What is Go about: territory, fighting or efficiency?

Last year, as a way of practicing Korean, I asked a professional player, namely Lee Woojoo 이우주 1p, what she thought Go was about:

• Territory
• Fighting
• Efficiency

At that point in my Go life, I had heard many different opinions on this topic from many different pros already. And, again, it was all just for language practice, as she also wanted to practice English.

Lee Woojoo 이우주 1p

Her answer was efficiency. However, the intensity behind it surprised me quite a bit. The awkwardness of the language barrier compounded by her demeanor prevented me from trying to ask for her to elaborate on her point of view.

Nevertheless, it got me thinking afterwards. Maybe this topic goes beyond a matter of opinion.

And I think it does.

If winning in Go is defined by the player with more territory, then Go cannot actually be about territory in absolute but relative terms. And, especially since we have finite resources on the board, the winner is the one who can score more points per stone, which is the definition of efficiency.

Many other players will mention fighting as the heart of Go, but, if questioned why, besides pride, they would likely say it is a way of extracting more territory, which circles back to efficiency in the end.

Personally, if Go were about territory, I would have lost interest a long time ago. Very early on in my Go life, fighting became a matter beyond mere entertainment. But, when tewari analysis entered the picture, unbeknownst to me, I gradually converged to Lee Woojoo's point of view.

I ended up talking about this short story on my "Opening from Zero" course, though it's in Portuguese: