Editing Mind Sports Organisation

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Mind Sports Organisation
| logo             = [[File:MSOlogo55x55-safe.png|MSO logo]]
| caption          = 
| type             = [[Mind sport]]s
| genre            = <!-- Only used with media and publishing companies -->
| fate             = 
| successor        = 
| foundation       = {{Start date|1997}}
| founder          = David Levy, Tony Buzan, Raymond Keene ''et al.''
| defunct          = <!-- {{End date|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| location_city    = London
| location_country = England
| location         = 
| locations        = 
| area_served      = 
| key_people       = Etan Ilfeld (Event Coordinator), <br> David Levy (Chief Architect), <br> Tony Corfe (Event Manager), <br> David Pearce (webmaster)
| industry         = 
| products         = [[Mind Sports Olympiad]]
| services         = 
| revenue          = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income       = 
| assets           = 
| equity           = 
| owner            = 
| num_employees    = 
| parent           = 
| divisions        = 
| subsid           = 
| homepage         = {{URL|http://www.msoworld.com}}
| footnotes        = 
| intl             = 
}}

The '''Mind Sports Organisation''' (MSO) is an association for promoting [[mind sport]]s including [[Contract Bridge]], [[Chess]], [[Go (game)|Go]], [[Mastermind (board game)|Mastermind]], and [[Scrabble]]. Since 1997 it has annually organised in England a multi-sport competition, the [[Mind Sports Olympiad]].

The MSO was founded in conjunction with the first Mind Sports Olympiad. Beside the main event, always in England and usually in London, it has supported similar events elsewhere, including [[Milan]]; [[South Korea]],<ref name="korea">MSO Korean Contest Will Be Held on 22 July, Korea JoongAng Daily, 14 July 1999, [http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=1872372]. Retrieved 30 April 2011</ref> and [[Prague]].<ref name="prague">Looking forward to the Mind Sports Olympiad, [[Radio Prague]], Jan Velinger, 17 September 2006 [http://www.radio.cz/en/section/letter/looking-forward-to-the-mind-sports-olympiad]. Retrieved 30 April 2011</ref>

== Mind Sports Olympiad ==
{{Main| Mind Sports Olympiad}}
The first Mind Sports Olympiad was held in London's [[Royal Festival Hall]] in 1997. It brought together an unprecedented number of strategy games and events. William Hartston in ''[[The Independent]]'' said, "The biggest gamesfest ever to hit these (or perhaps any other) shores".<ref name="ind_wh">William Hartston, [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-south-bank-brain-show-1256991.html''The South Bank Brain Show''], ''[[The Independent]]'' 21 June 1997, retrieved 2 August 1997</ref>

The inaugural MSO along with a very large number of games, introduced two new events of their own creation the Pentamind and the [[Decamentathlon]]. These were two events to parallel the multi-event games in athletics of the [[modern pentathlon]] and the [[decathlon]]. This was part of the ambition to create an Olympics of the mind.<ref name="times_mso1">''The Mind Sports Olympiad Supplement'' s, ''[[The Times]]'', July - August 1997</ref>

The Mind Sports Olympiad returned to London with sponsorship in both 1998<ref>Robert Sheehan, ''Sheehan on Bridge'', ''[[The Times]]'', 20 October 1998</ref> and 1999.<ref>Alan Hiron, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/games-bridge-1130510.html  ''Games: Bridge''], ''[[The Independent]]'', 5 December 1999, retrieved 2 August 2009</ref> Despite a falling out between the organisers (see controversy below) a successful event was held in [[Alexandra Palace]] the next year in 2000.<ref name="alex">Paul Sussman, [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/23/mind.olympiad/index.html  ''Fierce rivalry in 'Olympics' for brainboxes''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628014250/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/23/mind.olympiad/index.html |date=28 June 2013 }} 24 August 2000</ref>

