An unbeatable record was set at the Mind Sports Olympiad yesterday when Danny Gormally, chess International Master, completed his flawless victory in the rapidplay Olympiad Chess Championship by winning his game in all fifteen rounds of the contest. As well as playing chess in the mornings, Danny has been playing poker in the evenings, taking the silver medal in the marathon pot-limit Texas Hold'Em event back on Tuesday. He's played in the Canadian Stud competition as well here; we caught up with him yesterday at a break in the two-day Seven Card Stud event.

International Master Danny Gormally

Danny has very fond memories of MSO 4 at Alexandra Palace where he won the Ron Banwell Memorial Masters to earn his first GM norm after several very close misses. He also happily remembers MSO 1; in the Olympiad Championship there, he drew with both Michael Adams and Matthew Sadler, the best results he had yet had. He felt this year's edition of the MSO compared very favourably with some we have had in the past. Much of his income is derived from chess through writing articles and a small amount of tuition.

The conversation soon turned to similarities and differences between chess and poker; Danny opined that chess and poker were similar in many respects, such as requirements for concentration, memory, discipline and rapid calculation of many possibilities. Being good at chess was a reasonably good indicator for potential to be good at poker. However, Danny recognised that he was a very average poker player with much to learn.

Indeed, many of the chess players on the circuit (sometimes it even seems like most of them!) are notable poker players in their own right too; Joe Gallagher and Aaron Summerscale were two he named as being particularly famous in this regard, whether they play over the Internet or face to face in tournaments.

Texas Hold'Em is the poker game that Danny knows best and also the one he enjoys most. He has played it on the Internet for both play money and real cash, but does not rate online poker terribly highly; you can't read other players' body language, which takes some of the interesting psychological aspects out of the game. Bluffing tends to become a considerably less useful technique when playing for purely fictional stakes as the players will tend to call bets with anything, when they don't care about the outcome of the game. Players care enough about medals at our tournaments here to take the game seriously.

Alas, Danny busted out of the tournament shortly after this interview, to the traditional sympathetic round of applause. He cheerfully remarked, "I told you I was rubbish!"

sponsors of our open Intelligence and Quiz tournaments

The Mind Sports Olympiad has always been about mental skills just as much as thinking games; this weekend sees Intelligence, Mental Calculations and Quiz championships open to all, plus UK Schools' Individual and Team Championships in Intelligence.

The deadline is close: 1pm today. We are thrilled to announce that we will be holding a party immediately after the final medal presentation and closing ceremony at 6:30 on Monday evening. If you sign up at the registration desk by 1 o'clock today then we will provide you with your first drink at the party for free as well as free food!

However, the Mind Sports Olympiad is a treat for your body as well as for your brain. To celebrate the Caribbean Dominoes events taking place today and tomorrow, we recommend the Barnes Wallis restaurant which is going tropical for the weekend.

Open from 11:30am to 2:30pm for lunch and from 5pm to 7pm for dinner on both days, special dishes on offer this weekend include Jerk Chicken and Curried Goat. There will also be rice and peas, corn on the cob and Caribbean style roasted vegetables.

Alternatively, from noon to 7pm today and tomorrow, there will be a barbeque on the Pariser lawn between the Renold and Barnes Wallis buildings. Try some steak, chicken, Cumberland sausage, beefburgers or corn on the cob then add some salad or relish.

Those aren't your only options, though; the Rock Café here inside the Renold building will supply you with all day breakfasts, pizzas and a variety of pies and sandwiches, beers and other cold drinks, not forgetting the range of speciality coffees. The Rock Café will be open from 8:30am to 6:30pm every day until Monday.

Pick up a voucher from reception to get 25p off either a meal of Jerk Chicken or Curried Goat at the Barnes Wallis restaurant or at the barbeque area.

sponsors of our Dominoes tournaments

Western Union Financial Services, Inc. is a subsidiary of First Data Corp.

The Acquire Olympiad Championship is sponsored by Church Street Antiques.

