OTYMPIAD NEWSIssue 1 Tuesdary 19 August

CoNreNrsLet Battle Commence!..... L

Maximum Resuh ............. 1

Age Heresy 1 .................... 2Early C\imax................... 2Do you uant to be

on TV?............................. 2Doing the Knouledge...... 2Press Gang ....................... 2Out of tbrs \Vord.............2The FibonacciCha\\enge ......................... 2Phantom of theOpera ...........2Interztiew witbDorn inic O'Brien............ JResults Section ................. 4Today's E2tents......,..,.....,, 4

'Mind Sports were indanger of being an enclaaeof tbose who raereintellectually superior, butit's eoeryrnan. It is

egalitarian. Everyone basa brain - so let's use it' -Tony Buzan,TheGuardian

_l

roEfr kan lat-

LeT BaTTLE CoMMENcE!Sir Brian Tovey launched the first everMind Sports Olympiad with thisrousing cheer, setting in motion thefirst day of a record-setting 39

international mental events. TheChairman of the MSO mounted thestage of the Royal Festival Hall to thestrains of Copeland's Fanfarefor tbe

Cornmon Man, with cameras fromBritain to Japan immortalising theinaugural event.

Sir Brian touched on the history ofthe Royal Festival Hall, built in thecontext of the Festival of Britain and'symbolising the recovery of thiscountry after years of war'. The RFHhas hosted events dedicated to music,opera, poetry, art festivals, and nowthis unique gathering of intellectualwarriors from around the world. SirBrian hoped that the Mind SportsOlympiad, the first of its kindanywhere in the world, would act as a

symbol of 'new recovery, and a newsource of inspiration'.

Chess Grandmaster Raymond Keeneopened the event with a ceremonialfirst move that also demonstrated thedesire to make the Olympiad an

instant tradition. The winner of thisyear's chess competition will close thefirst MSO with a reply to Keene'smove. The game will continue, a pairof moves per year, and all of us herelook forward to a long, hard strugglein this particular duel.

The attention of the internationalpress and media seems to justify theorganisers' enthusiastic lobbying forthe attractions of mental competition.Brain expert Tony Buzan and memorymaster Dominic O'Brien werebesieged by interviewers surprisinglyeager to direct their attention above

the neck, and convey the message thatcerebral striving is something thateveryone can - and should - do. Aleader in The Times captured andcarried the urgency of this message:

'Modern interest in sport and physicalfitness borders on the obsessional. S7e

worship at the temple of the body.But the exercise of the mind is as

essential to our well-being as ourmorning score of sit-ups. Honinglogic, increasing mental agility andexpanding memory, it heightensadaptability and staves off prematuresenility. The ancient world knew thiswell. It was for rnens sand in corpore

sano that Juvenal prayed.'

Maximum ResultThe first day of the chess eventfeatured the setting of an unbeatablerecord, though it is more likely to be

recorded in Ripley's Belieoe It or Notthan the Guinness Booh of Records. Theround one pairing between NickFaulkes of Bermuda and Alec Aslettended 1-1, with chief arbiter StewartReuben awarding both players a win.

A nervous finish resulted in Aslettconvinced he had mated his opponent,while Faulks was equally certain hehad won the game on time. Since thisconflict was noticed too late to check

the evidence at the scene, Reubenjudged the most amicable solutionwould be to award both players thepoint. This result stands, though thecomputer pairing program protestedvigorously, delaying the second round.

The lst Mind Sports Olympiad at the Royal Festiaal Hall utitb Skandia

OlympiadNews Tuesday 19 August

Age Heresy IThe English veteran Michael J.Franklin ended the first day ofplay with a perfect score of 3/3,his final victim being England'snewest grandmaster, AaronSummerscale.

Early Climax?Current British co-championsMatthew Sadler and MichaelAdams clash tomorrow morning,giving the MSO the honour ofacting as the unofficial final tie-break. Michael Adams moved onto 3/3 with a win against theteenage prodigy Luke McShane,currently the world's youngestinternational master.