The Mind Sports Olympiad main event continued to happen but without sponsorship the tournaments were held at a number of different universities. The event was still going strong for the years 2001 - 2006.<ref name="ward">David Ward, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/22/davidward  ''Cerebral Athletes Play Mind Games''], ''[The Guardian]'', 22 August 2005, retrieved 2 August 2009</ref> The main 2004 event featured a separate event for schools, featuring competitions and activities in chess, Go, quizzes and intelligence puzzles. But in 2007 the Mind Sports Olympiad was reduced to a much smaller venue in Potters Bar due to no sponsorship and no advertising.<ref name="potters">Stephen Moss, [https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,2156846,00.html  ''This time it's Personal''], [[The Guardian]], 27 August 2007</ref> In 2008 the MSO saw a revival returning to a central London venue, the [[Royal Horticultural Halls]], [[Westminster]] and again on 21–31 August 2009.<ref name="venue09">Information about venue for MSO XIII, http://www.boardability.com/mso/venue.html, 2 August 2009</ref> The 2010 event was held at the Soho Theatre in London.<ref name="venue10">Account of MSO XIV, http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=mso14 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226015813/http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=mso14 |date=26 February 2012 }}, 15 February 2011</ref> In 2011, the Mind Sports Olympiad moved to a bigger venue, the University of London Union. The 16th MSO will take place once again at the University of London Union in 18–27 August 2012.

Over the last few years, MSO has been flourishing both at its satellite events and at the main event in London, which attracted almost 800 entries in 2011. MSO London is a truly global event, and the 2010 Pentamind World Champion Paco Garcia De La Banda hails from Spain, while the 2011 Pentamind World Champion Andres Kuusk is from Estonia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://boardability.com/result.php?id=mso15 |title=Results for mso15 |access-date=21 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311042608/http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=mso15 |archive-date=11 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The most widely read chess magazine in the world, Chess Life, featured an article in February 2012 about in the inauguration of Diving Chess into the 2011 Mind Sports Olympiad.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://content.yudu.com/A1vdb5/ChessLifeFeb2012/resources/12.htm|title = February 2012}}</ref>

=== Venues ===
The Mind Sports Olympiad main event has been annual since 1997 at the following locations in England:

* 1997 Royal Festival Hall, London<ref name="times_mso1" />
* 1998 [[Novotel Hotel]], [[Hammersmith]]<ref>Jon Spielman, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/independent-pursuits-chess-1195762.html  ''Independent Pursuits: Chess''], ''The Independent'', 3 September 1998, retrieved 31 July 2009</ref>
* 1999 [[Kensington Olympia]], London<ref>Robert Nurden. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/mental-athletes-tune-up-for-mind-games-1114330.html ''Mental athletes tune up for Mind Games''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425055404/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/mental-athletes-tune-up-for-mind-games-1114330.html |date=25 April 2019 }}, 22 August 1999, retrieved 2 August 2009</ref>
* 2000 Alexandra Palace, London<ref name="alex" />
* 2001 [[South Bank University]], London
* 2002 [[Loughborough University]], [[Loughborough]]
* 2003 [[Manchester University]], [[Manchester]]<ref name="man_council">''Manchester Hosts 9th Mind Sports Olympiad'', ''[[Manchester City Council]] News'', 2 August 2005, retrieved 31 July 2009</ref>
* 2004 Manchester University, Manchester<ref name="venue2004">Don's diary:games and gold medals in Mind, [[The Times Higher Education]], [[David Levy (chess player)|David Levy]], 17 October 2003, [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=184239&sectioncode=26]. Retrieved 20 April 2011</ref>
* 2005 Manchester University, Manchester<ref name="venue2005">Mind games tournament under way, [[BBC]] Manchester, 19 August 2005 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4167626.stm]. Retrieved 30 April 2011</ref>
* 2006 [[University of Westminster|Westminster University]], London
* 2007 Potters Bar<ref name="potters" />
* 2008 Royal Horticultural Halls, London
* 2009 Royal Horticultural Halls, London<ref name="venue2009">Cheam man's mind bending puzzles at mental olympiad, Sutton Guardian, Kevin Barnesm 28 August 2009 [http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/4568630.Cheam_man_s_mind_bending_puzzles_at_mental_olympiad/]. Retrieved 30 April 2011</ref>
* 2010 Soho Theatre, London<ref name="tjc">Scrabble, Monopoly and more at xhul games fest, [[The Jewish Chronicle]], Robyn Rosen, 26 August 2010, [http://thejc.com/news/uk-news/37303/scrabble-monopoly-and-more-shul-games-fest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829140325/http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/37303/scrabble-monopoly-and-more-shul-games-fest |date=29 August 2010 }}. Retrieved 30 April 2011</ref>
* 2011 University of London Union, London.<ref name="venue11">Venue announcement for MSO XV, http://www.boardability.com/venue.php, 15 February 2011</ref>
* 2012 University of London Union, London.<ref name="venue12">Venue announcement for MSO XVI, http://www.boardability.com/, 15 February 2012</ref>
* 2013 University of London Union, London
* 2014 [[JW3]], London

