OIYMPIAD NEWSlssue 6 Sunday 24 August

CourrNrsIntellectual Capiwl .............. 1Creatioe Tbinking............... 2Ten of the &est..............,....... 2

Go, Guo, Zbang................... 2Learn and PLay..................... 2To ugh Pu221es....................... 2

Delbeck Charnpagne

Prize Drau Cballenge 4....2Bigger and &etter.................. 3

Results \ection...................... 4

Medals Tab\e......................... 4

Today's Eaents...................... 4

'I opened as usual uith 1 e4,but uas rather surpriseduthen be replied uith 'n15'and told rne tbis was the gotournd.ment. Thinkingquickly,I played 723 andinformed him that I badsunk his banleship, rubichuould bape been fine if hebadn't passed nxe tbedoubling cube and used allhis seaen letters in formingtbe word NO-TRUMP on atriple zaord score. Luckilyforme, he fell down a snake tbenext rnoae and I was bach inthe game.'- VilliamHartston in TheIndependent

'I'oe entered two eoents, butI'm not sure ubicb ones tbqare.'- overheard at theregistration desk.

INTELLECTUAL CAPITALteif Edvinsson - Skandia'sFather of Intellectual CapitalBehind the cute T-shirt message 'I Cthe future' lies an original andenterprising economic concept thatsponsors Skandia equate with theirpast - and future - success. IC standsfor Intellectual Capital, a phrasedesigned to define the intangible, yetvery real, human assets behind anenterprise. Edvinsson's pet metaphorportrays IC as the roots of a treebearing future fruit.

Skandia were approached by theMSO on the strength of an IC annualreport that utilised consistent anddetailed chess imagery. Unlike manycorporations that simply borrow theseicons, Skandiahad a real commitmentto the power behinds the symbolswhich they translated to financialsupport. Edvinsson's reaction to theMind Sports Olympiad concept:'Brilliant - it is the embodiment of anew training approach of humancapability, the embodiment of a newknowledge era.'

Edvinsson easily conjures up anetwork of associations linking allkinds of game-playing to potential andpractical applications.'The businessworld sees a measurable and growingintelligence gap - with need forintellectual expertise constantlyexpanding. Available taient isdecreasing even though the populationis increasing. Being bombarded withinformation - be it in Nintendo orshogi - and being able to process it,find patterns etc., is a vital skill. Oneway to increase this talent potential isthrough games.'

He points out one area that alreadybridges playful entertainment and

serious business is a simulator. Thiskind of software program providesclear real world gains - 40 hours ofsimulation training can create aIicensed Boeing 777 pllot.

Even those computer game-playingskills which are not yet respected asintellectual pursuits earn his respect.He sees the abilities honed here asbeing applicable to multimedia workand the software industry, andconsiders software building to be themost critical technological ingredienttoday.

An emphasis on finding new ways toapproach and link apparentlyunrelated input is a basic ingredient ofIC, and even in a brief interviewsubjects continually merge andinterweave. IC as a concept hasestablished a foothold extremelyrapidly. Edvinsson's book, IntellectualCapial, has already been translated formarkets in China, Portugal, S. Amer-ica, South Korea and Israel. The topicshifts to Mandarin as a virtual, sym-bolic language, and the evidence thatthis stimulates both sides of the brain.

Suddenly he presents me with thenew business cards for the SkandiaFuture Centers - a fascinating series ofbound, coloured cards with anevolving discussion of 'contactivity'on the top of each page and a visuallyIinked sequence of coloured graphicson the back. He smiles as I slowlyexamine this from various angles.'You see the difference? Myconventional card went straight intoyour pocket...'

The lst Mind Sports Olympiad at the Royal Festioal Hall uitb Skandia

Olympiad Neus Sunday 24 August

Creative ThinkingThe questions in this event set byTlte Independezrt nimble wit, BillFlartston were:

Q1: List as many possible uses asyou can think of for a soft-boiledegg. (One competitor earned abonus point {or not listing 'eat it')Q2: Here are two objects (a largeand a small conch) I found on thebeach on holiday. Vhat should Ido with them?Q3: List as many similarities asyou can think of between thePrincess of \flales and an orange.

Q4: List as many differences asyou can between zips and buttons.

