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"Well, I guess it's possible for a game to have the entire board filled, but you never see that," said Alex meditatively, setting another stone. "You continue to play until you can see no more opportunities to gain territory or destroy some of your opponent's, then you pass. When both players pass in a row, that means the game is over and it's time to count up points."

"Oh, didn't I mention? The object of the game is to surround territory with your stones. See, here, here, and here-" he indicated spaces on the board with no stones that were surrounded by his white stones- "are places where I've made territory, and these places-" he indicated areas surrounded by black- "are his territory. Now, it's nice to have big areas like this-" he pointed to an area he'd surrounded of about seven points- "since they're harder to invade, but small areas like this-" he indicated two two-point eyes of Gwyd's- "are nice too."

Alex was reminded sharply that this person knew less than nothing about go. "Well, they could, If I wanted to lose the territory. Points don't count unless they're empty. As for his territory, any stones I put in are dead instantly and they're a total loss.

"I guess it is simple in concept. But there are guys out there who win the game in twenty stones. Guys who can figure out how to destroy any formation you try to make. It takes years and years of practice to do that kind of thing. That's what I mean."

"I'm really not that good," said Alex, waving a hand. "I've only had really one opportunity for a crushing play that I didn't make, I just let you counter it."

Ashila looked from one to the other, and then looked down on the board "so, who win?"

"Well, I learned I have a lot to learn. But really, every game helps. I really appriciate you playing with me. I don't get a lot of practice because I don't know a lot of people that play Go."

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