INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

CONTENTS
Intellectual Capital 1
Creative Thinking 2
Ten of the Best 2
Go, Guo, Zhang 2
Learn and Play 2
Tough Puzzles 2
Delbeck Champagne Prize Draw Challenge 4 2
Bigger and Better 3
Results Section 4
Medals Table 4
Today's Events 4

'I opened as usual with 1 e4, but was rather surprised when he replied with 'n15' and told me this was the go tournament. Thinking quickly, I played T23 and informed him that I had sunk his battleship, which would have been fine if he hadn't passed me the doubling cube and used all his seven letters in forming the word NO-TRUMP on a triple word score. Luckily for me, he fell down a snake the next move and I was back in the game.' - William Hartston in The Independent

'I've entered two events, but I'm not sure which ones they are.' - overheard at the registration desk.

INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

Leif Edvinsson - Skandia's Father of Intellectual Capital

Behind the cute T-shirt message 'I C the future' lies an original and enterprising economic concept that sponsors Skandia equate with their past - and future - success. IC stands for Intellectual Capital, a phrase designed to define the intangible, yet very real, human assets behind an enterprise. Edvinsson's pet metaphor portrays IC as the roots of a tree bearing future fruit.

Skandia were approached by the MSO on the strength of an IC annual report that utilised consistent and detailed chess imagery. Unlike many corporations that simply borrow these icons, Skandia had a real commitment to the power behinds the symbols which they translated to financial support. Edvinsson's reaction to the Mind Sports Olympiad concept: 'Brilliant - it is the embodiment of a new training approach of human capability, the embodiment of a new knowledge era.'

Edvinsson easily conjures up a network of associations linking all kinds of game-playing to potential and practical applications. 'The business world sees a measurable and growing intelligence gap - with need for intellectual expertise constantly expanding. Available talent is decreasing even though the population is increasing. Being bombarded with information - be it in Nintendo or shogi - and being able to process it, find patterns etc., is a vital skill. One way to increase this talent potential is through games.'

He points out one area that already bridges playful entertainment and serious business is a simulator. This kind of software program provides clear real world gains - 40 hours of simulation training can create a licensed Boeing 777 pilot.

Even those computer game-playing skills which are not yet respected as intellectual pursuits earn his respect. He sees the abilities honed here as being applicable to multimedia work and the software industry, and considers software building to be the most critical technological ingredient today.

An emphasis on finding new ways to approach and link apparently unrelated input is a basic ingredient of IC, and even in a brief interview subjects continually merge and interweave. IC as a concept has established a foothold extremely rapidly. Edvinsson's book, Intellectual Capital, has already been translated for markets in China, Portugal, S. America, South Korea and Israel. The topic shifts to Mandarin as a virtual, symbolic language, and the evidence that this stimulates both sides of the brain.

Suddenly he presents me with the new business cards for the Skandia Future Centers - a fascinating series of bound, coloured cards with an evolving discussion of 'contactivity' on the top of each page and a visually linked sequence of coloured graphics on the back. He smiles as I slowly examine this from various angles. 'You see the difference? My conventional card went straight into your pocket...'

Creative Thinking

The questions in this event set by The Independent's nimble wit, Bill Hartston were:

Q1: List as many possible uses as you can think of for a soft-boiled egg. (One competitor earned a bonus point for not listing 'eat it')

Q2: Here are two objects (a large and a small conch) I found on the beach on holiday. What should I do with them?

Q3: List as many similarities as you can think of between the Princess of Wales and an orange.

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

Q5: At the start of 1998, a new labour-saving device was launched. Within six months, one was to be found in 97 per cent of the homes in the UK. Describe it.

Q6: Everyone agreed that the Creativity competition at the 1998 Mind Sports Olympiad was far superior to that of the 1997 event. What do you think the tasks given to the contestants might have been?

The scoring was as follows:
Fecundity (quantity) - of distinct ideas.
Originality - scores double (50% of the total)
Breadth - the number of different dimensions employed in the answers - for example, texture, size, colour, etc.

Ten of the Best

A highly intriguing event at the Mind Sports Olympiad is the decamentathlon. In the spirit of the Olympic decathlon, this event consists of a tough four-hour examination in ten separate Mind Sports challenges. The events are: memory, mental calculation, IQ, bridge, chess, Othello, go, draughts (8x8), Mastermind and creative thinking. This proved to be an intriguing test of all-round Mind Sports knowledge and could, in future years, develop into one of the most competitive events.

Many of the competitors excelled in one or two disciplines but were let down by a lack of ability in others. The secret of success in this testing challenge is to score well in all events. The first decamentathlon gold medal was deservedly won by Andrew Dyson who, in addition to being a very strong bridge and chess player, is also clearly very knowledgeable in other Mind Sports. The silver was scooped by Demis Hassabis who, as one of the most active competitors in the Olympiad, is also pressing hard in the Pentamind. The bronze medal went to international chess master Byron Jacobs, who took the morning off from his usual role of Olympiad News production.

