A24

A24, A-24 or A.24 may refer to:

Transportation

Military

Media and entertainment

English Opening

The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move:

A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, anywhere from one of the two most successful to the fourth most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins the fight for the centre by staking a claim to the d5 square from the wing, in hypermodern style. Although many lines of the English have a distinct character, the opening is often used as a transpositional device in much the same way as 1.Nf3 – to avoid such highly regarded responses to 1.d4 as the Nimzo–Indian and Grünfeld defences, and is considered reliable and flexible.

The English derives its name from the English (unofficial) world champion, Howard Staunton, who played it during his 1843 match with Saint-Amant and at London 1851, the first international tournament. It did not inspire Staunton's contemporaries, and only caught on in the twentieth century. It is now recognised as a solid opening that may be used to reach both classical and hypermodern positions. Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen employed it during their world championship matches. Bobby Fischer created a stir when he switched to it from his customary 1.e4 late in his career, employing it against Lev Polugaevsky and Oscar Panno at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970 and in his 1972 world championship match against Boris Spassky.

Roads in Portugal

Roads in Portugal are defined by National Highway Plan, which describes the existing and planned network of Portuguese roads.

The present plan in force is the 2000 National Highway Plan (PRN 2000), approved in 1998. It has replaced the previous PRN 1985, which itself had replaced the PRN 1945.

The Portuguese road infrastructure is considered the best in Europe and the second best in the World by the World Economic Forum in its Global Competitiveness Report for 2014–2015.

The scenic road between Peso da Régua and Pinhão, in Northern Portugal, was considered the World Best Driving Road, accordingly to the Avis Driving Index. This road is a section of the N 222 which route follows the Douro Valley.

History of road classification in Portugal

First road plans

The first real projects for road plans in Portugal date back from 1843 and 1848, and were based on 18th century plans which was based on connections between Lisbon and strategical points of the country, and as a support for fluvial routes. The precognized network was classified in 1850 as estradas (roads) and caminhos (paths), with the estradas being classified as 1st and 2nd class. Caminhos were routes of mere local interest.