== Games at the MSO ==
The MSO consists mainly of single event competitions most of which are for the nominal title of Olympiad champion, though some trademarked games are authorised by the game designer and publishers as the [[World championship|official world championships]]. All games, whether an Olympiad or the official World championship, can count towards the Pentamind. Medals, and more recently trophies, are awarded for gold, silver and bronze positions in each competition as well as ranks, with similar awards for the top juniors in each event. In early Olympiads sponsorship allowed for generous financial prizes to go with many of the events. In recent years such prizes have been limited to a small number of events, usually as a result of specific outside sponsorship for that discipline.

Notable games include (most other refs mention some of these):<ref>List of games, http://www.boardability.com/games_az.html, retrieved 2 August 2009</ref>
The well-known: Chess, Bridge, Draughts, [[Shogi]], [[Backgammon]], [[Chinese Chess| Chinese Chess (Xiang-Qi)]], [[Reversi|Othello]], [[Poker]], [[Cribbage]], [[Mastermind (board game)|Mastermind]]

And many newer games like:
[[Abalone (board game)|Abalone]], [[Bōku|Boku]], [[Continuo (game)|Continuo]], [[Entropy (1977 board game)|Entropy]], [[Kamisado]],<ref>Op-Ed: Mind Sports Olympiad 2011 - with chess diving, Digital Journal, 23 August 2011, Alexander Baron, 
http://digitaljournal.com/article/310713, retrieved 6 September 2011</ref> [[Lines of Action|Lines of Action (LOA)]], [[Pacru]],<ref name="pacru">Mike's test for the old grey matter, [[Manchester Evening News]], Patricia Roberts, 8 December 2005 [http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/190/190584_mikes_test_for_the_old_grey_matter.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112180857/http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/190/190584_mikes_test_for_the_old_grey_matter.html |date=12 November 2012 }}</ref> [[TwixT|Twixt]]

At MSO tournaments, the '''Decamentathlon''' is a composite event in which players compete in ten separate [[mind sport]]s. The following mental skills have always been part of the Decamentathlon: [[memory skills]], [[mental calculation]], [[IQ]], [[chess]], [[Go (board game)|Go]], [[Reversi|othello]], 8 by 8 [[draughts]], and [[creative thinking]]. MSO also organizes Mental Calculation World Championship separately. The remaining two mental skills have changed over the years and come from this list: [[contract bridge]], [[Backgammon]], [[Mastermind (board game)|Mastermind]], and most recently [[Sudoku]].

The MSO introduced the [[Abstract strategy game|Abstract Games]] world championship in 2008.<ref name="abstract_games">Article on abstract games world championships, http://www.boardability.com/game.php?abstract_games{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 15 February 2011</ref>

== Pentamind ==
This was one of the Mind Sports Olympiad's original events.<ref name="times_mso1"/> It was an attempt along with the [[decamentathlon]] to produce an event for all-rounders to parallel the Olympic Games with its events the decamentathlon and pentathlon. Unlike the decamentathlon's fixed format (see separate article) the pentamind has very little fixed format. It disallows using games that are considered too similar and normally requires a long event, but otherwise any five
events from the schedule could be used.

The Pentamind champion is the player with the highest numerical score in "pentamind points" from 5 valid events. 
This is calculated using the formula 100 x (n - p) / (n - 1), where n is the number of players and p is the player's position in an event.<ref name="ward" /> The position is the position before tie-breaks and any split positions are shared amongst all of the tied players. When there are fewer than 10 players in a tournament, the score is multiplied by a secondary factor [p / (p + 1)].