Go, Guo, Zhang!

The Olympiad News did not quite manage to unravel the go results yesterday. Our results table was reasonably correct, but... To put the record straight, Shutai Zhang was not part of the emergence of female and Dutch success yesterday - since he is a Chinese man! Zuan Guo was the name we were looking for, but she appeared with her name reversed in the 13x13 table. Apologies for the confusion, and congratulations to the duo, who took one gold and one silver each in the go championships. As there were other problems in the medal placings, the go awards ceremony will be restaged on Sunday.

Learn and Play

This morning starting at 10.00am there is a games workshop on level 3 on the Hungerford side of the Royal Festival Hall. The idea of the workshop is that participants will learn up to eight new games. The plan is to spend 30 minutes teaching each of the following games: 10.00AM Chess; 10.30 Fanorona; 11.00 Entropy; 11.30 Mastermind; 12.00 Oware; 12.30 Othello; 1.00 Go; 1.30 Bridge. (These details are subject to change.)

In the afternoon, starting at 4.00PM, the participants will be able to choose their preferred Mind Sport and be matched with another participant who would like to play the same game. Alternatively, there may be an opportunity for workshop participants to play in one of the MSO afternoon tournaments.

Tough Puzzles

Try your hand at the following tough puzzle.

The numbers 1 to 5 inclusive have been allocated randomly to the colours blue, green, red, white and yellow, which are represented in the diagram (not available) by their initial letters. The numbers next to each row and column refer to the sums of the numbers in those rows and columns. Can you work out each colour's number?

Where 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 Tough Puzzles stand on level 2 near the Foyer Bar.

Delbeck Champagne Prize Draw Challenge 4:

Yesterday's quiz answers:
1) Andy Bell (41.37 seconds)
2) Richard Garfield
3) Artist Barry Martin

Today, taking our lead from the Creative Thinking event, the champagne prize will be awarded to the entrant coming up with, in the opinion of the Olympiad News team, the best three questions. Entries to the registration desk before 5.00PM please.

BIGGER AND BETTER!

Everyone agrees that the 1st Mind Sports Olympiad has been a tremendous success. Olympiad News asked two of the directors, Raymond Keene and David Levy, how they view their creation and what their future plans are.

Can you explain how the concept of the MSO was devised?

(RK) The genesis of the Mind Sports Olympiad stems from several years ago. David Levy approached me after the 1986 Kasparov-Karpov World Championship match in London and described the idea. Then I met Tony Buzan who said, that with his interest in the brain and all things cerebral, he had often dreamt of a global Mind Sports contest. So it seemed natural that the three of us should come together to work on the MSO.

(DL) I used to play in a lot of international chess tournaments and the one event which I enjoyed above all others was the Chess Olympiad, where people play for fun and for the honour of representing their country. Inspired by this, I thought about creating an event which would multiply the pleasure for everyone simply by multiplying the number of different games. The concept is, if you like, a gigantic games festival.

When did the real preparations begin?

(RK) The ball really started to roll in an incredibly short space of time. On 31 August 1996 we decided, after years of toying with the project, that it was actually going to happen. Having made that decision, it was extraordinary how quickly everything fell into place. I approached the Royal Festival Hall, who quickly agreed to provide the venue, and Tony Buzan approached Skandia who, with their drive for Intellectual Capital, also made an amazingly swift decision to support us. Meanwhile, David Levy, ably supported by David Pritchard, one of the great games gurus, accessed a worldwide nexus of contacts to attract players. The organisational team was finally completed when Don Morris, an experienced events organiser, joined the group. Dr Louise Guthrie volunteered to set up our Internet operations and Sir Brian Tovey accepted the role of company chairman with Lady Mary Tovey acting as company secretary. Sir Brian's appointment was singularly appropriate, given that he used to be head of Government Intelligence at GCHQ.

Has the MSO matched up to your expectations?

(RK) The success of the event as we reach the conclusion has exceeded everything we could have hoped for. The press coverage has been massive and, with nearly 2,000 competitors from 53 countries, we have truly established a global intellectual battlefield.

Will we all be back next year?

(RK) Many people have asked me this question. Of course! Next year's MSO will take place from August 24-30, and we hope to be back here at the RFH. So book your slot now - we expect at least twice as many entries next year.

How do you foresee the Olympiad developing?

(RK) Although we are delighted with this year's competition, there is naturally still plenty of room for improvement. It is my ultimate ambition to bring all the great champions of the major thinking sports to the event. This year we already have 16 separate World Championships being contested. World Champions present include World Memory Champion Dominic O'Brien and the World 8x8 Draughts Champion Ron King, while the 10x10 Draughts section is packed with former World Champions (Harm Wiersma, Anatoli Gantvarg and Guntis Valneris). For the future, I would like to see the entrants include World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, the Deep Blue chess and Chinook draughts programs, and Oriental champions such as Habu, the shogi genius from Japan. An event in which the premier championship of every major thinking sport in the world took place at one and the same time would be fantastic. Can you imagine it? - I can!