A player who will be well worthkeeping an eye on is the youngsterThiruchelvam Thirumurugan, thecurrent British Under-8Champion. In a busy last week atthe British Chess Championshipsin Flove, Thiruchelvam also tiedfor fifth in the British Under-1.4,despite being handicapped by an

early half-point bye. LeonardBarden, chess correspondent ofThe Guardian, Tlte Financial Times

and The Evening Sundard, x wellas an experienced observer ofjunior chess, considers Thiruch-elvam to be the second biggesttalent of his age, after McShane.

Do You Want to be on TV?Do you watch Countdown?

Mark Nyman, a former VorldScrabble Champion, is competingin the Scrabble tournament at theMind Sports Olympiad. Mark isalso the producer of Countdown,the phenomenally successful TVquiz programme which involves a

unique test of both numerical andverbal ability.

On \flednesday afternoon Markis inviting 50 of the participantsand spectators at the MSO to takea test which could result in an

appearance on Countdoun. Theorganisers of the MSO are alsooffering ten free places in thelVorld Mental CalculationsChampionship (to be held onSunday morning) to the highest

scorers in the numerical part of theCountdoutn test.

Anyone interested in enteringthe Co untdou?z competition,which is free of charge, should fillin a form obtainable from theregistration desk. The 50 availableplaces will be allocated on a firstcome, first served basis. Entrieswill only be accepted from UKresidents.

Doing the KnowledgeSkandia, the Mind SportsOlympiad sponsors, are wellknown for their promotion ofIntellectual Capital. If you wouldIike to find out more about thisrevolutionary concept, visit theirKnowledge Caf6 on level 3. Thecaf6 features an Internet link tointernational brains and games and

offers a 'Mind Rest' area torecuperate from mental battle.

The Knowledge Caf6 is openevery day during the MSO from10.004u to 8.00PM.

Press GangFirst day media coverage of theMind Sports Olympiad proved tobe a sensational success, withnumerous TV crews and nationalnewspaper j ournalists clamouringfor copy. Amongst the many TVand radio stations covering theevent are: BBC Breakfast News,Newsroom South East, ITNNews, CNN, \fTN, LondonToday, TV Tokyo, Nippon TV,British Satellite News, 7 NetworkAustralia, Channel One, BBCRadio One and BBC'WorldService. An international team ofj ournalists included reportersfrom: Reuters, Press Association,National News Agency, RexFeatures, Ansa, La Sampa, The

Daily Mail, The Scotsman, TIte

Guardian, The Daily Telegrapb, Tbe

Sunday Times Magazine andTbeTimes.

Out of this WordThe first day's Scrabble event

featured a notable winning marginof +72. This impressive feat was

achieved by Harshan

Lamabadusuriya in a game againstPeter Horlock which resulted in a

score of 574-102. Flarshan clearlyhas an excellent grasp of English,but his mother tongue is

Singhalese!

The Fibonacci ChallengeThomas Naylor, the inventor ofthe two-player game Fibonacci, ismarketing his brainchild on level

2. As well as taking on all-comers,Thomas is demonstrating andteaching this exciting new mentalchallenge to games enthusiasts

young and old. Also on offer is the

d1,000 Fibonacci Challenge whichwill be awarded to the first personto prove a forced win from thestarting position for either the firstplayer or the second player tomove. (A forced win is one whereno effective defence exists.)

Fibonacci has been described as

'an outstanding abstract game'(Angus Lavery rn Games & Puzzles

Magazine), and' an intriguin g

blend of Chess, Backgammon and

Go' (Bill Hartston in The

Independent). If you would like totry your hand at this new MindSport, you are welcome to visit theFibonacci stand on level 2.

Thomas Naylor can also be

contacted on 017 I 352 2977, or thewebpagehttp : / / dialspace. dial.pipex. co m/town/street/xmx54/

Phantom of the OperaThe three-dimensional Sculpturepuzzles from Really Useful Groupconsist of fine layers of die cutcardboard, built from the groundup in the form of Rodin's Kiss,

Venus de Milo, the head, clock,globe, pharaoh and the newedition - Darth Vader's head.

They are produced using the latest

scanning technology.Every day during the OlymPiad

a Sculpture challenge will be held.

The person who completes the

Sculpture challenge in the fastest

time will win two tickets toPhantom of the Opera. 'V/'hy not tryyour luck at The Really UsefulGroup stand on level 2?