Q5: At the start of 1998, a newlabour-saving device was launched.Vithin six months, one was to befound in 97 per cent of the homesin the UK. Describe it.Q6: Everyone agreed that theCreativity competition at the 1998Mind Sports Olympiad was farsuperior to that ofthe 1997 event.\trhat do you think the tasks givento the contestants might havebeen? The scoring was as follows:

Fecundity (quantity) - of distinctideas.

Originality - scores double (50o/oof the total)

Breadth - the number ofdifferent dimensions employed inthe answers - for example, texture,size, colour, etc.

Ten of the BestA highly intriguing event at theMind Sports Olympiad is thedecamentathlon. In the spirit ofthe Olympic decathlon, this eventconsists of a tough four-hourexamination in ten separate MindSports challenges. The events are:memory, mental calculation, IQ,bridge, chess, Othello, go,draughts (8x8), Mastermind andcreative thinking. This proved tobe an intriguing test of all-roundMind Sports knowledge and could,in future years, develop into oneof the most competitive events.

Many of the competitors excelledin one or two disciplines but wereIet down by a lack of ability inothers. The secret of success in this

testing challenge is to score well inall events. The first decamentath-lon gold medal was deservedlywon by Andrew Dyson who, inaddition to being a very strongbridge and chess player, is alsocleady very knowledgeable inother Mind Sports. The silver wasscooped by Demis Hassabis who,as one of the most activecompetitors in the Olympiad, isalso pressing hard in thePentamind. The bronze medalwent to international chess masterByron Jacobs, who took themorning off from his usual role ofO ly mpiad Nezas production.

Go, Guo, Zhang!The Olympiad Neas did not quitemanage to unravel the go resultsyesterday. Our results table wasreasonably correct, but ... To putthe record straight, Shutai Zhangwas not part of the emergence offemale and Dutch successyesterday - since he is a Chinesemanl Zuan Guo was the name wewere looking for, but she appearedwith her name reversed in the13x13 table. Apologies for theconfusion, and congratulations tothe duo, who took one gold andone silver each in the gochampionships. As there wereother problems in the medalplacings, the go awards ceremonywill be restaged on Sunday.

Learn and PlayThis morning starting at 10.00amthere is a games workshop on level3 on the Hungerford side of theRoyal Festival Hall. The idea ofthe workshop is that participantswill learn up to eight new games.The plan is to spend 30 minutesteaching each of the followinggames: 10.00AM Chess; 10.30

Fanorona; 1 1.00 Entropy; 11.30Mastermind; 1.2.00 Oware; L2.30Othello; 1.00 Go; 1.30 Bridge.(These details are subject tochange.)

In the afternoon, starting at4.00PM, the participants will beable to choose their preferredMind Sport and be matched with

another participant who wouldlike to play the same game.Alternatively, there may be anopportunity for workshopparticipants to play in one of theMSO afternoon tournaments.

Tough PuzzlesTry yov hand at the followingtough puzzle.

141617

1411

1415 15 14 14

The numbers 1 to 5 inclusivehave been allocated randomly tothe colours blue, green, red, whiteand yellow, which are representedin the diagram by their initialletters. The numbers next to eachrow and column refer to the sumsof the numbers in those rows andcolumns. Can you work out eachcolour's number?

'$/here can you...

win a jeroboam of champagne?pick up a free copy of Britain's

toughest puzzle magazine?...and save [5 on a year's

subscription?

To find out, visit the ToughPuzzles stand on level 2 near theFoyer Bar.

Delbeck ChampagnePrtze Draw Challenge 4:Yesterday's quiz answers:

1) Andy Bell (41.37 seconds)2) Richard Garfield3) Artist Barry MartinToday, taking our lead from the

Creative Thinking event, thechampagne prize will be awardedto the entrant coming up with, inthe opinion of the OlympiadNeusteam, the best three questions.Entries to the registration deskbefore 5.00PM please.

B B G Y WW G Y W BY G B W YY R R B GR R W W B

The lst Mind Sports Olympiad at tbe Royal Festioal Hall uith Shandia

BICGER AND BrrrEN!Everyone agrees that the 1st Mind Sports Olympiad has been a tremendous success. Olympiad Nezos asked two ofth. ii...to.i, Raymond Keene and David Levy, how they view their creation and what their future plans are.

