Aji is the concept of essentially making lemonaid from lemons by using the existence of the dead stones to put pressure on the surrounding pieces and claw back

Aji is the concept of essentially making lemonaid from lemons by using the existence of the dead stones to put pressure on the surrounding pieces and claw back some of your losses. Because they haven’t been captured yet they reduce the safety (liberties) of nearby stones. And until those are fully settled an incorrect move could rescue them, and the effort put into preventing that may cost points in the defense.