(DL) We could make the next Computer Olympiad part of the Mind Sports Olympiad. The Computer Olympiad started in 1989 and has attracted as many as 100 programs competing in tournaments for 15 or more different games. In the Computer Olympiad we only allow programs. There is no Human vs. Computer competition. We feel that, at the moment, it would change the spirit of the MSO too much to allow programs to compete in our tournaments. However, it is quite possible that in the future we may stage challenge matches between strong programs and leading human players at various Mind Sports.

What are your Internet plans?

(DL) As more and more homes become connected to the Internet, it will be possible for a much larger number of players to participate in the MSO. Ideally, we would have people playing from their own home, but it is impossible to police such a situation and, given the strength of programs such as Fritz (chess) and Jellyfish (backgammon) some people would find it tempting to receive a little assistance. However, there is a way around this. We envisage competitions run from Internet cafés, where players could be watched by arbiters as they competed. If we are able to secure sponsorship we could then award prizes in each tournament - perhaps a free air ticket and hotel room in London for the MSO.

Day Six Medal Winners

Backgammon

(Placings and medals)

1 J. Clark (England) gold
2 M. Barkwill (England) silver
3 M. Barron (England) bronze

Bridge Swiss Teams

(Placings and medals)

1 S. Burn/P. King/T. Townsend/ N. Sandqvist gold
2 S. Dannell/P. Shepperson/M. Beyer/J. Tesselaar silver
3 R. Eaton/A. Salem/Bharat/T. Nnando bronze

Chess 10-minute

(Placings and medals)

1 W. Watson (England) gold
2 K. Arkell (England) silver
3 J. Plaskett (England) bronze

Chess 5-minute

(Placings and medals)

1 M. Adams (England) gold
2 M. Sadler (England) silver
3 S. Conquest (England) bronze

Chess 10-minute juniors

(Placings and medals)

1 G. Jones (England) gold
2 D. Edwards (England) silver
3 S. Ghasi (England) bronze

Chess 5-minute juniors

(Placings and medals)

1 D. Tan (England) gold
2 T. Dougherty (England) silver
3 N. Frost (England) bronze

Chess Problem Solving

(Placings and medals)

1 S. Conquest (England) gold
2 M. Pein (England) silver
3 K. Chakraborty (India) bronze

Chess Terafinal

(Placings and medals)
Non-Olympiad event

1 R. Cleveland (Wales) gold
2 N. Timms (England) silver
3 R. Jones (Wales) bronze

Chess Challengers

(Placings and medals)
Non-Olympiad event

1 D. Hodge (England) gold
2 L. D'Costa (England) silver
3 L. Broomfield (England) bronze

Creative Thinking

(Placings and medals)

1 P. Bateman (S. Africa) gold
2 B. Birchall (England) silver
3 D. Holloway (England) bronze

Decamentathlon

(Placings and medals)

1 A. Dyson (England) gold
2 D. Hassabis (England) silver
3 B. Jacobs (England) bronze

Draughts 8x8 10-minute

(Placings and medals)

1 R. King (Barbados) gold
2 C. McCarrick (Ireland) silver
3 P. Raivis (Latvia) bronze

Draughts 10x10 10-minute

(Placings and medals)

1 A. Gantvarg (Belarus) gold
2 G. Valneris (Latvia) silver
3 I. Kirzner (Ukraine) bronze

Gin Rummy

(Placings and medals)

1 M. Kelly (Ireland) gold
2 J. Bosley (New Zealand) silver
3 R. Hellman (England) bronze

IQ

(Placings and medals)

1 R. Charisse (England) gold
2 B. Pridmore (England) silver
3 P. Smith (England) bronze

IQ juniors

(Placings and medals)

1 W. Lo (England) gold
2 D. Leaf (England) silver
3 N. Eskuarzi (England) bronze

Japanese Chess 15-minute

(Placings and medals)

1 M. Sandeman (England) gold
2 Y. Sumi (Japan) silver
3 D. Hassabis (England) bronze

Mastermind 10-minute

(Placings and medals)

1 O. Omodera (Japan) gold
2 Y. Sumi (Japan) silver
3 R. Franzkeit (Germany) bronze

Speed Reading

(Placings and medals)

1 A. Jones (England) gold
2 M. Isaac (England) silver
3 I. Stewart (England) bronze

Mind Sports Olympiad Medal Table after Day Six

TODAY'S EVENTS
Backgammon day
Bridge day
Chess day
Chinese Chess day
Computer
Programming day
Continuo day
Crossword Puzzles pm
Draughts (8x8) am
Draughts (10x10) pm
Games Workshop day
Gin Rummy day
Go (9x9) pm
Go (19x19) am
Japanese Chess am
Mah Jongg day
Mastermind pm
Mental Calculations am
Othello day
Scrabble day

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/