There are common opening moves but after about 40 moves - 20

There are common opening moves, but after about 40 moves - 20 by each side - the game will have barely begun, yet will be different from any that either side has played before.The middle game sees battles and a general settling of territorial areas, and the endgame proceeds quite rapidly because there are fewer possible moves as the board fills up, though it becomes important to calculate the order of moves - at this stage, every extra point helps. A standard game between competent amateurs takes about an hour and consists of more than 200 moves.Go also forces one to develop true strategy. The size of the board means you can lose a sizeable group in one corner, and yet not lose the game, since you can start almost afresh elsewhere. Better players may give up a large group, or let the opponent gain territory, in order to win bigger gains elsewhere - the idea of "compensation".

It is the requirement to consider the broader picture, weighing up events across the whole board, which makes go such a fascinating challenge.A final recommendation? The thought processes that go promotes - of observing balance in one's forces, of letting the opponent win a little so that you can win a lot - closely resemble Japanese industrial strategy. Whenever I hear a manager compare business to chess, I know I am listening to a loser. The boss of Nintendo, for example, is a top-ranked go amateur; one of the first Western companies to win a contract from him got it when its boss - also a go player - offered a challenge game In its way, playing go is like winning market share. You don't need to get everything - just more than the opposition.There are many local go clubs, and a number of schools where the game is played. Contact the British Go Association on the Internet at http:// www.britgo.demon.co.uk or write to 6 Meynell Crescent, Hackney, London E9 7AS (enclosing a large sae) for more information..

It's hardly the weather for a picnic, but this simply-folded envelope, originally designed to take salt and pepper into the woods, makes an equally good container for seeds, small gemstones or anything else delicate and spillable 1. First fold down the top edge of a sheet of paper (half a sheet of A4 is a good size to try for a small, neat envelope at the end). 3. Fold the top corners down so that what were the right and left edges now line up with the bottom.5. You will now notice that it is too late to put anything into your envelope. So undo one of the ends, insert your precious gems/salt/ pepper/seeds and close the package again.Save until the weather improves.Bawn O'Beirne-Ranelagh2. Fold bottom edge of paper up to the top, tucking it in beneath the earlier fold Then turn the paper over.4.