The Mind Sports Olympiad Will Be Held Next Month

The 18^th Mind Sports Olympiad will be held in London between August 17 and August 25; there will also be a (surprise) pre-Olympiad event on August 7. The first MSO was held at the Royal Festival Hall from August 18-24, 1997. That and the next three events were nothing less than spectacular. For reasons that need not be discussed here it kind of lost its way, and would have gone down the tubes altogether but for the supreme efforts of Tony Corfe and his small but dedicated team.

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Gamester Dario de Toffoli – in red shirt – at the 2013 Mind Sports Olympiad. They are playing the African game oware.

In 2002, the event moved north for 4 years: Loughborough University followed by three years at UMIST in Manchester. In 2007, it was reduced to Corfe’s local church hall in Potters Bar, but then moved back to the capital. From 2011 to last year it was held at the University of London Union, which looked like becoming its permanent home; now in a surprise move it is being held at JW3, which has a distinctly Kosher flavour. The title means Jewish Community Centre London; it was opened only last year. In view of current events in the Middle East perhaps they could invite along the Israeli Government and sundry Palestinian activists to slug it out over the tables rather than maim and murder each other as is happening now. Well, it was just a thought. Arab representation at MSO has never been substantial, but this is a truly international event. Last year’s medal winners included Italian gamester Dario de Toffoli, Liise Marie Reinik of Estonia, and Etan Ilfeld from the Golden State, now resident in London. Etan is also part of team Corfe.
So what is happening this year? Well, there is no play on Saturday, August 23, it being Shabbat, but apart from that there is backgammon, chess including Chinese chess, poker tournaments (no prize money), and for the first time ever, kaluki.
This year, MSO has also attracted some meaningful sponsorship, from three companies that have an interest in technology: Winton Capital Management, DeepMind Technologies, and one you may just have heard of, Mitsubishi. DeepMind was co-founded by Demis Hassabis, a name that is not exactly unknown in these circles. His son Alexander is now 8 but is already following in his Dad’s footsteps, being among the medal winners last year.
The prize money is guaranteed at over £6,000 including £1,200 first prize for the Pentamind Championship, which was won in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003 by...Demis Hassabis. How long will we have to wait before we see that surname on the trophy again?
Unquestionably the daffiest event in this and any Olympiad is Diving Chess. Who came up with that? Oh, you Etan. Actually, this is becoming quite popular; it will be held in Central London on July 27, the community centre having declined to build a swimming pool next to its restaurant.
Entry fees for all events are very reasonable, and for dedicated gamesters there is the All-You-Can-Play ticket at £120, (terms and conditions apply).
As for that special pre-Olympiad event, it is a simultaneous exhibition by MSO founder David Levy. Although he is an International Master, Levy hasn’t played chess at all for decades; he explained once how he lost interest in the game suddenly and dramatically. His main interest is artificial intelligence. He has also been known to write the odd book or two, one of those odd books being Love And Sex With Robots. Check out his page on Amazon.
[The above article was first published July 4, 2014 [UK time], not July 3 as shown on the archived version.]
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