Dr Gunther Karsten of Erfurt, Germany has won the 16th World Memory Championship, held over the weekend of 1st/2nd September, in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The tournament, with its 30,000 US Dollar prize fund, attracted entries from China, England, Germany and many other nations.
The Championships were founded in London in 1991 by brain guru and chess Grandmaster - to promote memory as a ‘Mind Sport’, creating a set of ten which are now accepted as the worldwide standard for international competition. The disciplines are designed to measure pure memory skill, rather than any one individual’s knowledge on a particular subject. They are not culturally or language specific, to ensure a level playing field for international competition. Subjects include
Dr Karsten also won the team Gold Medal for Best Team Performance, along with team mates Simon Reinhard and Boris Konrad.
Dr Karsten clinched the World Championship in the last minute when he crushed his closest competitor and previous World Champion Ben Pridmore of England, in the speed memorisation of a single shuffled pack of cards. Clemens Mayer, the 2005 World Champion was unable to compete in this year’s event.
Tony Buzan welcomed the advent of the new World Champion, saying: “Dr Karsten is a trained athlete who believes in the formula of ‘a healthy mind, a healthy body’ as the key to success in mental sports.”
Overall, the annual World Memory Championship represents one of the toughest mental tests of all time. Competitors must be able to memorise 4,000 digit numbers and recall with absolute accuracy at least ten packs of cards in one hour.
To continue the list of German triumphs, the Junior World Championship was won by Mia Korkemeyer (aged 17), from Hamburg.
Chen Yu Juan of China won the Women’s World Championship. She also collected the Team Silver Medal for Best Team Performance, with team mates Liu Ping and Chuan Wei Guo. This is the first time that China has competed in the World Memory Championships. Chen clinched her title when she set a new world record for female memorisation of a shuffled deck of cards - in 28 seconds. Tony Buzan welcomed the advent of the Chinese competitors, saying he hoped that China would soon host the Championship.
Indian child prodigy astounds experts… Hailed as a genius, Nischal Narayanam, a 12-year-old from Hyderabad, won the Kids World Championship for Memory Skills. Already a Guinness Record holder, Nischal caused Tony Buzan to herald the new onset of a mental prodigy and new ‘genius of memory’.
Visit www.worldmemorychampionships.com
For more information on the event, call Chris Day, General Secretary
on +44 (0)208 688 2598 - or email: secretary@worldmemorychampionships.com
To interview Tony Buzan, originator and co-founder of the World Memory Championships, please call
Ms Ray Hodges on +44 (0)1628 894793 or email: r.hodges@hpsgroup.co.uk
To contact UK runner-up Ben Pridmore, email zoom_zoom_ben@yahoo.co.uk