Can you explain how the con-cept of the MSO was devised?(R.K)The genesis of the MindSports Olympiad stems fromseveral years ago. David Letyapproached me after the 1986Kasparov-Karpov WorldChampionship match in Londonand described the idea. Then I metTony Buzan who said, that withhis interest in the brain and allthings cerebral, he had oftendreamt of a global Mind Sportscontest. So it seemed natural thatthe three of us should cometogether to work on the MSO.(DL)Iused to play in a lot ofinternational chess tournamentsand the one event which I en.ioyedabove all others was the ChessOlympiad, where people play forfun and for the honour of repre-senting their country. Inspired bythis, I thought about creating anevent which would multiply thepleasure for everyone simply bymultiplying the number ofdifferent games. The concept is, ifyou like, a gigantic games festival.ltr(hen did the real preparationsbegin?(RK)The ball really started to rollin an incredibly short space oftime. On 31 August 1996 wedecided, after years of toying withthe project, that it was actuallygoing to happen. Having madethat decision, it was extraordinaryhow quickly everything fell intoplace. I approached the RoyalFestival Hall, who quickly agreedto provide the venue, and TonyBuzan approached Skandia who,with their drive for IntellectualCapital, also made an amazinglyswift decision to support us.Meanwhile, David Lery, ablysupported by David Pritchard, oneof the great games gurus, accessed awoddwide nexus of contacts toattract players. The organisationalteam was finally completed when

Don Morris, an experienced eventsorganiser, .ioined the group. DrLouise Guthrie volunteered to setup our Internet operations and SirBrian Tovey accepted the role ofcompany chairman with LadyMary Tovey acting as companysecretary. Sir Brian's appointmentwas singularly appropriate, giventhat he used to be head of Govern-ment Intelligence at GCHQ.Has the MSO matched up toyour expectations?(R.K)The success of the event as wereach the conclusion has exceededeverything we could have hopedfor. The press coverage has beenmassive and, with nearly 2,000competitors from 53 countries, wehave truly established a globalintellectual battlefield.lVill we all be back next year?(RK)Maoy people have asked methis question. Of course! Nextyear's MSO wiil take place fromAugust 24-30, andwe hope to beback here at the RFH. So bookyour slot now - we expect at leasttwice as many entries next year.How do you foresee theOlympiad developing?(RK/ Although we are delightedwith this year's competition, thereis naturally still plenty of room forimprovement. It is my ultimateambition to bring all the greatchampions of the major thinkingsports to the event. This Year wealready have 15 separate VorldChampionships being contested.\World Champions present includeVorld Memory ChampionDominic O'Brien and the \trflorld

8x8 Draughts Champion RonKing, while the 10x10 Draughtssection is packed with former\)florld Champions (Harm\fliersma, Anatoli Gantvarg andGuntis Valneris). For the future, Iwould like to see the entrantsinclude Vorld Chess ChampionGarry Kasparov, the Deep Blue

chess and Chinook draughtsprograms, and Oriental championssuch as Habu, the shogi geniusfrom Japan. An event in which thepremier championship of everymajor thinking sport in the worldtook place at one and the sametime would be fantastic. Can youimagineit?-Ican!(DL)\We could make the nextComputer Olympiad part of theMind Sports Olympiad. TheComputer Olympiad started in1989 and has attracted as many as100 programs competing intournaments for 15 or moredifferent games. In the ComputerOlympiad we only allowprograms. There is no F{uman vs.Computer competition.'W'e feelthat, at the moment, it wouldchange the spirit of the MSO toomuch to allow programs tocompete in our tournaments.However, it is quite possible thatin the future we may stagechallenge matches between strong

programs and leading humanplayers at various Mind Sports.'t$[hat are your Internet plans?(DL) As more and more homes

become connected to the Internet,it will be possible for a muchlarger number of players toparticipate in the MSO. IdeallY, wevrould have people playing fromtheir own home, but it isimpossible to police such asituation and, given the strength ofprograms such as Fritz (chess) and

Jellyfish (backgammon) somepeople would find it tempting toreceive a little assistance. Flowever,there is a way around this. \fleenvisage competitions run fromInternet caf6s, where players couldbe watched by arbiters as theycompeted. If we are able to securesponsorship we could then awardprizes in each tournament -perhaps afree air ticket and hoteiroom in London for the MSO.

