Editing Rules of Go (section)

==== Territory ====
'''Definition. In the final position, an empty intersection is said to belong to a player's territory if all stones adjacent to it or to an empty intersection connected to it are of that player's color.'''

''Note:'' Unless the entire board is empty, the second condition – that there be at least one stone of the kind required – is always satisfied and can be ignored.

A point can never belong to both players' territories.

On the other hand, it may well happen that an empty intersection belongs to neither player's territory. In that case the point is said to be ''neutral territory''.<ref>[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.html AGA Official Rules of Go]: "Neutral Points: Any empty points left on the board at the end of the game which are ''not'' completely surrounded by either player's stones are known as ''neutral points'', and are not counted toward either player's territory or area."</ref> There are rarely any more than a handful of neutral points at the end of a game; in the majority of cases, there are none at all.

Japanese and Korean rules count some points as neutral where the basic rules, like Chinese rules, would not. For more on this, see {{section link||Seki}}.

In order to understand the definition of territory, it is instructive to apply it first to a position of a kind that might arise before the end of a game.<ref>Position after move 45 of 53 in a game taken from the go rules of the First World Mind Sports Games. [http://www.intergofed.org/wmsg/members_documents/2008_July_16/WMSG-GoRule-Appendix1_Revised.pdf]</ref>
{{Goban 9x9

| |  | b|uI| b|uE| |uD|urC
| | b| H| b| w|  | | w| 
| | b| b| w| w|  | |  |w
| |  | b| b| w|  |w| w|b
| |  | b| w|  |  |w| b|b
| | X| X| B| w| w|b| J|b
| | X| b|  | w| b|b| b|b
| | X| b| w| w| w|b| F|w
| |dX|dA| b|dG| w|b| w|drK

|24|u=u|d=d|l=l|r=r}}

The point ''a'' is adjacent to a black stone. Therefore, ''a'' does not belong to White's territory. However, ''a'' is connected to ''b'' (by the path shown in the diagram, among others), which is adjacent to a white stone. Therefore, ''a'' does not belong to Black's territory either. In conclusion, ''a'' is neutral territory.

The point ''c'' is connected to ''d'', which is adjacent to a white stone. But ''c'' is also connected to ''e'', which is adjacent to a black stone. Therefore, ''c'' is neutral territory.

Similarly, the points ''f'' and ''g'' are neutral territory.

On the other hand, ''h'' is adjacent only to black stones and is not connected to any other points. Therefore, ''h'' is black territory. For the same reason, ''i'' and ''j'' are black territory, and ''k'' is white territory.

It is because there is so much territory left to be claimed that skilled players would not end the game in the previous position. The game might continue with White playing 1 in the next diagram. If the game ended in this new position, the marked intersections would become White's territory, since they would no longer be connected to an empty intersection adjacent to a black stone. 
{{Goban 9x9

| | |b| |b|w1|uX|uX|urX
| |b| |b|w| X| X| w|rX
| |b|b|w|w| X| X| X|w
| | |b|b|w| X| w| w|b
| | |b|w|X| X| w| b|b
| | | | |w| w| b|  |b
| | |b| |w| b| b| b|b
| | |b|w|w| w| b|  |w
| | | |b| | w| b| w|

|24|u=u|d=d|l=l|r=r}}

The game might end with the moves shown below. In the final position, the points marked ''a'' are black territory and the points marked ''b'' are white territory. The point marked ''c'' is the only neutral territory left.
{{Goban 9x9

|ulA|uA| b|b1| b|w|uB|uB|urB
| lA| b| A| b| w|B| B| w|rB
| lA| b| b| w| w|B| B| B|w
| lA| A| b| b| w|B| w| w|b
| lA| A| b| w| B|B| w| b|b
| lA|b3|w2|w4| w|w| b| A|b
| lA| A| b|w6| w|b| b| b|b
| lA| A| b| w| w|w| b| C|w
|dlA|dA|b5| b|b7|w| b| w|drB

|24|u=u|d=d|l=l|r=r}}

In Japanese and Korean rules, the point in the lower right corner and the point marked ''a'' on the right side of the board would fall under the ''seki'' exception, in which they would be considered neutral territory. (See {{section link||Seki}} below.)