The Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) is an annual international multi-disciplined competition and festival for games of mental skill and mind sports by Mind Sports Organisation. The inaugural event was held in 1997 in London with £100,000 prize fundMind Sports Olympiad Supplement, The Times, 11 August 1997, online version available from studiogiochi MSO archives and was described as possibly the biggest games festival ever held.
The MSO was the first event of its kindMind Sports Olympiad, The Manila Standard, 17 August 1997, retrieved 16 July 2012 celebrating mental skills and awarding gold, silver and bronze medals for each eventThe Mind Sports Olympiad Supplement, The Times, July - August 1997 and was highly influential on the mind sports movement and competitions that have followed since. The main MSO tournament has been held every year in England.Underwater chess is one of the mind games at the Mind Sports Olympiad, The Toronto Star, Josh Tapper, 12 June 2012 retrieved 12 July 2012
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time, the entire MSO tournament was held online.
History 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".William Hartston, The South Bank Brain Show, The Independent 21 June 1997. Retrieved 2 August 2009
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.
The Mind Sports Olympiad returned to London with sponsorship in both 1998Sheehan on Bridge, The Times, Robert Sheehan, 20 October 1998 and 1999.Games: Bridge, The Independent, Alan Hiron, 5 December 1999, Retrieved 2 August 2009 Despite a falling out between the organisersBritain's Mind Games end in debt and tears, The Independent, Robert Mendick, 13 March 2001, . Retrieved 10. September 2016 a successful event was held in Alexandra Palace the next year in 2000.Fierce rivalry in 'Olympics' for brainboxes, CNN, Paul Sussman, 24 August 2000 retrieved 16 July 2012
During this time several satellite events were held around the world bearing the Mind Sports Olympiad name. These have occurred in Cambridge, England;Uganda: Kampala Wins Gold, AllAfrica.com, Norman Katende, 10 May 2002 retrieved 16 July 2012 Singapore;MSO (Singapore) 2000 opening speech archived by Ministry of Education (Singapore), retrieved 16 July 2012 Seoul, South Korea; retrieved 16 July 2012 Milan, Italy;Shogi results for MSO Italy 2000 from shogi.net retrieved 16 July 2012 Oulu, Finland;Mind Sports Festival announcement from chessbanter.com retrieved 16 July 2012 and Prague, The Czech Republic.Looking Forward To The Mind Sports Olympiad, Radio Praha, 17 September 2006, Jan Velinger, retrieved 2 August 2009
The Mind Sports Olympiad main event continued to happen with smaller sponsorship and the tournaments were held at a number of different universities. The event was still going strong for the years 2001–2006.Cerebral Athletes Play Mind Games, The Guardian, David Ward, 22 August 2005, retrieved 2 August 2009 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.This time it's Personal, The Guardian, Stephen Moss, 27 August 2007, retrieved 12 July 2012 In 2008 the MSO saw a revival, returning to a central London venue, the Royal Horticultural Halls, Westminster and again on 21–31 August 2009Cheam Man's Mind Bending Puzzles at Mental Olympiad, Sutton Guardian, Kevin Barnesm, 28 August 2009, retrieved 30 April 2011
The 2010 event was held at the Soho Theatre in London. In 2011, the Mind Sports Olympiad moved to a bigger venue, the University of London Union.Mind Sports Olympiad moves to bigger venue, DigitalJournal.com, Alexander Baron, 3 May 2011, retrieved 15 July 2012 The 16th MSO took place once again at the University of London Union in 18–27 August 2012, and similarly the 17th MSO was also at ULU.
