MSO 2024 LIVE

Meanwhile “ME against ME”
Here we are ready for the 28th Mind Sports Olympiad, scheduled to take place in London from 18 to 26 August, I will be flying on the 16th.
After some uncertainty due mainly to the less than ideal location, I have decided to participate again this year and it will be the 25th time out of 28 editions!
At my age, how many more times will I have the chance to participate? A few… and those few I will not let slip away! As long as I can manage with dignity, I will participate!
With me will be the usual Riccardo Gueci, together we always have fun winning a few medals and competing for the Pentamind Senior… it’s our playground!
Speaking of Senior, the years pass and more and more players pass 60. This year we will also have Daniele Ferri against us, who has promised a good battle: it will be fun! I went to visit him in Ferrara and we had a full immersion day dusting off a lot of boards: he will be a dangerous opponent, I can tell you, but at the same time he will contribute to enriching the team’s booty.
Among the other Italians should be Francesco Salerno and Maurizio De Leo, both specialists in abstract games, and Dario Zaccariotto, who had a good time last year, will also be back, but only for a few days. Then we will see who else will be at the starting line-up.
Apart from the day in Ferrara, the only other training I did was a few solo games, playing ME against ME in Kings Cribbage (a cross between Cribbage and Scrabble): there will be the World Championship and I’m going for it, I’m aiming straight for victory (haha) even though I’m the only Italian playing it. A few Poker and Backgammon tournaments. I’ll try to defend the Acquire title, even if it will probably cost me participation in Hold’Em and Mensa Connection tournaments. Then Lost cities, Hare & Tortoise, Cribbage, Six (6 nimmt), Rummikub, Domino 5s&3s, maybe Azul, maybe Ticket to Ride, maybe VEGEtables. Too bad they removed Triolet, where last year with Zaccariotto we paired up.
And if the tiredness is too much… I’ll give something up.
In the pictures the complete schedule and my personal one.

Giorno 1
We start with the Twixt World Championship at 10am. Round-robin, with only 4 players, perhaps the others scared off by 9-time champion Florian Jamain. Playing live is less easy than online, Florian makes a mistake and I go into a winning position; however, he cleverly creates complications and I finish the 15 minutes without an increment, losing in a winning position. I win all the others except the rematch with Florian and get the silver medal.
We continue with Hive at 2pm: 11 fierce players; the Italian Francesco Salerno wins. I lose to him (too strong for me) and to a Spanish junior, in an even position. I win the other 3 games and take home bronze, behind the two aforementioned.
Finally, 4 rounds of Shogi (Japanese chess) at 7pm; the experts are there and I have no ambitions. I unexpectedly win two games with unconventional attacks, but lose to both the eventual Bronze and Silver medallists (Natasha Regan). A satisfying 2-2 and time for bed. We start again tomorrow with LOA and Patchwork.

AAAAACQUIRE
Well, this year too has begun and the Italian Dream Team does not disappoint.
Guys, by now I almost believe it too, Acquire is my game of choice: I won the gold for the third consecutive year, bringing my medals in the specialty (6/4/2) to 12… but they say it’s a game of luck, ahahahah.
Yesterday, however, a mediocre 3/6 in backgammon for me, while the medals came from our abstractionists.
Frasco (Francesco Salerno) did his duty and earned gold at Hive, where he is considered the strongest player in the world. In Twixt, on the other hand, silver for De Leo, who yielded only to the French champion Florian Jamain. Bronze (I won’t tell you why the nickname) again for Salerno. Not content with that, Frasco in the evening also got an unexpected and very prestigious bronze (this one a real bronze, I would say a bronzone) in Dominion. Both then finished 4/6 in the hard-fought Lines of Action tournament… and it could have gone better.
And then the evening poker games, marked, as usual, by managerial incapacity… but we know and we’ve got over it. Exploit of Daniele Ferri, who at his poker debut got a fantastic silver in the 5-card draw (I was eighth, I went all in with three 9s in my hand and I found Alan Dekkar with 3 Aces…); in Hold’em I was out early, twice KKs busted by A-3s (flush) and 10-10. Gueci resists and near the final table a sensational hand happens to him; he ends up all in pre-flop with QQ vs A-10s; flop 699, that’s good, turn 9, still good, as long as an Ace doesn’t come down; and the Ace doesn’t come down, but – you will have understood by now – the fourth 9 comes down: poker on the table and pot to the adversary with the ace high ouch ouch ouch, who knows if he will have digested it!
And tomorrow we start again: will I play Azul or backgammon again? At the moment I really don’t know, I’ll decide at the last moment… and that’s the beauty of MSO.
Dulcis in fundo, sensational news. By now it is official and it can be said, the MSO in 2025 will be held in Spain, in Palma de Mallorca from 13 to 20 April; stay tuned!

