Editing Go (game) (section)

=== Basic concepts ===
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2016}}
{{Main|Go terms}}
Basic strategic aspects include the following:
* Connection: Keeping one's own stones connected means that fewer groups need to make living shape, and one has fewer groups to defend.
* Cut: Keeping opposing stones disconnected means that the opponent needs to defend and make living shape for more groups.
* Stay alive: The simplest way to stay alive is to establish a foothold in the corner or along one of the sides. At a minimum, a group must have two eyes (separate open points) to be alive.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Baker|first=Karl|title=The Way to Go: How to Play the Asian Game of Go|year=2008|orig-year=1986|url= http://www.usgo-archive.org/files/pdf/W2Go4E-book.pdf|edition=7th|publisher=American Go Association|location=New York, NY|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203014424/http://www.usgo.org/files/pdf/W2Go4E-book.pdf|archive-date=December 3, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> An opponent cannot fill in either eye, as any such move is suicidal and prohibited in the rules.
* Mutual life (seki) is better than dying: A situation in which neither player can play on a particular point without then allowing the other player to play at another point to capture. The most common example is that of adjacent groups that share their last few liberties—if either player plays in the shared liberties, they can reduce their own group to a single liberty (putting themselves in ''atari''), allowing their opponent to capture it on the next move.
* Death: A group that lacks living shape is eventually removed from the board as captured.
* Invasion: Set up a new living group inside an area where the opponent has greater influence, means one reduces the opponent's score in proportion to the area one occupies.
* Reduction: Placing a stone far enough into the opponent's area of influence to reduce the amount of territory they eventually get, but not so far that it can be cut off from friendly stones outside.
* Sente: A play that forces one's opponent to respond ([[Go terms|gote]]). A player who can regularly play ''sente'' has the initiative and can control the flow of the game.
* Sacrifice: Allowing a group to die in order to carry out a play, or plan, in a more important area.

The strategy involved can become very abstract and complex. High-level players spend years improving their understanding of strategy, and a novice may play many hundreds of games against opponents before being able to win regularly.