You don’t have to fully understand the concept of life and death (for now).
However, what you should take away from this conversation:
- Every stone you play should have a purpose.
- Never play without thinking.
- Care for every stone you play: If a stone gets attacked (by the opponent playing very close to it) support your stone by adding others stones, eventually building a group that completely surrounds at least some free intersections.
- Every stone of yours that is not part of a larger group at the end of the game (surrounding at least some territory) counts as one point for your opponent.
- Try to surround corners first, then surround territory on the sides of the board and care for the center of the board last. The third line is called the “line of territory”. At the beginning of the game, mostly play on the third line. See below:
