Hi Guys - an absolute newbie beginner here and I am struggling even with Clossius’ Big Eye Puzzle #6. How sad is this 
b5 can only be put in atari if black plays both b6 and b4, so if he plays one, you play the other (this is called miai: equivalent points). Only if you let black get 2 moves in a row can he atari it.
Hi Uberdude thank you for the answer. I was thinking that white would have to be daft to allow it but I was obviously reading the puzzle too literally ie “is white alive with two eyes”. My answer was a literal ‘no’ because technically black could take at b5 but as you say white would not allow it. I hadn’t appreciated that the puzzles assume counter play. I will adjust my thinking. This has been a great help - thank you
What you refer to is a thing, it’s called being pass-alive
Yes, the convention when we talk about the status of groups is we assume opponent can go first, but it’s then alternating play. The idea you mention of being totally alive whatever happens, even if you keep passing in response to the opponent’s moves, is called “pass-alive”.
Thank you again to both you and Samraku - thanks to both of you for your help and understanding of the newbie mind!
I’ve played Go for so long and yet this is the first time I’ve heard of the term “pass-alive” 
Even after Black B4 and B6, White can still play C5, right? So it seems like Black needs three moves in a row to kill.
Edit: I see the problem with that now!
I mean, it’s not that useful outside some edge cases such as dealing with stalling or making rulesets for Kill-All Go
I think it’s also useful when judging whether the opponent has ko threats.
Maybe in some special cases, but it won’t help if not all ko threats are worth enough to be answered, or if there are strings which could be threatened in 3+ moves
I think it will be useful to know how a certain shape will not produce any ko threats no matter how many moves the opponent plays. It’s also good to identify in advance whether certain shapes need further protection in the future, but that will also go into the realm of aji and not just life and death.
yeah, but mostly what matters is what can be threatened in one turn/damaged in two. Stuff that can be threatened in two turns can occasionally come into play, but pass-alive doesn’t care if it takes 20 consecutive moves to kill, it’s not pass alive
I think that during the course of play I differentiate groups that are alive (but I still need to pay attention) and groups that are completely alive (where I can ignore opponent plays in the area), especially during the yose. You can tell that strong players know in advance where they need to defend as dame are filled, for example.
This is related though not quite the same as pass-alive. It could make for interesting exercises.
I feel like it’s more useful/important in Go variants or in describing some kind of weird rules beasts than it is useful in normal Go 
As in something like those are where the distinctions become useful in discussion. Like go variants where one player regularly gets multiple moves in a row. Or
We all know better the words "to die in gote’ on the opposite side.
I would not be so bold 
I may be the only person ever to get below 30k 
