OLYMPIAD NEWS
Issue 5 Thursday 26 August 1999
Our Man in Korea
Contents
Our Man in Korea 1
Word Breaks 2
Marathon Men 2
Buzan on the Brain 2
Man vs. Machine IV 2
MSO Titles Awards 2
Dominic O'Brien, International Man of Memory 3
Results Section 4
Medals Table 4
Today's Events 4
Memory is the treasury and guardian of all knowledge. - Cicero (BC
106-43)
Recently there have been some subtle changes in the workings of the
Mind Sports Olympiad; but if the organisers of the event have their way,
the tremors they create will be felt around the world. The MSO is now run
by Mind Sports Organisation Worldwide Ltd., which should give an indication
of increasing ambitions. Olympiad News spoke to Jae Young Kim, who headed
the first regional MSO event in Seoul.
Kim hides abundant enthusiasm and a torrent of ideas behind a calm and
soft-spoken exterior. His first event, the 'Pre-Olympiad' attracted 4,000
players and 17,000 spectators, amazing figures for what was in many respects
a test run. If he manages to implement just a fraction of his ideas for
the upcoming first Korean MSO and then the Asian Regional Mind Sports Olympiad,
the sky is the limit.
One of the successful features of the Seoul event was the inclusion
of computer games. For example, the popular Korean game Windy City attracted
3,000 entries within hours of its announced inclusion and Kim had to turn
many enthusiasts away. The winners of the more classical events from Seoul
will arrive to test their skills in London today.
Are computer games the secret to bigger and better MSOs, or is the Asian
region particularly receptive to the whole idea of mental skills as a worthy
and stimulating pastime? The impression so far is - both.
Computer games can qualify as MSO events if they meet the criteria
of over 50% mental skill from players - they cannot rely on chance or quick
reflexes. The MSO has not come to a conclusion on its policy as yet, but
it will be hard to resist the potential drawing power that suitable computer
games could provide.
The East-West MSO connection springs from the successful union of Tony
Buzan's teaching and Kim's cultural reinterpretation of Tony's books. He
has translated the Buzan books Mind Mapping and Use Your Head, combined
them, localised them with Korean examples, and then let them loose. The
result: Over one million copies sold over five years, and about 10% of
the population familiar with the theories. Mind Mapping has been adopted
by the National Teachers Training agency and 40,000 teachers have learnt
the technique. 'In Korea, and I suppose Japan and China as well, we are
very eager for new educational methods - if they make good sense they are
very easily accepted,' Kim says.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have
both sanctioned the MSO Korea initiatives, and a first prize at the closed
Korean events awarded special points towards a university education, a
tremendous enticement in a country where competition for university places
is ferocious.
With this kind of background it is hardly surprising that the MSO concept
has a fervent new disciple, and Kim hopes to sign on major software companies
from China and Japan to finance future competitions in the region.
And this is just the start - the Bahraini Dama delegation is also on
an international mission. Plans are already afoot to stage the first Arab
regional MSO under the auspices of like-minded organisers in Bahrain.
Word Breaks
Nothing can distract a Mind Sports player in full flow. Earlier this
week in the Scrabble tournament, one excited player wriggled so much during
a tense game that the legs fell off his chair and he collapsed to the floor.
Like true competitors, the players on adjacent tables continued their game
as if nothing untoward had happened.
Marathon Men
Two Mind Sports stars at this year's Olympiad seem to be vying to see
who can compete in the most events - and their dedication to the cause
is starting to take its toll. Demis Hassabis, last year's Pentamind Champion
and possibly the most versatile games player at the event, is competing
virtually non-stop. On Tuesday, he was spotted asleep in the foyer and
fears that his hectic schedule might be wearing him out were confirmed
later that day in the Entropy event. Playing the deciding match against
his brother George, Demis blundered in a winning position on the very last
move of the game, and thus allowed a gold medal to slip through his fingers.
Meanwhile, the popular chess grandmaster Julian Hodgson, attending the
MSO as the newly crowned British Chess Champion, is attempting to play
in no less than ten chess events. This schedule means he will have to play
a total of over 100 games.
Yesterday, in round eight of the Olympiad Championship, almost exactly
halfway through his gruelling schedule, he reached the following position
as Black against GM Keith Arkell.
W________W
áWDW4WDkD]
àDpDWDp0W]
ßW1WDWDW0]
Þ0W0WDWDW]
ÝPDWgWDB4]
ÜDQDWDRDP]
ÛW)WDW)PD]
Ú$WDWDWIW]
WÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈW
Black to Play
Here Black, although a pawn up, has some difficulties associated with
his stranded rook on h4. Julian confidently picked up his queen and was
about to place it on c6, when he realised to his horror that White was
threatening to take the pawn on f7 with check. Undaunted, he replaced the
queen on b6 and took another look. He then picked up the queen again and
tried his luck on g6. Just as he was about to remove his hand he realised
that this move would also prove disastrous as White could meet 1 ... Qg6
with 2 Rxf7! Qxf7 3 Be6 winning the queen.