=== Pentamind World Champions ===
This event has been won five times by [[Demis Hassabis]].<ref>MSO pentamind results, http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=pentamind {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708075057/http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=pentamind |date=8 July 2011 }} Retrieved 6 September 2010</ref><ref>Pentamind World Champions, https://mindsportsolympiad.com/pentamind-world-championship/ Retrieved 25 March 2025</ref>

* 1997: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-wls.png|Welsh]] Kenneth J. Wilshire (Wales)<ref>Cerebral athletes play mind games, [[The Guardian]], David Ward, 22 August 2005, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/22/davidward]. Retrieved 30 April 2011</ref>
* 1998: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Demis Hassabis (England)
* 1999: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Demis Hassabis (England)
* 2000: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Demis Hassabis (England)
* 2001: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Demis Hassabis (England)
* 2002: [[File:Icons-flag-it.png|Italian]] [[Dario De Toffoli]] (Italy)<ref name=":2002">{{Cite web|url=https://mindsportsolympiad.com/pentamind-world-championship/|title=Pentamind World Championship|website=Mind Sports Olympiad}}</ref>
* 2003: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Demis Hassabis (England)
* 2004: [[File:Icons-flag-za.png|South African]] Alain Dekker (South Africa)
* 2005: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Tim Hebbes (England)
* 2006: [[File:Icons-flag-cz.png|Czech]] Jan Stastna (Czech Republic)
* 2007: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] David M. Pearce (England)
* 2008: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] David M. Pearce (England)
* 2009: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Martyn Hamer (England)<ref>Martyn Minds if he holds onto his crown..., Accrington Observer, Stuart Pike, 20 August 2010, [http://menmedia.co.uk/accringtonobserver/news/s/1314478_martyn_minds_if_he_holds_onto_his_crown] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826015507/http://menmedia.co.uk/accringtonobserver/news/s/1314478_martyn_minds_if_he_holds_onto_his_crown |date=26 August 2010 }}, retrieved 30 April 2010</ref>
* 2010: [[File:Icons-flag-es.png|Spanish]] [[Paco Garcia De La Banda]] (Spain)<ref>Un proyecto de emprendeduría infantil de La Palma recibe respaldo internacional, Que Newspaper, 13 September 2010 [http://www.que.es/santa-cruz-de-tenerife/201009130939-proyecto-emprendeduria-infantil-palma-recibe-epi.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311101512/http://www.que.es/santa-cruz-de-tenerife/201009130939-proyecto-emprendeduria-infantil-palma-recibe-epi.html |date=11 March 2012 }} Retrieved 30 April 2011</ref>
* 2011: [[File:Icons-flag-ee.png|Estonian]] Andres Kuusk (Estonia)<ref>Estonian Mind Athlete Wins World Championship, ERR News ,30 August 2011, Ingrid Teesalu
http://news.err.ee/sports/cced719d-60db-4aa9-a795-a8cc02fe202f
Retrieved 6 September 2011</ref>
* 2012: [[File:Icons-flag-it.png|Italian]] [[Dario De Toffoli]] (Italy)<ref name=":2002"/>
* 2013: [[File:Icons-flag-ee.png|Estonian]] Andres Kuusk (Estonia) and [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Ankush Khandelwahl (England)
* 2014: [[File:Icons-flag-ee.png|Estonian]] Andres Kuusk (Estonia)
* 2015: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] [[James Heppell]] (England)
* 2016: [[File:Icons-flag-ee.png|Estonian]] Andres Kuusk (Estonia)
* 2017: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] James Heppell (England)
* 2018: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Ankush Khandelwal (England)
* 2019: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Ankush Khandelwal (England)
* 2020: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Ankush Khandelwal (England)
* 2021: [[File:Icons-flag-pl.png|Polish]] Maciej Brzeski (Poland)
* 2022: [[File:Icons-flag-ee.png|Estonian]] Andres Kuusk (Estonia)
* 2023: [[File:Icons-flag-gb-eng.png|English]] Ankush Khandelwal (England)
* 2024: [[File:Icons-flag-ee.png|Estonian]] Andres Kuusk (Estonia)