After six days of poker, we have a conclusion to the World Amateur Championship. Our winner only picked up one medal at a daily tournament, but reached the final table four times. Indeed, his fourth best score (eighth place of forty, worth over 82 points) was better than 12 of the 37 finishers' single best scores. The overall gold medal went to Tim Brown for his score of 354.1/400; Tige Nnando added overall silver to his one-day gold and bronze medals for 340.1 and Joey Ho took both overall bronze and junior gold with 338.6.

We're adding similar titles to reward versatility in a number of other families of games. Draughts had a similar overall championship last year, which is being repeated this time; we're also adding an overall chess championship to reward those consistent at blitz chess, rapidplay chess and chess at a classical time control. The Backgammon Olympiad Champions Final varies slightly in that it doesn't directly add together scores from other events, but draws together backgammon tournament winners to try to crown an overall backgammon champion based on the entire ten days' play.

One of the discoveries of this year's Mind Sports Olympiad has been a young man named Joey Ho, who at just 15 years of age has already been earning a very impressive tally of neckwear. His haul began with the Junior Gold medal in the simultaneous chess display, for being the junior to last longest against Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson. Many of Joey's prizes have been earned in poker, where he is a frequent visitor to the final table in a number of games. A highlight was his senior bronze medal in the London Lowball, accompanying yet another Junior Gold; this was a major factor towards the overall bronze medal in the Poker World Amateur Championship which rewarded his consistency.

Joey's not just a poker player, though, also picking up junior medals in both Twixt and chess. Evidently he is able to turn his versatile mind to many different challenges. It's interesting that so many of the finest young mind sports stars have talented siblings: Joey and Kenneth Ho, Jonathan and Judi Miller, Tony and Giancarlo Niccoli and of course Demis and George Hassabis. Perhaps part of the secret of their success is being able to play mind sports at a high level even within the family.

756: the number of different people who have won at least one medal, whether junior or senior, at any event from MSO 1 to MSO 6. Are you one of them?

Daytime forecast for Saturday 23rd:
overcast, max temperature 22°C

Daytime forecast for Sunday 24th:
overcast and gloomy, max temperature 21°C

Daytime forecast for Monday 25th:
sunny intervals, max temperature 20°C

Shogi	0900-1800
Backgammon English Open	0930-1630
Othello 8x8 Quickplay	0930-1830
Chess Novice Olympiad	0930-1800
Chess Rapidplay Open	0930-1800
Draughts: British/Irish 8x8	0930-1800
British Quiz Championship	1000-1800
Memory Skills	1000-1800
Go Rapidplay	1030-1900
Dominoes Team Championship	1200-2100
Bridge: Swiss Pairs	1300-2030
Settlers of Catan Intro	1400-1500
Intelligence	1400-1800
Mental Calculations	1400-1800
Othello: Beginners' C	1400-1800
Settlers of Catan	1500-2230
Seven Card Stud Poker	1730-2200
Pineapple Hold'Em Poker	1730-2200
Trax Intro	1830-2200

Chess Rapidplay Open	1800
British Quiz Championship	1800
Intelligence	1800
Mental Calculations	1800
Othello: Beginners' C	1800
Go Rapidplay	1900
Bridge: Swiss Pairs	2030
Dominoes Team Championship	2100
Seven Card Stud Poker	2200
Pineapple Hold'Em Poker	2200
Trax Intro	2200
Settlers of Catan	2230

Yesterday's question concerned the Seven Card Stud Pot-Limit Poker Championship held over two days at MSO 5. The player who held all the chips at the end of the contest did not win a medal. We asked who the winner of that competition was and why the medal was declined.

The answer was that the winner was David Levy, who is the Chief Organiser and founder of the Mind Sports Olympiad!

Today's question: upon arrival at your floor, under some circumstances the lifts in the Renold building make a double tone ("ding-dong") and under other circumstances the lifts in the Renold building only make a single tone ("ding"). What's the logic which decides whether the lifts should make a single tone or a double tone?