Julian, now firmly committed to adopting the trial and error method
of making a move most often employed by complete beginners, yet again replaced
the queen on b6. However, by this time both he, his opponent and the onlookers
were unable to contain their laughter any more. Julian finally gathered
himself together and exchanged queens on b3. Not surprisingly, he was unable
to recover his equilibrium and eventually lost the endgame.
Buzan on the Brain
Today Tony Buzan, best-selling author and inventor of Mind Mapping(tm),
will be giving a lecture at 1:30 pm in the Auditorium. He will explore
current thinking on the human brain and his talk will be accompanied by
a mind-expanding video.
Man vs. Machine IV
In today's fourth round of the Man vs. Machine Challenge, John Broomfield,
the 1998 British Backgammon Champion, is playing the leading artificial
intelligence software program Jellyfish, developed by Fredrik Dahl of Norway.
The duel takes place on level 2 at 10:00 am.
The power of the human brain was confirmed yet again yesterday in the
Othello match between the super-program Logistello and the duo of Kenta
Tominaga (current Meijin) and Makoto Suekuni, the 1997 World Champion.
The program won the first game, but the team earned a draw in the rematch.
This is the first time that the program has failed to overcome mortal opposition
for several years.
MSO Title Awards
Congratulations are due to the following who have achieved MSO titles
in the last few days.
Grandmaster Awards
Su Burn (England) Bridge Team Ch
Phil King (England) Bridge Team Ch
Tom Townsend (England) Bridge Team Ch
Nick Sandquist (Sweden) Bridge Team Ch
Woo Wei Cheung (China) Chinese Chess
Angus Walker (Scotland) Intelligence
Mark Tastet (France) Abalone
Paul Smith (England) Decamentathlon
International Master Awards
Keith Loveys (England) Decamentathlon
Robert Coull (England) Mastermind
Peter Horlock (England) Entropy
Candidate Master Awards
Demis Hassabis (England) Decamentathlon
David Pearce (England) Entropy
Dominic O'Brien, International Man of Memory
Last year's Mind Sports Olympiad was all the poorer for the absence
of the five-times World Memory Champion Dominic O'Brien. This year he is
back and determined to regain a title that, over the past few years, has
come to be regarded by many as his private property.
What have you been working on recently?
Over the past few months I have been training for this year's Memory
Skills event and have also become involved with the Alpha Learning Institute.
In a way these two activites overlap as they are primarily concerned with
brain training and this is obviously an area in which I have an interest.
One of the crucial qualities for a competitor in a World Memory Championship
is concentration. We are all familiar with the techniques used for memorisation
- journeys, visual representations etc. - but improving concentration is
a less explored area as it is more difficult to practice. This is where
Alpha Learning and their machine, Brainwave 1, come in. The equipment was
developed by Sean Adam who, incidentally, holds the world record for Speed
Reading.
The purpose of Brainwave 1 is to train the brain to work at the frequency,
between seven and eight cycles a second, where concentration is at its
best. The brain states that can be achieved using the equipment are typical
of those which arise after prolonged periods of meditation. However, rather
than taking 30 years of disciplined practice, Brainwave 1 allows you to
achieve this quickly and easily.
How did you become interested in this?
I was attracted to this idea because the equipment was originally
designed to make people smarter. However, it was soon realised that it
can also be used to repair forms of brain damage such as dyslexia. Having
suffered from dyslexia as a child this naturally piqued my interest. Interestingly,
some other memory champions have had problems with dyslexia and perhaps
overcoming dyslexia is what has sparked us to research how to improve our
memories.
Two of the symptoms of dyslexia are poor concentration and a bad
memory, both of which I suffered from at school. I have obviously managed
to improve my memory greatly, and now I am focusing on concentration.
What else do you do to prepare for memory events?
I take ginkgo biloba, a plant extract which greatly aids blood circulation.
For any Mind Sport you need to channel as much blood, and thus oxygen,
to the brain as possible. Gingko biloba helps to achieve this by dilating
the blood vessels. I also keep fit by running and do my normal memory exercises
- practising with packs of playing cards and a computer program I have
developed.
Will we see memory records tumble this year?
I am optimistic that many of the current records can be broken. For
example, the competition record for a pack of cards is 34 seconds and my
personal best (not in competition) is 27.5 seconds. There are also other
targets which I feel are achievable.
What do you know about the entry for this year's event?
I believe that there is quite a cosmopolitan field with entrants
from Turkey, South Africa, the Czech Republic and Malaysia. However, I
suspect that the event may turn into a two-horse race between myself and
Andi Bell, last year's winner.
Is your memory still improving?
Yes. I have won the World Memory Championship on five occasions,
and as I am now 42, it has been suggested that I might consider retirement.
However, I am still improving every year and I see no reason to stop just
yet.
What is your favourite event?
I like the spoken number. It is a double-edged event as you have
to aim for a score of 200+, but it is possible to blow out with just three
or four numbers. As it occurs towards the end of the competition, an element
of strategy comes in as you have to decide whether to 'go for it' and try
for a big score, or play safe.
What are your plans over the next few months?