Festioal Hall with Skandia

OlympiadNeus Sunday 24 August

Day Six Medal Winners

Backgammon (Placings and medals)I J. Clark (England) gold2 M. Barkwill (England) silver3 M. Barron (England) bronzeBridge Swiss Teams(Placings and medals)i S. Burn/P. King/T. Townsend,/

N. Sandqvist gold2 S. Dannell/P. Shepperson/

M. Beyer{. Tesselaar silver3 R. Eaton/A. Salem/Bharat/

T. Nnando bronze

Chess lO-minute(Placings and medals)1 \f.'Watson (England) gold2 K. Arkell (England) silver3 J. Plaskett @ngland) bronzeChess S-minute(Placings and medals)1 M. Adams (England) gold2 M. Sadler (England) silver3 S. Conquest (England) bronzeChess 10-minute juniors(Placings and medals)1 G. Jones (England) gold2 D. Edwards (England) silver3 S. Ghasi (England) bronzeChess 5-minute juniors(Placings and medals)1 D. Tan (England) gold2 T. Dougheny (England) silver3 N. Frost (England) bronzeChess Problem Solving(Placings and medals)1 S. Conquest (England) gold2 M. Pein (England) silver3 K. Chakraborty (India) bronzeChess Terafinal(Placings and medals)1 R. Cleveland (Sfale$ gold2 N. Timms (England) silver3 R. Jones (\fales) bronzeNon-Olympi.ad eaent

Chess Challenges(Placings and medals)1 D. Hodge (England) gold2 L. D'Costa (England) silver3 L. Broomfield (England) bronzeNon-Olympiad eaent

Creative Thinking(Placings and medals)1 P. Bateman (S. Africa)2 B. Birchall (England)3 D. Holloway (England)Decamentathlon(Placings and medals)1 A. Dyson (England)2 D. Hassabis (England)3 B. Jacobs (England)

goldsilverbronze

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Draughts 8x8 10-minute(Placings and medals)1 R. King (BarbadoQ gold2 C. McCarrick (Ireland) silver3 P. Raivis (Latvia) bronzeDraughts 10x10 l0-minute(Placings and medals)1 A. Gantvarg (Belarus) gold2 G. Valneris (Latvia) silver3 I.Kirzner (Uhraine) bronzeGin Rummy (Placings and medals)1 M. Kelly (Ireland) gold2 J. Bosley (New Zealand) silver3 R. Hellman (England) bronzeIQ (Placings and medals)1 R. Charisse (England) gold2 B. Pridmore (England) silver3 P. Smith (England) bronzeIQ juniors (Placings and medals)1 \tr. Lo (England) gold2 D. Leaf (England) silver3 N. Eskuarzi (England) bronzeJapanese Chess 15-minute(Placings and medals)1 M. Sandeman (England) gold2 Y. Sumi (apan) silver3 D. Hassabis (England) bronzeMastermind lO-minute(Placings and medals)1 O. Omodera (Japan) gold2 Y. Sumi (]apan) silver3 R. Franzkeit (Germany) bronzeSpeed Reading (Placings and medals)1 A. Jones @ngland)2 M.Isaac (England)3 I. Stewart (England)

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Mind Sports OlympiadMedal Table after Day Six

Gold Silver Bronze TotalEngland 22 26 30 78Holland73313Japan3317France3ll5Germany2248Barbados2002USA2OO2Irelandl203Chinall,A2S.Africa 1 1 0 2Scotlandl0l2Belarus1001Latvia0213India0112Italy0112NewZealand o 1 1 2Denmarkol0lFinland0l0lSrilanka 0 1 0 1Ukraine0022

Toonv's EveNrsBackgammon.......... day

Bridge .. da.yChess ....................... day

Cbinese Chess ......... day

ComputerProgramming...... day

Continuo..... .. da.yCrossword Pwzzles.. pmDraugbts (8x8)......... amDrawghts (t ox t o)..... pmGames W'orhshop... day

Gin Rummy........... daryGo (exe) ................... pnx

Go (1 ex 1 e) ............... dn7

Japanese Chess.......... amMah Jongg. .. .doyMastermind ............. p*Mental

Calculations ......... arn

Othello......... ... . da.yScrabble ..... .... day

O lvu PrADNrws TeauEditor:

Jon Ttsdall

Production:Byron Jacobs and

Andreu Kinsrnan(First Rank Publisbing)

Mrno SponrsO LYt'r PrADPO Box 13388,

London NW3 2ZF

Fax:0171 482 0672

h ttp : / /u ww. m indsp o rt s. c o. u k /

The lst Mind Sports Olympiad at the Royal Festioal Hall w,ith Skandia