The 1st Mind at the R Festiaal Hall uitb Shandia

OlympiadNeus Tuesday 19 August

Intenriew with DominicO'BrienDominic O'Brien, the currentVorld Memory Champion, is hotfavourite to retain his title thisyear. Flere he talks to theOlyrnpiad Nezos production team.Vhat is your impression of theMind Sports Olympiad?It's a big event! It's also ratherworrying - I feel as if I am beingfattened up for the kill. But I hopeto do the killing myself! Of coursethe Mind Sports Olympiad is anexcellent event.You're competing in thememory championship, anyother events?No. I am just concentrating ontrying to retain the memory tirle(the competition is on Thursdayand Friday) and am directing allmy efforts in that direction.In the future do you fancy yourchances in other events?Maybe the IQ or perhaps thespeed reading. I am not fast at themoment but when I have somespare time I will devote myattention to it.I/hat other events interest you?Mainly the chess and backgammonbut I have spent most of my timedoing interviews with for exampleCNN, Daily Telegrapl, Newsbeat(Radio 1),The Scotsman, BBC 1,

GMTV and Sky.How long have you beenpreparing for the memorychampionships?Six weeks. I have been dealing outlots of cards and flashing lots ofnumbers up on my computerscreen. I have devised my ownprogram to do this.'\U(hat other things have youbeen doing recently?I have been writing a memorycourse, comprising four books and12 audio tapes, which will be

published in the autumn byLinguaphone, the language people.They want to get involved inmemory and this should be a goodvehicle for them. The series will be

called Super Memory Power.How do you see the future formemory competitions?

It seems to me that they couldbecome very popular as they are

completely egalitarian - somethingeveryone can do. Anyone can

scribble numbers down and try toremember them. You don't need achessboard, or Scrabble set, orbackgammon board. If you knowthe right techniques anyone can doit. By getting involved in thispublishing work I am, in a sense,

digging my own grave. I eventuallysee myself perhaps devoting all mytime to teaching, becoming theDavid Leadbetter of memory.Vhat did you do beforeconcentrating on memory?I used to have a job extractingsilver from photographic waste.lJnfortunately the price of silverplummeted, so I had to dosomething else.

And what got you started onmemory?About ten years ago I sawCreighton Carvello on RecordBreakers, memorising a pack ofcards in 2 minutes 59 seconds. Ithough this was fascinating andlooked into it. It took me threemonths to beat this time, and itwas a further four years before itbecame a profession for me.'$flhat are the practicalapplications?If anything is good for the mind, itis memory training. Memorytraining develops all cortical skillsand trains the whole of the brain,using both hemispheres. Thetechniques of using association,imagination and location empioyall elements of the brain.Are alternative techniquespossible?This is difficult, because theestablished methods are the mostnatural (the Greeks were usingthem 2,000 years ago). You can

tinker with the details but theessence of the technique remainsthe same.

How has your memory workhelped you in other areas?

I am generally more switched onand more focused. Myconcentration is also muchimproved. I recently had an EEG

on my brain, taken while I wasmemorising cards, and it reportedthat my brain went into the alphastarc Qhz), which is the perfectlearning state. It is also the stateachieved when you meditate. Isuppose this is logical, because ifyou are concentrating hard for 38

seconds you can't afford to startwondering if you've left thecooker on.

The events in the L997 VoddMemory Championship are as

follows:

1. Memorisation of a 4,000 digitnumber with one hourallowed.

2. Memorisation of 100 names

and faces in 15 minutes.3. Memorisation of 500 random

words in 15 minutes.4. Memorisation of a 300 digit

spoken number, one digitevery two seconds. This is

scored by sudden death. If youget the second digit wrong -you score 2.

5. Memorisation of as many packsof cards as possible in onehour.

6. Memorisation of a randomnumber, five minutes allowed.

7. Memorisation of images onscreen: 40 images are shownand memorised. 80 are thenshown again and the previouslyseen ones then have to be

identified.8. Memorisation of a 1,000 digit

binary number in half an hour.9. Memorisation of a 500 word

poem, with punctuation, in 15

minutes.10. A surprise competition, 20

minutes.1 1. Memorisation of one pack of

cards, in the fastest timepossible. The competitionworld record is held by AndyBell (a137 seconds). Dominic'sworld record (outsidecompetition) is 38.29 seconds.