The main MSO event remains internationally competitive,MSO XV Pentamind article from MSO website retrieved 12 July 2012 because it is regarded as the foremost competition for all-rounders. This is especially the case of the "coveted Pentamind World Championship", won in 2010 by Paco Garcia De La Banda from Spain,Paco Garcia De La Banda wins the Mind Sports Olympiad XIV (translated from Spanish), elapuron.com, 11 September 2012, retrieved 16 July 2012 while the 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2016 Pentamind World Champion Andres Kuusk is from Estonia.Estonian Mind Athlete Wins World Championship, ERR News, Ingrid Teesalu, 30 August 2011, retrieved 6 September 2011
Structure of the organisation
When the MSO was initially formed in 1997, the main organisers included David Levy, Tony Buzan, and Raymond Keene with David Levy being the original founder of the MSO concept.Don's diary: games and gold medals in Mind, Times Higher Education, 17 October 2003, David Levy retrieved 14 July 2012
As of 2012 the board running the MSO along with David LevyScrabble, Monopoly and more at shul games fest, The Jewish Chronicle, Robyn Rosen, 26 August 2010, retrieved 14 July 2012 are Tony CorfeMind games tournament under way, BBC Manchester, 19 August 2005, and Etan Ilfeld.
Logo, medals, and awards
The Olympiad's logo depicted Ajax playing Achilles, used for their medals and awardsBrain Spotting, The Sunday Times, Richard Johnson, online copy from author's website retrieved 14 July 2012MSO article on ranks and medals including image of medals with logo retrieved 12 July 2012 is based upon the famous depiction found on over 150 items of ancient pottery from around 500 BC .Exekias, American Journal of Archaeology, John Boardman, 1980, Probably based either on an item from The British MuseumEtruscan Amphora from The British Museum Collections, or Vatican Museum collections.Image of amphora from Vatican Museum from Encyclopædia Britannica
Alongside bestowing titles of Olympiad and World Champions, the MSO organisers originally envisaged having their own ratings and ranks system, however, not all of these ideas came to pass. The MSO continues to give its own ranks of up to International Grandmaster.
Editions and venues
The Mind Sports Olympiad main event was at large venues for the first four years before being reduced in size due to funding difficulties. It has been held annually since 1997 at the following locations in England:
No Year Venues City Refs 1 1997 Royal Festival Hall London 2 1998 Novotel Hotel Hammersmith Independent Pursuits: Chess, The Independent, 3 September 1998, Jon Speelman, retrieved 31 July 2009 3 1999 Kensington Olympia London Robert Nurden. Mental athletes tune up for Mind Games, 22 August 1999. Retrieved 2 August 2009 4 2000 Alexandra Palace London 5 2001 South Bank University London 6 2002 Loughborough University Loughborough 7 2003 UMIST Manchester 8 2004 UMIST Manchester Meanwhile: Tired already? Try the Mind Olympics, The New York Times, Michael Johnson, 13 August 2004, retrieved 18 July 2012 9 2005 Manchester University Manchester Mind games tournament under way, BBC Manchester, 19 August 2005 Retrieved 30 April 2011Manchester Hosts 9th Mind Sports Olympiad, Manchester City Council News, 2 August 2005, retrieved 18 July 2012 10 2006 Westminster University London Archived poster from British Go Association MSO event 2006 retrieved 15 July 2012 11 2007 United Reformed Church Potters Bar 12 2008 Royal Horticultural Halls London MSO Backgammon results from uk backgammon site retrieved 15 July 2012 13 2009 Royal Horticultural Halls London 14 2010 Soho Theatre London 15 2011 University of London Union London Mind Sports Olympiad, Time Out London Magazine, August 2011, retrieved 15 July 2012 16 2012 University of London Union London 17 2013 University of London Union London 18 2014 JW3 London 19 2015 JW3 London 20 2016 JW3 London 21 2017 JW3 London 22 2018 JW3 London 23 2019 JW3 London 24 2020 Held online 25 2021 Held online 26 2022 JW3 London 27 2023 JW3 London 28 2024 JW3 London 29 2025 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 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 references mention some of these):List of games, http://www.boardability.com/games_az.html. Retrieved 2 August 2009 the well-known: chess, bridge, draughts, shogi, backgammon, Chinese chess (xiangqi), Othello, poker, cribbage, Mastermind; and many newer games like: Abalone, Bōku, Continuo, Entropy, Kamisado,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. 2026-05-21 not retrievable. Lines of Action (LOA), Octi,2019 Mind Sports Olympiad Schedule, https://mindsportsolympiad.com/2019-mind-sports-olympiad-schedule/ Pacru,Mike's test for the old grey matter, Manchester Evening News, Patricia Roberts, 8 December 2005 TwixT