| October 1999 | Newsletter of the British Chess Federation | Online Edition |
As predicted in the August issue, this was a hugely successful event. It took place Saturday 21 to Sunday 29 August appropriately at Olympia in London. There were over 4,000 entries for the various disciplines which included such diverse activities as Chess, Bridge, Dominoes, Mind Mapping. Next year's event will probably take place at the same time, but also continue on Bank Holiday Monday. The organisers are seeking to build up a database of people interested in mind sports in a manner somewhat similar to Freeserve. Thus they are not sponsorship-driven. An entry fee basically covers the raw cost of servicing that fee. Thus the Olympiad can never break even just on entries. The cost of mounting the event was approximately £500,000. This is indeed a long-term project.
Their web-site is http://www.msoworld.com/. You will find all the results there. Also you can play approximately 50 different games from six different game categories. Use of the site is absolutely free. Chess grandmaster Jonathan Tisdall is the editor of the 'webzine'. I expect there are some initial problems - The Internet Chess Club is often revised.
The prime event was the MSO Chess Masters. This hugely strong event attracted 92 entries from 22 countries, including 17 GMs. It was dominated by entries from the British Isles, ex-Soviets principally now resident in Israel, and Commonwealth players. I was unrealistically disappointed by the numbers in comparison with the Lloyds Bank Masters. There were many other chess tournaments and players could go really mad and play other sports. The first round was a bit of a shambles as we played together with many other events and the noise was horrendous. After that, the organisers hired another hall at £2,000 per day and peace reigned.
Many of the players chose also to play in the morning speed tournaments and sometimes in the evening. I believe nobody played the full 117 available. Thus there were a large number of games where the players took an instant draw. GMs received start money. Perhaps they should lose 10% for each game not played. If 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss becomes common after a change in the current Laws of Chess, that would also solve the problem.
Joe Gallagher, now of Switzerland but originally from Wimbledon, had the finest win of his career with black against Ilia Smirin 2671, Israel. Joe refused a draw when he probably stood objectively worse. He lost to Alexander Baburin, Ireland, in the next round who then seemed a sure winner. However, Jon Speelman when fired up is just as dangerous with black as white. He beat the solid, cast-iron logic of the tournament leader in the last round and the event concluded as a three-way tie. Thus, despite my strictures about vapid draws, the tournament was extremely hard-fought when it mattered.