THE £1 MILLION BRAIN

CONTENTS
The £1 Million Brain 1
UK Chess Challenge 2
Chess Drama 2
Press Gang 3 2
Vocabulary Test 2
Girls on Top 2
Memory Lapse 2
Delbeck Champagne
Prize Draw Challenge 3 2
What the Butler Saw 3
Results Section 4
Medals Table 4
Today's Events 4

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Please write to us after the Olympiad to tell us all the things that you liked about our event and any suggestions that you have to improve the Olympiad for next year. Please send your comments by letter to: Mind Sports Olympiad Ltd., PO Box 13388, London NW3 2ZF; or by fax to: 0171 482 0672; or by email to DavidL@intrsrch.demon.co.uk

THE £1 MILLION BRAIN

'Yes, I was worried - I was worried before the event and I was worried after the first round. But when I went home after the first day, after Andy (Bell) had crashed out, I knew I was safe. Andy knew he couldn't win then. You just can't crash out and still win.' - Dominic O'Brien

Dominic O'Brien retained his title as World Memory Champion yesterday after a tough battle. His win was celebrated in great style when the sponsors, Skandia, presented him with a certificate insuring his brain against accident for a year, to the tune of £1,000,000. Dominic accepted the award in evening dress and a blue crash helmet, demonstrating both elegance and due care for his valuable equipment.

This year O'Brien had to fend off a determined challenge from Andy Bell, who set three new world memory records before stumbling in the sixth event, speed numbers. Until this moment Bell and O'Brien had been neck and neck, but when O'Brien set another record here and Bell crashed out, the duel was effectively over.

Bell explained that he had lost his rhythm in the speed numbers (five minutes to recall as many digits as possible), having accomplished after three minutes what he felt he should have managed in one. Andy refused to post a low score: 'On the spur of the moment I walked out. I was very disappointed.' He added that he felt he would have moved ahead of O'Brien here.

Asked if he had concentrated his training on his rival's specialities, Bell offered a flat 'no'. 'That's just the way the cards fell. I think I could have done even better; there is huge room for improvement. It wouldn't surprise me if someone new came out of the blue next year and won this event at their first attempt. All it takes is a good technique.'

Watching the final event, speed cards (one deck, best of two attempts), it was clear that the rivals were both straining to set a new world record but, sadly for the spectators, both fell short.

This event illustrated a clear contrast in style between these two great memorisers. O'Brien speeds through the deck methodically, rarely pausing. When finished, Dominic sits with his eyes closed as he burns the sequence into his brain. Bell does bursts of several cards at a time, repeating this after a brief delay. He appears to fix his images while staring into space.

'Yes, I do them three at a time, Dominic does two,' Bell explained. 'I form an image like a kangaroo through a pineapple, and then assign a location to it.'

Record-Breakers

Six new records were set at the MSO:

One hour random numbers
A. Bell 1,620 digits; D. O'Brien 1,512 (Old Record: 1,392 D. O'Brien)

500 words
D. O'Brien 155 words

Spoken number
A. Bell 228 digits; D. O'Brien 207 (OR: 200 D. O'Brien)

One hour multiple decks of cards
A. Bell 1,170 cards; D. O'Brien 936 (OR: 780 D. O'Brien)

Speed numbers
D. O'Brien 240 digits (OR: 200 D. O'Brien)

Binary number
D. O'Brien 2,385 digits; A. Bell 2,058 (OR: 1,926 D. O'Brien)

UK Chess Challenge

The concluding stages of one of the largest Mind Sports events ever to be organised are taking place at the Royal Festival Hall today. The UK Chess Challenge - a competition for schoolchildren jointly sponsored by Rotary Clubs, Kasparov Chess Computers and Save the Children - initially started out in spring this year with 24,000 children from 730 schools. By May these had been whittled down to 2,500, and then to 400 by July. Now, in the Terafinal, only the 16 finalists remain.

The reward for the winner will be £500 plus the Rotary Cup, while other prizes include £250 for the top Under-11, £250 for the top girl and even the first-round losers will receive £50 each. Spectators will be able to gauge the situation in the games thanks to free commentary from Grandmaster Daniel King, the TV personality from the Channel 4 World Championship programmes.

Chess Drama

The 30-minute chess was wrapped up in fine style yesterday by Britain's number one ranked player, Michael Adams, who held the lead throughout the event, and was rarely troubled. Michael scoops the £2,000 first prize plus a Concorde ticket. Here are two critical moments from the event:

( Sadler-Adams board not available)

Sadler-Adams
Here, in the battle of the joint British Champions, Sadler has sacrificed a rook for a strong attack. He should now have continued 30 Ëc3, which offered excellent attacking chances. After the inferior 30 Ëg3 Black managed to consolidate and White lost on time on move 48.

Two of the toughest grandmasters in the chess event were Bogdan Lalic and ex-British Champion Julian Hodgson. However, their individual clash was decided by a brilliant piece of opportunism by the Croatian.

