2nd Mind Sports Olympiad 1998
Fewer than expected turned out to enter the backgammon at the Novotel, Hammersmith; the reason most gave was the lack of a prize or prize money, and I agree, there has to be some sort of incentive to entice players (many of whom live well within tube distance of the Olympiad, wherever it is in London) to enter. Other reasons were based upon bad experiences at the 1st Olympiad due to late finishing and poor organisation exacerbated by a lack of documentation on the formats etc.
The 2nd wasn’t too bad but we were very late finishing the Beginners Tournament - three hours over our allotted time! The Championship and Weekend Tournament faired better with the finishing deadline being met by judicious use of clocks and timing. Many of the entrants didn’t appreciate that the backgammon within the Olympiad was not a stand-alone event but one of over 40 different mind sports and as such had to fit in as one of those sports, hence the use of clocks. In fact if you looked around the various sports being played, 99% of them were played with clocks with backgammon being in the 1%, a luxury considering the timing constraints set by the Olympiad Committee.
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| MSO 2 Winners |
If the backgammon is to survive as a mind sport it has to radically alter it’s rules and procedures to bring it in line with other sports, coupled with authoritative and knowledgeable directing. Hopefully 1999 will reflect these alterations.
Results:
| Beginners Tournament |
| Gold | Gordon Campbell * |
| Championship Gold Category |
| Gold | Brian Lever |
| Silver | Mahmoud Jahanbani |
| Bronze | Steve Rimmer |
| Championship Silver Category |
| Silver | John Kwee * |
| Bronze | Peter Murrell |
| Championship Bronze Category |
| Bronze | John Broomfield |
| Weekend Tournament |
| Gold | Geoff Oliver |
| Silver | John Clark |
| Bronze | Mahmoud Jahanbani |
* denotes non-Biba member.
- Michael Crane