This eoent akes place on Tbursday

and Friday - do yaufanqt yourchances against Dominic O'Brien?

7he lst Mind Sports Olympiad at tbe Royal Festioal Hall uith Skandia

OlyrnpiadNeus Tuesday 19 Aupust

Day One Leadersand Medals

Magic - The Gathering(Final results and medals)1 S. Dannell (England)2 C.l. Tongue (England)3 K. Nicholson (Scotland)

Backgammon Beginners(Final results and medals)1 R. Biddle (USA)2 A. Baron (England)3 P. Martin (England)

Chess (30 minutes)(after three rounds)

t-7 M. Adams (England)K. Arkell @ngland)M. Franklin (England)

J. Hodgson (England)B. Lalic (Croatia)M. Sadler (England)G. \Xrall (England)

8-11 J. Emms (England)S. Conquest (England)V. Hadraba (Czech.)S. \Williams (England)

Shogi (after three rounds)l-2 E. Cheymol (France)

T. Hosking (England)3-6 A. Van Osten (Holland)

M Casters (Belgium)S. Lamb (England)M. Sandeman (England)

7-10 F. Pottier (France)D. Foster (England)D. Hassabis (England)L. Blackstock (England)

Draughts 8x8 round-robin(after three rounds)1 R. King (Barbados)2 C. McCarrick (Ireland)3 D. Kotin (USA)4 B. Long5 D. Harwood (England)6 C. Shaffran (Australia)7 D. Edwards

Othello (after three rounds)1.-2 Shaman

Svekuni3-10 Cali (France)

Brightwell (England)Andriani (France)

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3

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4

3v,21/2

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2

Kitajima (]apan)Nakajima (|apan)Tastet (France)Tucci (Italy)Turner (England)

11-12 Atkinson (England) t1/2

Parsons (England)

Bridge Pairs (first session)1 P. Hasenson/D. Sherman 286.02 M. Gold/D. Higginson 282.33 M. BeyerlTesselaar 25L.84 S. Dannell/P. Shepperson238.05 R. Eaton/A. Salam 237.8

6 D. PearcelN. Anderson 230.6

7 N. Buxton/K. Manners 225.78 J. Scott/A. Sandberg 223.99 M. Courtenay,/S. Mohandes

222.r10 T. Townsend,/N. Sandquist

2t3.7tL P. Hecht-Johansen,/K. Blakset

210.612 Bharat/T.1. Nnando 204.4

Jigsaw Puzzles (after one round)1 R. Harwood (England) 200

(1hr.44 mins)2 A. Smith (England) 200

(2hrs. 12 mins)

Skat (after 72 deals)1 Dr D. Beisle (Germany) 16542 H.l. Schindler (Germany) 15193 N. Schifer (Germany) 1488

4 K. Poggenklas (Germany)822

Mind Sports OlympiadMedal Table after Day One

EnglandUSAScotland

Gold Silver Bronze Total121410010011

@+@+@+@+@'Nowadays companies are increasinglyaware of the importance of theirintellectual assets which - though theymay not register on the balance sheet

- enhance competitiveness.' - The

Tirnes editorial, 18 August 1997

Tooav's EveNrsAba\one ................... arn

Backgammon........... pnt.

Bridge ....prn

Chess ........................ am

Chinese Chess .......... pmDraugbts (8x8)......... am

Draugbts (1 0x 1 0)..... pm

Entropy.................... prn

Fanorona ......,....,,,... pnx

Go (t sx t s)............... prn

Go (1 9x 1 9) ............... an',

Hare G Tortoise....... am

1Q ............. ............... prn

Japanese Chess.......... am

Jigsau Puzzles.......... A7r7

Lines of Action........ a?n

Magic-Th e Gath ering. a m

OtbeL\o..................... pm

Ouari...................... prn

Rummihub.............. a.rn

Scrabble ................... arn

9kat.......................... anlTrpixt ....................... prn

OlvuPrADNews TrauEditor:

Jon Tisdall

Production:Byron /acobs andAndreut Kinsman(First Rank Publisbing)

The 1st Mind Sports Olympiad at the Royal Festiaal Hall uith Skandia