Lalic-Hodgson
1 e4 c5 2 Ìf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4 Ìf6 5 Ìc3 g6 6 Íc4 Íg7 7 0-0 0-0 8 Îe1 b6 9 Íg5 Íb7 10 Ìd5 Ìbd7 11 Ía6 Íxa6 12 Ìc6 Ëe8 13 Ìc7 (and if 13...Ëc8 14 Ìxe7+)
The black queen is trapped! White went on to win easily.

Press Gang 3

CBS (USA), Canadian BC (TV), Berlin PMTV, Australian BC Radio, Associated Press, Stern and Der Spiegel have joined the major media covering the Mind Sports Olympiad.

Vocabulary Test

An A-Z of unsuccessful challenges in the Scrabble this week: atok (a species of skunk); bonxie; cruve; dicentra; eltchi (a Turkish ambassador); fritz; gothite; hijabs; iceboats; jasp; knur; lazo; maelid (an apple nymph); nauplii (larval form in many crustacea with one eye and three pairs of appendages); obangs; pooter (an entomological collecting bottle); quaich (a drinking cup); rundlets; scolion (a drinking song); tupiks (Eskimo animal skin tents); urachi; vozhd (a supreme leader in Russia); weber; xu; ygoe; zobu.

Girls on Top

Women took to the stage in numbers today, with Andrea Smith earning a silver in the jigsaw puzzle competition and Sigrid Ludwig capturing the gold in Zatre. One of the day's most remarkable achievements was that of ten-year-old Aysha Choudhary who took a bronze medal in the British Rummikub Championship. However, the female star of the day was Shutai Zhang who took medals in both the 13x13 and 19x19 Go. Additionally Shutai was part of an avalanche of Dutch winners today. The Dutch contingent was seen celebrating in the bar late into the night and may well not add to their tally today!

Memory Lapse

A delegate to the 1991 World Conference on Memory was forced to ring organisers at Lancaster University after he forgot which days he had booked to attend. A similar embarrassing lapse afflicted Tom Morton, who has instant recall of over 20,000 phone numbers, decks of cards and all Olympic medal winners for the past century. He forgot which day he was due to appear on Granada TV to demonstrate his skills, and turned up a week early. - The Fortean Times Book of Life's Losers

Delbeck Champagne Prize Draw Challenge 3:

Submit your answers to the registration desk on level 2.

1) Who holds the world record for speed memorisation of a single deck of cards (in competition)?
2) Who invented Magic - The Gathering?
3) Who designed the Howard Staunton memorial?

Yesterday's quiz answers:
1) Habu Yoshiharu
2) Alex Randolph
3) Go - the Japanese name.

The winner of the Delbeck Champagne is Lizette Hodgson. Congratulations!

WHAT THE BUTLER SAW

Robert Sheehan has been bridge correspondent of The Times newspaper for the past three years, but is nevertheless competing in the backgammon section of the Mind Sports Olympiad. He has just completed a compendium of his bridge articles from The Times, which will be published by Batsford next month.

Are you a keen backgammon player?

Bridge is obviously my main game, but I used to play a lot of backgammon. However, I don't play so much these days.

What other games have caught your interest at the Mind Sports Olympiad?

Stratego is a very good game, as is gin rummy. However, the problem with gin rummy, as with other games such as backgammon and poker, is that the best players are unlikely to compete without the inducement of a chance to win big money. For example, in the world series poker in Las Vegas you have to pay a sizeable entry fee, but if things go your way and you capture first prize, you can win a million dollars.

What are the origins of bridge?

It was invented by the millionaire Harold S. Vanderbilt in the 1920s. Together with some friends, Vanderbilt worked out the rules during some experimental games on a sea journey. He was soon infatuated with his creation and became so worried that a situation would arise where no fourth player was available to play, that he even taught the new game to his butler. However, when the butler was called upon to fill in, the social convention of the time dictated that he should remain standing throughout the game.

Is bridge growing in popularity?

It certainly is at the moment. A lot more people seem to be taking up the game than previously. Regular weekend events are held at hotels around the country and these typically result in 400-500 entries. A small difficulty with bringing new blood into the game is that tournament players are often quite aggressive. After a while you get used to it, but such behaviour can be off-putting for newcomers to the tournament scene.

Some Mind Sports are currently rather male-dominated. Is this the case with bridge?

No, not at all. It is true that the high stakes rubber bridge games are still largely a male preserve, but the lower stakes games probably have more women playing than men. Also players in duplicate bridge are split more or less 50/50 between the sexes. In the UK we have a very strong women's team - they recently ran out as winners of the European Championships, while in the men's event the British finished seventh.

Is there much luck in bridge?

There is not a great deal in the duplicate events. In the World Championship finals, matches are played over two days and this is long enough for the stronger teams to overcome the vagaries of luck. Sometimes you do get big swings that are based on luck - such as a correctly bid grand slam failing on a 50/50 finesse - but in these long matches 90% of the time, the better team will win.

Can you explain about the different bidding systems used in bridge?

All sorts of systems are allowed but you must disclose the system you are using to your opponents before the start of the game. Furthermore, you are allowed, at any time during the auction, to ask the meanings of their bids.

Bridge obviously involves communication with a partner - do players try to exploit this by cheating?

