Some Thoughts About Surrounding
As you already know (or so I assume - if not, go here), Go is a game of surrounding. You surround areas to make territories, and you surround enemy stones to kill them or take the prisoners. But surrounding also has a much more general meaning in Go than just to "make territory" or "kill enemy stones"!
Surrounding enemy stones and groups is good, even if you do not ultimately kill them (because they may have two eyes - more about that here). For the same token, it is not a good thing to let your stones being surrounded by enemy, even if he proves to be unable to kill them.
Why is this so? Why is it so bad to get surrounded if your stones still survive, and why is it so good to surround the enemy even if you are unable to kill him? The answer is simple, and it touches on one of the underlying philosophies of Go.
Let me explain.
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Ok. Look at the position given in Fig 1-1. What do you see? There are some white stones in the corner, they surrounded about 10 points of territory. They, in turn, are surrounded by black stones - and these stones do not seem to generate any territory on their own. So - does that mean that white has a better position? No! Not at all!! Actually - black should be happy about the situation! Let me ask you a leading question here - How much influence will the white stones have on the rest of the game? What do you think? And how about the black stones?
Yes - you can see it now (or at least I hope you can)! White stones are surrounded - and therefore they are totally cut of from the rest of the board. They are "hidden" behind a solid black wall, and their influence on the rest of the game is zero! They cannot expand, they cannot generate more territory (than these lousy 10 points they have now), they cannot play the role of strongholds from which to launch ferocious attacks, and they cannot be a save haven for friendly stones under pressure! These white stones are effectively non-existent with respect to further play! And this is bad.... The only value of these stones are the 10 points - and these 10 points do not compensate for the loss of 5 moves white had to use to get them!
Now lets look at the black formation. Even though it does not produce any points for now, it positively radiates raw power!! These black stones have the capacity to dominate the whole board, and everything white does has to be done with these stones in mind!! As an example - white will not be willing to start a fight in the neighborhood, nor will he try to extend too far towards these stones. Black, on the other hand, will find it easy to emerge victorious from fights all over the boards due to the influence of this formation! Black might even try to use the stones as a wall to build a large territory against, thus directly converting thickness into profit. If he chooses to take this path, you may be assured that the resulting territory black builds will be many times larger than the 10 points white has in the corner!
And this is why surrounding is so important. It has to do with influence and thickness and the flow of the game. Try not to get surrounded while surrounding your opponent - and you will see how much difference this simple idea makes in your play!