 moves.

jeromie wrote:I think this gets to the heart of your questions about go: you have a misunderstanding about what makes territory. All of the areas of the board that are surrounded by white stones at the end of the game are part of white's territory, not just places where white has an adjacent stone. So in the diagram below, all of the shaded area is black's territory.

$$B Corner
$$ ------------------
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | X X X X X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Corner
$$ ------------------
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | ? ? ? ? X . . . .
$$ | X X X X X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]

This is why you keep losing: you're playing your stones too close together to make territory efficiently. If black did this:

$$B Corner
$$ ------------------
$$ | X ? X ? X . . . .
$$ | ? X ? X X . . . .
$$ | X ? X ? X . . . .
$$ | ? X ? ? X . . . .
$$ | X X X X X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Corner
$$ ------------------
$$ | X ? X ? X . . . .
$$ | ? X ? X X . . . .
$$ | X ? X ? X . . . .
$$ | ? X ? ? X . . . .
$$ | X X X X X . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]

He or she would have lost 7 points from the previous diagram (on most go servers, intersections where you have a stone don't count as territory, only areas that are surrounded by your stones) AND wasted 7 moves.

Now I get it!

It depends on which rules are used. This page explains it:

http://senseis.xmp.net/?Scoring

Well in your game the result does not depend on whether or not stones are counted as territory -- white simply has a lot more, under either rule set.