In some games it can happen but, at a high level, the introduction of a physical barrier between the players has completely prevented this. Additionally, there is no verbal communication, all bids being made with the use of bidding boxes. Although this is wonderful for eliminating the possibility of cheating, it does create a rather strange impression for the lay public. In social games, cheating can easily happen - the most common method being grumbling at a partner's lead.

How is bridge conveyed to the public at tournaments?

At the big tournaments big television screens are used to relay the bids and plays throughout to the theatre. Commentators are employed to help explain what each bid means in order to overcome the problem that people who don't play regularly will have little real idea what is going on.

How strong are bridge-playing computers?

They are very good at bidding, which is relatively easy to program. However, there are some difficulties with card play, and this has proved difficult for the programmers to crack. Attempts have been made to use similar algorithms to those which have proved so successful in chess, but the programs can never go more than five or six ply deep. A new program known as Goren in a Box has recently been introduced, and it is possible that this will become strong.

You are also a shareholder in the spread betting company IG Index. Do you envisage that betting on Mind Sports will become popular?

IG have already made markets in chess events, such as Kasparov-Short, Kasparov-Anand and Kasparov-Deep Blue. Interest in spread betting is increasing at a phenomenal rate and it is perfectly possible that our Mind Sports coverage will increase in the future.

Day Five Leaders and Medal Winners

Bridge Swiss Pairs

(Placings and medals)

1 M. Beyer/J. Tesselaar (Holland) gold
2 G. Horscroft/M. Walsh (England) silver
3 M. Gold/D. Higginson (England) bronze

Chess

(Placings and medals)

1 M. Adams (England) gold
2 M. Sadler (England) silver
3 D. Gormally (England) bronze

Chess Juniors

(Placings and medals)

1 L. McShane (England) gold
2-3 K. Chakraborty (India) silver
D. Tan (England) silver
4 G. Jones (England) bronze

Chinese Chess

(Placings and medals)

1 W.W. Cheung (France) gold
2 F.Z. Chen (England) silver
3 P.L.B. Young (England) bronze

Draughts 10x10

(Placings and medals)

1 H. Wiersma (Holland) gold
2 G. Valneris (Latvia) silver
3 I. Kirzner (Ukraine) bronze

Go 13x13

(Placings and medals)

1 S. Zhang (China) gold
2 G. Zuan (Holland) silver
3 D. Ward (England) bronze

Go 19x19

(Placings and medals)

1 Z. Guo (Holland) gold
2 S. Zhang (China) silver
3 A. Goddard (England) bronze

IQ

(Placings and medals)

1 A. Walker (Scotland) gold
2 M. Isaac (England) silver
3 J. McLeod (England) bronze

Jigsaw Puzzles

(Placings and medals)

1 R. Harwood (England) gold
2 A. Smith (England) silver
3 P. Wood (England) bronze

Memory Skills

(Placings and medals)

1 D. O'Brien (England) gold
2 A. Bell (England) silver
3 D. Thomas (England) bronze

Othello

(Placings and medals)

1 M. Suekuni (Japan) gold
2 T. Nakajima (Japan) silver
3 M. Tastet (France) bronze

Rummikub

(Placings and medals)
British Championship - does not count for medal table

1 A. Burley gold
2 J. Marchant silver
3 A. Choudhary bronze

Skat

(Placings and medals)

1 H.J. Schindler (Germany) gold
2 N. Schäfer (Germany) silver
3 Dr D. Beise (Germany) bronze

Stratego

(Placings and medals)

1 P. Van Bodegom (Holland) gold
2 G. Franka (Holland) silver
3 E. Van den Berg (Holland) bronze

Stratego Juniors

(Placings and medals)

1 R. Becks (Holland) gold
2 P. Mullenders (Holland) silver
3 F. Poppelaars (Holland) bronze

Stratego Team

(Placings and medals)

1 Holland gold
2 France silver
3 Germany bronze

Zatre

(Placings and medals)

1 S. Ludwig (Germany) gold
2 W. Witkowski (Germany)silver
3 D. Steuerwald (Germany) bronze

Scrabble

(Placings and medals)

1 E. Simpson (England) gold
2 H. Lamabadusuriya (Sri Lanka) silver
3 M. Thompson (England) bronze

Mind Sports Olympiad Medal Table after Day Five

TODAY'S EVENTS
Backgammon day
Bridge day
Chess day
Chess Problem
Solving pm
Chess Terafinal day
Chinese Chess day
Computer Programming day
Creative Thinking am
Decamentathlon. am
Draughts (8x8) pm
Draughts (10x10) am
Gin Rummy day
Go (19x19) day
IQ pm
Japanese Chess am
Mah Jongg day
Mastermind am
Othello day
Scrabble day
Speed Reading pm

OLYMPIAD NEWS TEAM
Editor: Jon Tisdall
Production: Byron Jacobs and Andrew Kinsman (First Rank Publishing)

MIND SPORTS OLYMPIAD
PO Box 13388, London NW3 2ZF
Fax: 0171 482 0672 http://www.mindsports.co.uk/