Day 2
Noisy night with little sleep, it’s back to LOA at 10am. A fantastic delegation of 30 Korean children and teenagers invades the venue. Unmistakable in the blue tracksuits and the very considerate escorts in yellow tracksuits. But there are also pentamind champions like James Heppel and Ankush, and the strong Marc Tastet and Florian Jamain.
In the first game my young Korean opponent suffers a nosebleed. I win, but the scene looks like something out of a Tarantino film. I win with a second stronger Korean and then (by a whisker) with an even stronger third Korean. In the fourth round I lose to James Heppel (eventual undefeated champion). In the fifth round I win against the strong David Pearce in a very close game. I play it in the second round against Tim Hebbes for silver, but I lose and with 4/6 I am out of the medals.
Patchwork; in theory this is my event, I’ve won gold in the past and have a very good elo on BGA, but playing live I get distracted with pieces and bookkeeping. The LOA hours have exhausted me… I see double and lose to an otherwise manageable opponent in the first round. Despite a lot of atypical mistakes I win the next two. Experience isn’t enough in the fifth, the piece draw is unfavourable and I’m too tired to do magic. I win the last round, there is one player at 6/6 and three at 4/6 including me. By technical tie-breaker I am fourth and return to the hotel at 10:15pm after more than 12 hours of play and a lot of disappointment 🙁
Forgive my blabbering, but I am sure that if I had only played Patchwork I would have won at least silver.
Tomorrow we start again, but maybe I don’t have the physique for 8 days of 12-hour games anymore.

Day 3
Today is Draughts day, the international draughts. I usually play Italian, but I should be fine. In the first round I win with a cute Korean kid who must be my son’s age. In the second round a very tough Korean kid but I prevail with a good move. In the third round Tony Boyle, a strong Englishman at English checkers (surprise): I take a piece from him but he blocks me. Fortunately he takes a self-shot and I win. In the fourth round drama. I play with Estonian multiple Pentamind champion Andres Kuusk, who also plays Russian checkers. Halfway through the game I offer a draw but he refuses. Towards the end I have 40 seconds and Andres 25. I see a trick called ‘Spezialetto’ with majority rules that are not there at Russian draughts: Andres falls for it and we go into an end game won with two dames and pawn against four pawns. He starts to play superblitz by throwing the pieces on the checkers, often off the squares while I waste time adjusting them. The lack of increment is again fatal to me and I lose by time, when Andres is down to 2 seconds and a couple of moves away from victory. After the turn I make a complaint, but the referee tells me that I should have stopped the clock and had the pieces adjusted in the opponent’s time, instead of protesting afterwards. I win two more games fairly easily and lose to undefeated specialist Michael Janicki. In the end 5/7, a bronze and many regrets.
In the evening Boku, 5 in a hexagonal row with similar capture to Pente. Can’t play online here
Evening Boku, 5 in hexagonal row with capture similar to Pente. Can’t play online, so no training. The game is already headache-inducing, let alone 10 rounds back and forth, 20 games from 5 to 10pm. The usual batch of Koreans, but in Boku they beat… a cute little girl with age in the single digits destroys me 2-0, and a boy of 16 beats Andres. In the 40-minute dinner break I eat Santo Rocco (cit) and the digestive hangover doesn’t help. I finish without infamy or praise, in the top third. A few good evens (with Tim Hebbes and Madli Mirme ) but many evens with weaker players as well. Once again the absence of increment reaps victims, Andres loses by time to Tim and Madli even loses a second to zero in the last round.

