Mind Sports Organisation
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MSO logo |
The
Mind Sports Organisation (MSO) is a vehicle for promoting
mental-skill games, including
Chess,
Go,
mastermind, and
Scrabble. Since 1997 it has organised annual
Mind Sports Olympiads in the UK, and has been involved in supporting a number of similar events elsewhere, in particular in
Milan,
Italy.
Initially the MSO was supported by some substantial corporate sponsorship, and was under the control of a company MSO Worldwide (MSOW), which had money advanced by venture capitalists (the money came mostly from Swedish sources). The second Mind Sports Olympiad saw the largest sponsor withdraw, and from that time onwards financial problems dogged the MSO, particularly concerning funds misused by the organizers. The board running it included
David Levy,
Tony Buzan, and
Raymond Keene, who were known for various business interests.
A worsening financial position caused difficulties for MSOW, and schemes to become a leading force in games promotion worldwide came to little, as the loaned money (said to be about £2,500,000) was spent. This was the era of failed dotcoms, and MSOW went into voluntary liquidation in May 2001. At that point David Levy was the most important figure left in MSOW,
Tony Buzan having withdrawn, and Ray Keene having acrimoniously split from the board early in 2000 due to a dispute over money. Keene was more interested in promoting high-profile events — he has been close to
Garry Kasparov — and he left to launch the Brain Games Network group.
The first Mind Sports Olympiad was held in
London's
Royal Festival Hall in 1997. Four more annual events were held in successive Augusts in London locations, with the largest being held at
Alexandra Palace in 2000. The event moved to Loughborough in 2002, and then to
Manchester in 2003-5. The 2006 event will return to London.
The main 2004 event featured a separate event for schools, featuring competitions and activities in chess, Go, quizzes and intelligence puzzles. Smaller satellite events now include a popular meeting at
Cambridge.
At MSO tournaments, the
Decamentathlon is a composite event in which players compete in ten separate
mind sports:
memory skills,
mental calculation,
IQ,
bridge,
chess,
othello, 8 by 8
draughts,
Go,
Mastermind, and
creative thinking.
The Olympiads are run by David Levy and Tony Corfe.
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MSO Official Webpage
