MSO 2003

The Mind Sports Olympiad was born in 1997. For 5 years it took place in London, and then, in order not to disappear, at the Loughborough University, near Nottingham. Now, at its seventh edition, it found a new home at the Manchester Conference Centre, in the city so well known by the Italians because of its great soccer team. The duration is again 10 days (from the 16th to the 25th of August) and in program there are more than 100 Tournaments of about 50 different games. Challenges of any kind, from the most classic ones (chess, backgammon, draughts, go) to the modern ones (Settlers of Catan, Lost cities, Rummikub, Master Mind), to mental challanges (mental calculation, Intelligence tests). This movement, born as the Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) generated much more smaller events in other countries; among them the “Giochi Sforzeschi” of Milan (Italy) that take place in December. The David Levy and other founder’s bet is this: the XX Century was characterized by an immense development of games for the body, the sports that have gradually become a social phenomenon without comparison, the XXI Century will witness the development, on a mass level, of the Mind sports. And we’re not just talking about chess and bridge: we really hope to see a flourishing of these disciplines. I have already booked the plane!

A quote from the second page of the Olympiad News, which concerns us:
MSO TRIVIA
There is a particular MSO achievement which is shared by Dario De Toffoli, John Clark, Robert Fountain and – perhaps surprisingly – to the best of our knowledge, nobody else. (Anne Jones has been denied this achievement through no fault of her own). Your question is: what is this achievement? Answer in 2004 (No prizes – just for fun!).

ITALIAN MEDALS

Acquire – Olympiad Championship
1 Dario De Toffoli Italy
2 Martin Burroughs United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
3 George Hall United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Backgammon – Manchester Blitz
1 Irving Czechowicz United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2 Uldis Lapikens United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
3 Simonetta Barone Italy

Diplomacy – Olympiad Championship
1 George Hassabis United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2 Demis Hassabis United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
3 Dario De Toffoli Italy

Pentamind – Olympiad Championship
1 Demis Hassabis United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2 Dario De Toffoli Italy
3 David Pearce United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Poker – Texas Hold’em
1 Dario De Toffoli Italy
2 Daniel Gormally Switzerland
3 Ben Player United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Rummikub – UK Championship
1 Harri Bungay United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2 Jenny Corfe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
3 Dario De Toffoli Italy