CHESS
Mind sports
Raymond Keene
LAST YEAR the first Mind Sports Olym- piad was held at London's Royal Festival Hall. The strength of the entry in the first year matched its depth. All in all over 2,050 competitors entered during the week-long period of the event, while no less than 58 countries were represented and 16 separate world championships were contested among the total of 39 different thinking disciplines on offer. Of the brain stars who competed, perhaps the best known were Dominic O'Brien, the defending world memory champion, the chess grandmasters Michael Adams and Matthew Sadler — co- British champions at the time, and the world 8x8 draughts champion Ron King from Barbados. Other brain stars included a group of former world 10x10 draughts champions (this version of the game is very popular in Holland and Russia), namely Harm Wiersma, Guntes Valneris and Anatoly Gantvarg. Furthermore, the com- petition in the game of Othello was proba- bly the strongest ever held outside Japan, and included the reigning world champion as well as a number of very strong players. In chess terms it would have been a catego- ry 18 tournament.
Dominic O'Brien was once again tri- umphant in the memory championship and hence became Olympiad and World Memory Champion. Dominic said, 'The experts tell you that, as you get older, your brain shrinks and you can't memorise so much. But it's actually the reverse. If you compare my results with 1993, the amount of information that I memorised this year has doubled since then, even though my brain is supposedly shrinking. So it's simply not true. It's a case of "if you don't use it, you lose it". The answer is: exercise your brain daily as I do, and it will get stronger.' In recognition of his achievements he was presented with a certificate insuring his brain for £1,000,000. Thoughtfully, Dom- inic donned a crash helmet during the cere- mony to reassure his underwriters that their investment was being well protected.
Although there were monetary and material awards on offer, including Concorde flights, bottles of champagne, crystal decanters and learned tomes on thinking and the brain, the most cherished awards in the Olympiad were the gold, sil- ver and bronze medals, awarded for superlative achievement in each category.
This year, in expectation of a much increased entry, Mind Sports Olympiad II has migrated to the Novotel in Hammer- smith, over the period 24-30 August. Here is a game from last year's chess section between two players who have both won the British Championship.
Plaskett—Sadler: Mind Sports Olympiad 1997; Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 NO d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 This was Plaskett's pet variation against Najdorf players at the Mind Sports Olympiad. 7 ... h6 8 Bxf6 Qxf6 9 f4 Nc6 A few rounds later Luke McShane played 9 ... g5 against Plaskett and after 10 g3? (10 f5 is better). 10 ... gxf4 11 gxf4 Qh4+ Black had a very good position. 10 NO Bel The sharp 10 ... g5 was once played by John Nunn, but Sadler preferred to keep all his pawns. 11 0-0-0 b5 Risky, but after a ten-minute think (a long time in a half-hour game!) Sadler did not see a way to refute it. 12 e5 As always, Plaskett takes the most violent option. Sadler was more worried by 12 h4!? (12 g4 g5!) intending g4 when Black's queen is rather in the line of fire. 12 ... dxe5 13 fxe5 NxeS 14 Ne4 Qf5 15 Nd6+ Bxd6 16 Qxd6 Nd7! (Diagram) The only move. Black is now threat- ening to remove the white queen from d6 by 17 Qc5 followed by kingside castling. During his think on move 11, Sadler felt that 17 b4 was the only try for White, but after 17 ... Qf6, intending 18 Qe7, Black is on top. 17 Qc6 Rb8 18 Qc7 0- 0! 19 Bet 19 Rxd7 Bxd7 20 Qxd7 Rfd8 21 Qc7 (21 Qa7 Qf4+) 21 ... Rbc8 and Black wins. 19 ...Rb7 20 Qd6 Qc5 Black now has no problems to convert the extra pawn. 21 QxcS NxcS 22 Rd6 Rc7 23 Rhdl Bb7 24 g3 g6 25 Ne5 Rfc8 26 Rd8+ Rxd8 27 Rxd8+ Kg7 28 c3 h5 29 Kc2 Kf6 30 Nd3 Ke7 31 Rd4 Be4 32 Kd2 Bxd3 33 Bxd3 Nxd3 34 Kxd3 Rd7 35 b4 g5 36 c4 bxc4+ 37 Kxc4 Rxd4+ 38 Kxd4 Kd6 39 a4 f5 White resigns.
My thanks to grandmaster Matthew Sadler for sending me his comments on the above game.
The Mind Sports Olympiad is open to everyone: there are no barriers of age, sex or strength. For full details see the website www.mindsports.co.uk or send an SAE to Mind Sports Olympiad, PO Box 13388, London NW3 2ZF. Channel 4 will be screening nightly previews of the Mind Sports Olympiad from 17 to 21 August.
Raymond Keene is on the organising com- mittee of the Mind Sports Olympiad.
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