Welcome to the February edition of the WMSC newsletter, and there is lots to report.
New Council Members
Firstly, we would like to welcome the new Council Members who have recently been invited to sit on the World Memory Sports Council and to represent the interest of the sport in their countries. They are:
- Jennifer Goddard of the National Memory Sports Council of Australia
- Simon Reinhard GM, of Memory XL in Germany
- Klaus Kolb of the National Memory Sports Council of Germany
- Mr Lin Chuxu, Chairman of New Mind Education in China
- Guo Chuanwei GM China
We look forward to their help is growing the sport worldwide in the year ahead.
New Rules
The months following the World Memory Championships each year are when discussion takes place about rule changes and the Millennium standards. This year is no exception! The Council is most grateful for all the submissions and ideas it has received, all of which have been thoroughly evaluated. As is the convention, the Council agrees these changes at the end of January to give competitors the opportunity to incorporate them in their training in good time.
So at the end of the consultation period the following has been agreed.
Competition Entry:
Junior and Kid competitors may elect to compete in an adult competition if they desire. Any competitor that decides to do so cannot take part in a Junior / Kids event for one year after the adult event, thus preventing “competition hopping”.
Procedural Changes:
- Spoken Numbers – In the World Championships trials will consist of 200, 300 and 400 digits. In National Championships trials will be 100 and 300 digits.
- Names used in the ‘Names and Faces’ discipline will consist of a equal mix of international names drawn from a wide range of different languages to include European, Middle and Far Eastern, Asian and African (following a similar formula as used in the World Memory Championships). First and Second Names shall be combined entirely at random (eg. a person may have a Chinese first name and a Western surname) and assigned to faces at random. There must also be a full mix of ethnicity, age and gender of faces used. No bias towards an individual country will be accepted in a national competition. As a result all current National, International and World records in this discipline will be reset to zero since a comparison with previous events is invalid.
- Speed Cards – The rule will remain that if a competitor recalls less than 52 cards their time will be taken as 300 seconds and they will receive a score of c/52 points where c is the number of cards correctly recalled. The New formula of calculation of points for a full deck is as follows: 11180/(time to the power of 0.75). This gives 1000 points for a deck recalled in 25 seconds.
Millennium Standards – Revised February 2011
Discipline | Millennium Standard |
Calc Factor |
Original MS |
Comp Type |
30 min Cards | 676 | 1.479 | 676 | International # |
30 min Numbers | 1200 | 0.833 | 1200 | International # |
10 min Cards | 365 | 2.747 | 333 | National |
15 min Numbers | 900 | 1.111 | 800 | National |
5 min Binary | 1000 | 1.000 | 1000 | National # |
5 min Names and Faces | 70 | 14.286 | 100 | National |
5 min Words | 125 | 8.000 | 100 | National |
Poem | 375 | 2.6667 | 375 | Old Comp # |
30 min Binary | 4000 | 0.250 | 4000 | WMC # |
5 min Numbers | 470 | 2.128 | 375 | WMC |
Abstract Images | 400 | 2.500 | 250 | WMC |
Historic /Future Dates | 125 | 8.000 | 91 dates | WMC |
Hour Cards | 1300 | 0.769 | 1300 cards | WMC # |
Hour Numbers | 2200 | 0.455 | 2200 digits | WMC # |
Names and Faces | 170 | 5.882 | 200 points | WMC |
Random Words | 275 | 3.636 | 250 words | WMC |
Speed Cards | 25 seconds * | 30 seconds | WMC | |
Spoken Numbers | 204 | 70* square root (n) | 200 digits | WMC # |
# = Unchanged
* = Calculation factor for Speed Cards 11180/(time to the power of 0.75)
Competition Calendar for 2011
12thMarch 2011 North German Memory Championships
26thMarch 2011 Welsh Open Memory Championships
End August 2011 UK Open Memory Championships
First week of October World Memory Championships (China)
Further competitions to be announced in future newsletters.