BACKGAMMON TIME
Tuesday 20. I give up the Azul tournament and opt for backgammon. In the morning little tournament with 6 rounds at 1 point and I finish with a decent but useless 4/6. Afternoon Nackgammon, a little more technical and here we end up in 3 at 5/6. There’s the matter of the technical tie-breaker to settle the medals; when there are still 2 results left I’m in the lead with median buchholz 17 against Curcan’s 15,5 and Hamer’s 15; one game ends and the one who had played against me loses, Curcan rises to 16,5 and Hamer to 16; last game and again the one who had played against me loses, so I remain at 17, Curcan remains at 16,5 but Hamer rises also to 17. Same median buchholz, it’s time to see the complete buchholz and Hamer wins by a hair’s breadth… he gets the gold (well deserved anyway!) and I get the silver. Let’s be satisfied!
A great team of Korean kids, several of whom also played backgammon.
In the evening 7-card game, I had to be content with 5th place… poker is not working this year!
Meanwhile, Maurizio De leo earned an excellent bronze in International Draughts.
Gueci was a bit underwhelming, and in the 7-card game he was out due to an oversight: with the 5 on the table, he thought he had two more 5‘s in his hand, but when he turned them over they were two 4’s… ouch ouch.
Wednesday 21. More backgammon. Tournament at 11, I lose only one game and I earn bronze, I would say acceptable: for once the buchholz has been a friend of mine, I must mark it in my calendar!
Awkward instead the poker, because this time I make the oversight; we play Pineapple and at the first hand 6-9-10 with no flush come down; I have 7-8 in my hand and with my nut flush I push; a beginner player follows me. An 8 comes down, ok, my straight is no longer a nut, but I judge it to be a winning hand anyway; the problem is that what came down was not an 8, but a 9 and when I realise this it’s already too late, the opponent had 9-10 and closed full house. Player out. My eyesight improves with age, eh. Whatever, what can I do about it. I stop anyway and make the dealer for the rest of the tournament… I think they appreciated.
In the meantime, Gueci explodes, and with a brilliant performance at chess he puts everyone in line and wins the gold, which he keeps around his neck for the whole evening. Overjoyed, he also takes bronze at Pineapple.
Too bad for Salerno who finished second to Abalone, with a fantastic 5/6… but he had to settle for the wooden medal.

A bit early to consider Pentamind, it is only worth noting the persistent inconsistency in the rules whereby it is possible to qualify with only ‘german’ without any classic game. And there are those who, quite rightly, take advantage of this. I will explain, but what can you do, the organisers preferred to leave things as they are.

Day 4
First morning with ‘Amazons’, an underrated game. Participation is small due to the concurrent chess, but still for about 30 people the 5 rounds are quite few. I win the first ones quite easily, then clash with Natasha Regan. I have a certain advantage in the opening, but I relax too much and find myself a few points behind. When the game is over, the clock with no increment seems to punish my opponent, but mindful of the previous days I make a gesture of fair play and quit when she has one second and three moves left to make. I win the last one and with 4/5 we are in a three-way tie. Silver to Natasha, bronze to Marc Tastet and wood for me. Florian Jamain wins the gold undefeated.
We continue with Abalone. Six rounds, 4 wins out of 6, I lose to Marc and to Francesco Salerno. The latter closes at 5/6 but only wooden medal in the play-offs.
Finally the evening Quoridor. The parterre is killer: there are two/three strong specialists, Florian, Francesco, Andres Kuusk and the Koreans are also very strong in this game. To give an idea of the level, after four rounds Andres had only two points and David Pierce (gold a few years ago) had only won by Bye. I close at two out of six, getting stomped out by both the little Korean girl in yesterday’s post and her mother. 🙂
Excellent once again Frasco, who closes at 4/6, playing for the eventual bronze in the last round.

