What do fashion designers, investors, housekeepers, army generals, vacationers and game players have in common? They all have to think and plan ahead. And to do this effectively, the most important thing is to break up many decisions into separate steps, hope for the best and plan for the worst and plan one step at a time. It seems that most of these people do useful things, but what about game players ? Why play games at all? Aren't they useless and removed from real life ?

Games prepare us for real-life situations while providing simulations that help us develop our ability to perform certain tasks. And arguably, the most important skills you can develop by playing games are anticipating and planning ahead, memory and motor skills and creativity. Pedagogic games are used as a standard tool to develop the minds of newborns to the most elderly people. In fact, games played by two or more people may improve communication and cooperation skills as well. However, the word "game" often carries a certain stigma.

To organize and promote games like go, chess, checkers, bridge, as well as memory games, an umbrella organization uses the word "mind sports" and appropriately calls itself the MSO, or Mind Sports Organization. It has a fabulous Web site (www.msoworld.com) that lists all its activities, including championship games and worldwide branches. The Japanese branch is organizing a mind sports event to be held on July 28 and 29 at the International Forum Building in Yurakucho, Tokyo.

More locally, the Banyu Inryoku, based in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, has been active for several years now and organizes several game parties each year. To counter purportedly bad social influences, especially among youngsters, the organization will focus more on spreading mind sports targeting young people. Banyu Inryoku also believes mind sports are a vehicle to promote friendship with foreign residents in Japan. The secretariat is run by Mrs. Kondo from her Cosmo game club, which houses several mind sports, including go, Othello, renju, shogi, etc. The telephone number is (03) 3205-1746 (Japanese only).

Atari-The last liberty

Before a stone is actually captured, there are several signs showing how healthy it is, like its number of liberties or the number of liberties of the surrounding enemy stones. And recognizing how many liberties a stone (or group of stones) has is the key to knowing how to handle that stone.

Diagram 1 : In this situation, it is Black's turn. Both the two marked white stones as well as the two marked black stones seem to be in trouble as they have only two liberties each.

Diagram 2 : Black 1 is wrong. Yes, it does take away one liberty of the white stones, but it also takes away a liberty of the marked black stones as well. Now Black's stones are down to their last liberty-we call this situation "atari." So, Black has put himself in atari. And White can take away Black's last liberty and capture the three stones (black 1 and the two marked stones).

Diagram 3 : What about black 1 in this diagram ? It puts the marked white stones in atari but does not endanger Black's own stones. Even if White plays at 2 now, black 3 takes away the last liberty of the two marked white stones and takes those two white stones off the board.

Diagram 4 : So when Black plays at 3 in the previous diagram, he physically takes away the two white stones. The situation is now as shown here.

Remember the first technical rule: A stone or group of stones without liberties cannot exist.

Diagram 5 : For example in these two situations.......

Diagram 6 : (Illegal) Black is not allowed to play at 1 because that would be suicide. Even though there are situations in which suicide would give an overall advantage, it is illegal according to Japanese rules (although it is legal under rules in other countries). Likewise, White is not permitted to play at 2 for the same reason.

Diagram 7 : (Legal) However, this is a completely different case from the previous two diagrams. White 1 is not suicide because the two marked black stones are in atari and this move takes away their last liberty. The move has not been completed yet though.

Diagram 8 : Now the move made by white 1 in the previous diagram is finished-the two black stones have been taken off the board. As you can see now, white 1 was not suicide after all; rather, it freed the stone below it.

Solutions to last week's problems

Solution 1 : Black 1 is correct-it saves the marked black stones by connecting it to the other two black stones.

Solution 2 : Black 1 saves the two marked black stones by connecting them to two other stones. Be aware, though, that black A is not connected to Black's main group yet.

Solution 3 : By playing at 1, Black saves his marked stone and connects it to another stone.

Solution 4 : Black 1 saves the three marked black stones by (more or less) connecting them to the two black stones marked A.

New problems

Problem 1 : Both the marked black and the marked white stones are cut off from their main groups. It is Black's move. He can put the white stone in atari and capture it while saving his own marked stones. How ?

Problem 2 : Black's marked stones seem to be in trouble. Fortunately, it is Black's turn. By putting some white stones in atari he can save his stones. How ?

Problem 3 : Black can capture one stone by putting two stones in atari. How does Black do this ?

Problem 4 : White just cut with the marked stone. Black can now capture some stones by playing atari. Which is the correct atari ?