==Structure of the Organisation==
When the MSO was initially formed in 1997, the board running it included [[David Levy (chess player)|David Levy]], [[Tony Buzan]], and [[Raymond Keene]], David Levy being the original founder of the MSO concept. The current (2012) board consists of David Levy, Tony Corfe and [[Etan Ilfeld]]. The Mind Sports Olympiad is run by MSO Limited, which is registered in the UK with company number 04712990, and was incorporated in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/2f881e1264ce3e0f00e3c4b110e247b5/compdetails|title=Failure Page}}</ref>

==Satellite Mind Sports Olympiads==
Several satellite events were held around the world bearing the Mind Sports Olympiad name. These have occurred in [[Cambridge]], England;<ref>''Uganda: Kampala Wins Gold'', [[AllAfrica.com]], Norman Katende, 10 May 2002
[http://allafrica.com/stories/200205100267.html]. Retrieved 16 July 2012</ref> [[Singapore]];<ref>MSO (Singapore) 2000 opening speech archived by [[Ministry of Education (Singapore)]], [http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2000/sp06092000.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151026001944/http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2000/sp06092000.htm |date=26 October 2015 }} Retrieved 16 July 2012</ref> [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]];<ref>''MSO Korean Contest Will be Held on 22 July'', [[Korea JoongAng Daily]], 14 July 1999 {{cite web |url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=1872372 |title=MSO Korean Contest Will be Held on July 22-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily |access-date=2014-06-27 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130127010455/http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=1872372 |archive-date=27 January 2013 }} Retrieved 16 July 2012</ref> [[Milan]], [[Italy]];<ref>[[Shogi]] results for MSO Italy 2000 [http://www.shogi.net/ital-champ/AIS-champ2-2000.html from shogi.net]. Retrieved 16 July 2012</ref> [[Oulu]], [[Finland]];<ref>Mind Sports Festival announcement [http://www.chessbanter.com/rec-games-chess-misc-chess/6807-mind-sports-festival-oulu-2003-a.html from chessbanter.com]. Retrieved 16 July 2012</ref> and [[Prague]], [[The Czech Republic]].<ref>''Looking Forward to the Mind Sports Olympiad'', [[Radio Praha]], 17 September 2006, Jan Velinger, {{cite web |url=http://new.radio.cz/en/article/83223 |title=Radio Prague - Looking forward to the Mind Sports Olympiad |access-date=2016-02-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716105221/http://new.radio.cz/en/article/83223 |archive-date=16 July 2012 }} Retrieved 2 August 2009</ref>

==Other Mind Sports Events==
Several other mind sports events and festivals have been held that have their roots in the original organisation.

===World Mind Sports Games===
{{Main | World Mind Sports Games}}

The World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) was created by the [[International Mind Sports Association]] (IMSA) as a "stepping stone on the path of introducing a third kind of [[Olympic Games]] (after the Summer and the Winter Olympics)".<ref>[http://www.worldbridge.org/competitions/worldchampionships/worldbridgegames.asp World Bridge Games] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220221628/http://www.worldbridge.org/competitions/worldchampionships/worldbridgegames.asp |date=20 December 2013 }}. World Bridge Federation. Retrieved 2011-05-27.</ref> with the aim to be held alongside the Summer Olympic Games every 4 years.  The [[2008 World Mind Sports Games|first WMSG]] was held in Beijing 2008 to coincide with Olympic host city; [[2012 World Mind Sports Games|the 2012 WMSG]] was held in Lille, France.

===Sport Accord World Mind Games===
{{Main |SportAccord World Mind Games}}

==See also==
* [[World Mind Sports Games]]
* [[List of all-rounders in games of skill]]
* [[List of world championships in mind sports]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.msoworld.com/ MSO official website] (new)
*[http://www.boardability.com/ MSO official website] (old)
*[http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/forum/topic2.jsp?forum=1&topic=2049 Forum thread which provides a link to 2009 info]
*''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110609071018/http://www.usgo.org/IMSA/WMSG2008.pdf World Mind Sports Games]'' — early document by the International Mind Sports Association (no date?)

{{Go (game)}}
[[Category:Mind sports competitions]]
[[Category:1997 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1997]]
[[Category:Clubs and societies in London]]
[[it:Mind Sports Organisation#Mind Sports Olympiad]]