Day 5
We start with Othello. The Koreans play tri-hexa, so only 10 players but very fierce. I lose to former world champion Marc Tastet, then two derbies with Italians. Riccardo Gueci loses due to an oversight in the middle game. With Frasco (Francesco Salerno) I start well, then I don’t see an entrance and lose a corner. It seems that there is nothing to be done, but I recover points in the final… In the end I lose 31-33 !
The lack of increment makes another victim, a strong player loses to Frasco by time as he was turning the last pawn in a won game. In the end gold to Marc, silver to the strong Spanish junior Hector, and Frasco takes bronze at 3/5 due to the miracles of the scoreboard.
It continues with Oware, where I usually do well, but this is not my year. I win the first one with a Korean guy. Then I win 26-22 in a very tight match against a Mexican specialist who came especially for this tournament and who will eventually win silver. I also win the third against the always strong Florian Jamain . In the fourth round I lose to Paul Smith, who will win gold undefeated. In the fifth I get ‘under’, a Korean lady who plays well, but not at the level of her previous opponents. I take it to 21-10 with a 10 barn and I think it’s done. Instead I make a first mistake… No matter, I’m still ahead. Second mistake, the game becomes hard fought… Third mistake in a few moves, I lose an incredible game, which I never thought I would lose. I finish at 3/5 and the Korean lady takes an unexpected bronze.
We close with Kamisado, a delirium of colours, Italian round with only 6 players. Frasco clarifies the rules for me before the start and we try: I win one, I don’t finish last, and that’s enough for me.

Day 6
One more night with little sleep, I will definitely stay elsewhere in the future.
In the morning however I am fresh for Breakthrough, a nice game but one I don’t play (I last played 4 years ago).
I lose by one move to David Pearce (bronze in the end), a game I could have won. No match instead with Tim Hebbes (gold at the end) and Andres Kuusk who beat me quite easily. I finish at 2/5.
In the afternoon I signed up for Gomoku, a technical game of which I don’t know the opening protocol: with the doldrums I’m afraid of making a bad impression, also because the many defections leave only good players. I consider switching to the chess variants tournament, but in the end I am convinced because only 4 players remain. Italian round with return.
First game with the Estonian specialist Madli Mirme; I only defend and am ecstatic when she proposes a draw: half a point more than expected. On the return she destroys me: her uncontrolled giggling when she sees my simple threats on the board is very funny.
In the second round Florian Jamain . Once again I defend continuously and even manage to score two draws. In the third and final round the other Estonian specialist Kevin Kallikorm. Incredibly he gets distracted twice and I manage to win both games.
I take home a *really* unexpected silver. Never say never.

IT’S RAINING MEDALS
It was a truly triumphant two days, for me and for the team… and it’s not that there was a lack of opponents, all the strongest were there to compete. Let’s start with the list, then the details:
Lost Cities: GOLD De Toffoli
Mastermind: GOLD Zaccariotto
Hare & Tortoise: BRONZE Gueci
Rummikub: GOLD De Toffoli, BRONZO Zaccariotto
Othello: BRONZE Salerno
Vegetables: GOLD Ferri, BRONZE Gueci
Kamisado: BRONZE Salerno
Go-moku: SILVER De Leo

Lost Cities. Always nice this tournament, with over 40 players and the presence of all the top players. And for once the Buchholz was in my favour. I finished first at 9/12 tied with 3 other players and won the gold by technical tie-breaker. Let me explain how it works. In the event of a tie, the sum of the points scored by the opponents encountered is counted, and since I had started by winning all the first games, I happened to meet the strongest players (the game was played with the Swiss system). It is called Buchholz after the German who proposed it. And when it is favourable to you, the others say ‘what a nice buchholz you have…’ (you have to count the boorish joke 🤷‍♂️).
Mastermind. Old Zack sets out with one goal, gold. And he wins it big, despite a respectable field. He is the strongest, he produces splits and selfies and wins deservedly. And he is moved.
Gueci and I do not participate in the Mastermind and opt for Carotine (H&T), author David Parlett present. There should be 4 rounds, but due to organisational inadequacy, we will have to stop at 3, only the top 4 will play the 4th game as the final table. Gueci ends up 3rd and I finish 4th in a tie with Madli Mirne, but she passes because of fewer carrots at the finish. Uhmmmm… In the final Gueci confirms third place and earns bronze; Andres Kuusk deservedly wins with 4 wins out of 4.
Evening with Rummikub, I win 5 out of 6 games and I am first with 3 others, including Zaccariotto. Again I prevail by technical tie-breaker (what a Buchholz!) and win gold with bronze to Zack. I feel a bit of recrimination for the ridiculous game I lost to Kuusk, who is not a real expert in the game. I am in total control with 7 minutes left on the clock, while Kuusk has 42 seconds and seems in obvious difficulty. He’s forced to drop a low trio and basically realises that he actually closes the game without me having helped him with any tiles. Whatever, given how it ended I can’t really complain. It’s Rummikub’s seventh win, exactly as many as Ferri has.
Ferri however easily wins his Vegetable and of Salerno and De Leo’s medals they tell you in their chronicles, which we will host on this site anyway.
As far as the ranking by nations is concerned, Italy is firmly in second place… but the British are there in droves and are also earning medals in the word and quiz games, which are barred to everyone else.
Now it’s time to talk about Pentamind, the overall combined ranking.
I am in the top 10 with 433 points and can still improve (the others too, though); in the lead is a well-known name, the Estonian Andres Kuusk with 487 over the Portuguese Nives at 471 and the Hong Kong Chinese Cheng. But there is still a long way to go.
In the Senior classification I am in the lead and chasing me are the Frenchman Tastet (378), Gueci (376) and Ferri (365). Tight fight then, for the podium.
You can find everything on the official website: mindsportsolympiad.com/