I am writing a book, Learn to Remember, soon to be published by Duncan
Baird. It is not particularly detailed on actual memory systems - I have
covered these in depth in earlier books - but will concentrate on how to
exploit an improved memory, e.g. how to relax. I am also working on a Blackjack
video course and will be running Blackjack master classes in Las Vegas.
It is a fascinating experiment. We will be taking 45 people out for a one-week
course, and then seeing how they get on.
The schedule for the Memory Championship is as follows:
Day One (Thursday)
1. One hour numbers
2. Poem - 15 mins
3. Names and faces - 15 mins
4. Binary numbers - 30 mins
5. Random words - 15 mins
Day Two (Friday)
6. One hour cards
7. Speed numbers - five mins
8. Spoken number
9. Speed cards
Also at the MSO on Saturday afternoon the South African memory star
Kevin Horsley will be making an attempt on Philip Bond's Pi matrix world
record, which currently stands at 53 minutes to recall 50 groups of five
numbers from the 10,000 possible sequences.
Day Five Medal Winners
Bridge for Beginners (Wed)
1 S. Moed (France) gold
2 E. Cali (France) silver
3 L. Broomfield (England) bronze
Bridge for Beginners Junior (Wed)
1 S. Moed (France) gold
2 R. Waddingham (Eng) silver
3 I. Waddingham (Eng) bronze
Chess Evenings (Mon/Tue)
1= J. Hodgson (England) gold
1= J. Emms (England) gold
3 M. Hebden (England) bronze
Chess Evenings Junior (Mon/Tue)
1 D. Tan (England) gold
2 M. Voracek (Czech Rep) silver
3 M. Broomfield (Eng) bronze
Japanese Chess Pan-Atlantic Ch
1 L. Kaufman (USA) gold
2 S. Lamb (England) silver
3 H. Segers (Holland) bronze
Japanese Chess Pan-Atlantic Ch Jnr
1 R. Kaufman (USA) gold
2 H. Tatsutomi (Japan) silver
Mental Calculations World Ch
1 G. Lane (England) gold
2 R. Fountain (England) silver
3 T. Groves (England) bronze
Oware Under-18
1 E. Davis (Grenada) gold
2 K. Lemuel (Dom. Rep.) silver
3 W. Bonti (Ghana) bronze
Poker 5-Card Draw Lowball
1 G. Lee (England) gold
2 M. Wellby (England) silver
3 C. Vaz (England) bronze
Poker 5-Card Draw Lowball Junior
1 G. Niccoli (England) gold
2 T. Niccoli (England) silver
3 C. Harris (England) bronze
Rummikub
1 J. Heppell (England) gold
2 D. Hassabis (England) silver
3 A. Haghshenas (Eng) bronze
Twixt World Championship
1 K. Hussmanns (Ger) gold
2 G. Schneider (Austria) silver
3 H. Thordsen (Germany) bronze
Medal Table after Day Five
|
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| England |
41 |
41 |
41 |
123 |
| USA |
4 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
| France |
3 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
| Germany |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| Japan |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| Netherlands |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| Austria |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| China |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| Grenada |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| Puerto Rico |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| Austria |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Jamaica |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Scotland |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Australia |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Belgium |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Korea |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Norway |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Sweden |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
| Israel |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
| Czech Republic |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Nigeria |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Grenada |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Dominican Rep. |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Ghana |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Italy |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Latvia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Lithuania |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Wales |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
www.msoworld.com
To coincide with the Third Mind Sports Olympiad we are delighted to
announce the launch of a very much upgraded web site. The address is: http://www.msoworld.com/
When you visit the new site you will find, amongst other things, that
you can play other users at approximately 50 different games from six different
game categories. These games are from the 'Zillions of Games' collection
and we are delighted to be working with Zillions Development Corporation
on the creation of the site. Using the site is absolutely free!
Other features of the new site include a Mind Sports 'webzine' which
will bring you news and feature articles, regularly updated. Our news editor
is Jonathan Tisdall, an International Grandmaster at Chess and a professional
Mind Sports journalist. (Please send him news and articles to: jtisdall@usa.net).
Today's Events
Backgammon pm/eve
Bridge for Beginners am
Bridge Pairs am/pm
Bridge Open Pairs pm
Chess MSO Masters pm/eve
Chess Olympiad Ch am
Chess 25-minute eve
Chinese Chess am/pm
Draughts 10x10 Rapid pm
Draughts 8x8 Beginners pm
Go 19x19 Olympiad Ch am/pm
Intelligence World Ch am
Lines of Action pm
Memory Skills am/pm
Othello Olympiad Ch pm
Oware eve
Poker Omaha am
Scrabble Weekday am
Stratego World Ch pm
Zatre Olympiad Ch am/pm
Olympiad News Team
Editor: Jon Tisdall
Production: Byron Jacobs and Andrew Kinsman
(First Rank Publishing)
Mind Sports Olympiad
PO Box 13388,
London NW3 5FB
Tel: 01707 659080
Fax: 01707 661160
http://www.msoworld.com/
MSOWorld.com