RETURN TO JW3
They say that film sequels never have the strength of the first ones, that reheated soups don’t have the same flavour… and so after these premises we ask ourselves if the second time could have been better than the first or was it a losing battle?
Hot on the heels of this, I would say yes: despite the excitement of the first entry in 2023 ( with even an improved report to the staff: ‘Ehmmm… with respect to whoever is watching the second step of the podium is to the left of the first, not to his right”), the challenges with the historical names of board games and the unexpected haul of medals, in 2024 the balance hangs down thanks to the fact that it was a family outing and not an individual one, plus London, plus competitions and the gold in Mastermind, exactly 40 years after the Italian title of Active Mastermind, in a tournament with excellent participation and good level of play. Medal balance compared to 2023, probably positive… but I’m not entirely sure: one gold converted into two silvers and one bronze compared to last year. A gold (especially in my case if taken right at Mastermind) is a gold, but what is it worth compared to other metals? I digress on the ‘athletic Olympics’: is it fair that in the summer Olympic medal table Dominica (1 gold, nothing else) is ahead of Malaysia (8 silvers and 7 bronzes)? Or should a gold ‘weigh’ 10, a silver 3 and a bronze 1? Closed parenthesis.
In the other pre-Mastermind tournaments:

• usual poor performance at Backgammon;
• final table at Poker Pineapple but still playing the role of chip-bigaz (the shortest player at the table, Editor’s note), so came out sixth with a badly played hand anyway;
• started off with a bang in Lost Cities though, like the race hare, overtaken and gone into oblivion.

After the euphoria of Mastermind it was Rummikub’s turn: I know the game but very little practice in head-to-head matches. I lost the first one to Ankush (the result was OK, but the way was not, so much so that I wondered if it would be better to leave for the locker room early)… luckily I stayed and won all the others (including the challenge with Daniele, unbelievable!): I found myself in the group of the first ones and the Buchholtz penalised me compared to two out of three, so I still won a bronze. Unexpected.
I come back on Friday for the Domino 5&3 only: I start badly, I recover… I discover that they cut a turn from the schedule as soon as it ends and I’m third on a par with others (but with a worse Buchholtz), so I get a balsa rather than a wooden medal.
At my second participation, however, I am left with one ‘regret’: in front of a game that was new to me (e.g. Arizona) and to those who could perhaps have explained it to me, the question ‘Do you know how to play Arizona?’ remained in my teeth this year to see – not too surreptitiously – the effect it has… It will be for next time, sooner or later that moment will come!

Day 7
The most remarkable thing is that I caught a bit of a cold…at these conventions you shake a lot of hands, it’s almost inevitable.
Not many games left, I’m going to jump on Chess960 but I’m not a chess player 🙂. Some analysis, but I don’t know what to do in the mid-game, and the opponents are all tough.
Still a good result 2.5/7. One game won with tactics; another position won (again with combination), but game drawn due to my incompetence in the endgame.
In the afternoon there is XianQi, Chinese chess. Rightly two Han people come first and second; I settle for fourth place (second of the Westerners) with 2/5.
I win the derby with Francesco Salerno, I lose in zeitnot from a winning position against Alain Dekker. On the other hand I win by time a super-lost position with another player.
Tomorrow is go, but I don’t really want to take any more slaps from strong eastern players, so I might do something else.
We end the evening with a pizza, with the attendant who understands my name correctly 🙂 I’m going to have a good time.

Day 8
There’s the all-day Go 19×19 tournament, but it’s almost all dan and none of the multiplayers are there, so I decide to skip it.
I get persuaded by the very nice Frenchman Jean-Pierre to pair up for the quadrille (bughouse). Unfortunately, there are fierce chess players and Shogi’s experience doesn’t help, as we can’t do checkmate by parachuting in. In the Italian round of 6 teams we get just 3 draws out of 5 rounds, 95% of which can be attributed to him.
In the afternoon there is only one non-abstract left, 6nimmt (the other tournaments lasted all day). I sign up and surprisingly there are 22 players, partly because many have abandoned backgammon after an inauspicious morning. Competitive 6nimmt is very different from the way we play it with the kids. Only two players, only 24 cards, perfect information and adding cards from both sides. Also back-to-back games.
I win the first round 2 to 0 against the strong Portuguese player Daniel Angelats, who had not yet metabolised the mechanisms. From that point, however, I was struck by the ‘pareggitis’ virus and drew all the other four matches 1-1, always winning the first and always losing the second. Bucholz high, having always played at the first tables, but 6 points were only enough for fifth place, just behind Daniele Ferri who had to settle for the wooden medal with 6.5
Finally, the final prize-giving of the combined categories, this time well organised. Medals for Riccardo Gueci in the poker combination and for Dario De Toffoli in the backgammon combination. The same two monopolised the senior ranking, with Dario winning the senior title I think for the tenth time.
Andres Kuusk wins the overall pentamind for the sixth time, and it’s a record, beating Ankush Khandelwal and Demis Hassabis at 5.
I close with a silver in the combined abstracts standings, behind the strong Florian Jamain and just ahead of David Pierce, who skipped the awards ceremony due to flu.
If all goes well, see you again next year in Palma de Mallorca for the 29th edition.

I’M STILL HANGING IN THERE!
Every year I wonder how long I can keep going… but in the meantime I’m still going!
And this year the results went beyond expectations. I returned home winning the Pentamind Senior (World Championship) for the eighth time and with a haul of 8 medals, 4 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze. In short, I still don’t feel like stopping.
Day 7
After a feverish Saturday in bed, on Sunday 25 I confirm last year’s silver medal at the World Championships in Kings Cribbage, losing only to a Samantha Smith in great shape. I remain one of the very few Italians playing this game… but I’m attracting a few followers. This score brings me to the stratospheric score of 458,48 in the Pentamind.
Nothing to do instead with Omaha poker; this year poker tournaments were bewitched for me and I didn’t manage to go beyond a fifth place, which means that for the first time there is no poker in my pentamind.
Day 8
I opt for Backgammon, giving up both Cribbage and Six. This was mainly to consolidate my second position in the combined backgammon, a feat I succeeded in despite losing the first two games… but then I won all the next four, beating among others Martin Hamer and in the final game the never tame Andres Kuusk, who was leading with a full score.

Whatever, it’s over, nice closing ceremony with applause for everyone.
The Pentamind Senior is largely mine and Gueci (392.40) manages to snatch silver from Frenchman Tastet.
The overall ranking saw Andres Kuusk win for the sixth time with 491.94; followed by the Portuguese Guilherme Nives with 483.35 and the Anglo-Indian Ankush Khandelwahl with 478.02. I am incredibly 7th… still in the top 10, I can’t believe it!

See you next April in Majorca, Spain… about time the MSO left the UK!
p.s. the last 2 days I played a bit feverish (and still managed), but on the way back I saw the two red lines: I think there were quite a few of us who had them. I hope they disappear soon because on Thursday there will be the first stage of the Italian Series of Poker in Nova Gorica and I really don’t want to miss it!