Today we take a break from chess stats and dive into the world of memory competitions. I've been to the USA Memory Championship many times, but it doesn't count toward the international rankings since it has a different format. So last weekend, I flew to France for my first IAM (International Association of Memory) competition. There were 10 events. I was hoping to score 3000 points (for reference, beating the world records in all 10 events would correspond to about 10,000 points).
I arrived a day early to get over the jet lag. Even though I barely slept on the plane, I forced myself to stay awake during the day and went sight-seeing. The Arc de Triomphe:
And the Eiffel Tower:
The next morning, we started with Speed Numbers. We had 5 minutes to memorize as many digits as possible. I attempted 206 digits, which I knew I could do comfortably. I nailed it. I had done this event before in the USA Memory Championship, and this was my best result ever in a competition. The nervousness went away. I knew I hadn't travelled across an ocean just to embarrass myself. This result earned me 317 points and put me in 12th place. Since this was the first of 10 events, I was on track to get 3000. Meanwhile, World Champion Vishvaa Rajakumar memorized 442 digits, scoring 681 points.
Me and Vishvaa
Next, we did the event again with a different number. They take the top score out of both attempts, so I was more ambitious this time and tried 240 digits. But I made two mistakes, so my score was lower this time. The numbers are in rows of 40. If there is one mistake in a row, you are only credited with memorizing 20 digits from it. If there are two mistakes, you get 0 points from that row. In the last row, you can get partial credit if you memorize part of it. After deducting points for my mistakes, I was credited with memorizing 182 digits. Not a bad start to the tournament.
Event #2: 10 minute cards.
We had 10 minutes to memorize as many decks of cards as possible. I tried 4 decks. This was a little bit more than I had ever done successfully in training, but I felt it should be achievable. Everything went smoothly at first. Then midway through recalling the third deck, I realized I was actually doing the fourth deck. I managed to fix the error in time. I had rushed the end of the fourth deck, but I was still fairly sure I had gotten it. I submitted my results, and then found out that I had switched the last two cards. Ouch! The scoring is similar to the numbers event, so two wrong cards means no points for that deck. So I was credited with memorizing 3 decks. That earned me 265 points, putting me a bit behind on my goal of 3000 overall. Vishvaa continued to dominate, memorizing over 7 decks.
Event #3: Binaries
We had 5 minutes to memorize as many binary numbers as possible. I had not trained much for this event. I had a system for translating binaries into regular numbers, but I was slow with it. I attempted 330 digits, but thanks to a few mistakes, I was credited with memorizing 264, which was worth 170 points. I needed to average 300 points per event to hit my goal, so now I was well behind. The top score was from Guamaral Purevdavaa, who memorized a staggering 1074 digits.
Event #4: Historic Dates
We were given a list of dates with fictional events (e.g. "1701 - Ikea sells mountable cars"). We had 5 minutes to memorize as many of them as possible. Then in the recall period, we were given the fictional events (e.g. "Ikea sells mountable cars") and we had to remember which year it happened in (1701). This event is harder to train for. Generating a list of random numbers to practice with is easy, but the fictional events could be anything. But all my training with numbers paid off, and I got credited with remembering 38 dates. This was worth 268 points, so I was falling further behind my goal. Nicolas Pommies won the event by memorizing 93 dates.
Event #5: 15 minute numbers
This is similar to Speed Numbers (the first event), except that now we have 15 minutes to memorize instead of just 5. I attempted 440 digits. This is slightly more than I have ever done in training, but I felt that on a good day I should be able to get it. During recall, there were several rows where I wasn't sure what some of the numbers were. But I filled in almost all of them. There was just one part left where I was uncertain. I had seen something hitting a rocket (the rocket represents 131 in my memory system), but I wasn't sure what it was. I went through my entire system from 000 to 999. I still wasn't sure. I took a guess and missed it. But the other 10 rows were perfect, so I got 400 digits and 289 points. Vishvaa reminded us that he was the world champion by memorizing 860 digits.
Event #6: Spoken numbers
The computer reads a random number aloud at a rate of 1 digit per second. The scoring is brutal: you could memorize 100 digits, but if you make a mistake on the 20th digit, you only get credited with memorizing 19. In the first trial, we get a 100-digit number. I usually can't get 100 digits, so I stopped listening after about 75. I got 73, a solid start that was good enough for 4th place. That netted me 404 points, partially recovering for the earlier events. Vishvaa and Suzanne Hippauf both got all 100 digits correct.
In the next trial, we listened to a 300-digit number. I wanted to go further than I did last time, since only my top score counts. But I fell behind around the 70th digit and got 72. Vishvaa got all 300 correct. The last trial was supposed to be 550 digits. But no one felt that they could memorize that much, so the arbiter asked if we would prefer it to be shortened to 300 digits. Everyone agreed. I tried 123. But I missed the 104th digit, so I scored 103. This was the top score on the 3rd trial, and I earned 480 points. I finished the first day with 1790 points in 6 events, slightly behind pace to get 3000 in 10 events.
Later I went out to a restaurant with a bunch of the other competitors. Yes, the French are amazing cooks! That was a terrific burger.
Event #7: Words
We had 5 minutes to memorize a list of random words. I attempted 60 but rushed the end. I wasn't sure if the last word was "steak" or "stake." I was also unsure if the 55th and 56th words were "hope - bird" or "bird - hope." I felt it was probably "hope - bird." But if I got it wrong, I would score 0 points for the entire column of 20 words, so I would be left with just 40. I decided to be safe and stop after the 54th word. I got all of them right and scored 353 points. But my instincts were right about the 55th and 56th words, so I could have gotten 59. Vishvaa won the event by memorizing 141 words, nearly breaking the world record of 145.
Event #8: Images
Each row had 5 pictures. We had 5 minutes to memorize the sequence.
Then in the recall period, each row was scrambled and we had to put it back in the original order. This event was substantially different from how it is done on Memory League. I did terribly. I attempted 100 pictures (20 rows), but when I was midway through review, I completely forgot where I was in the memory palace. Somehow I still remembered most of the rows, but I messed up 4 of them and was credited with memorizing 76 pictures. That put me in 44th place in this event out of 51 competitors. I only scored 112 points, so I was going to miss my goal unless I did a lot better in the last two events. Dorian Huchard won with 555 pictures.
Event #9: Names and Faces
We were shown pictures of people with their names for 5 minutes. Then in the recall period, we had just the pictures and we had to remember what their names were. Unfortunately, they started using AI-generated faces, and many of them were similar to each other. I had a hard time telling them apart and had to guess a bunch of times. I attempted 37 names, but I only got 20. This scored 211 points, so I felt that my goal was out of reach. Vishvaa won with 61 names.
Event #10: Speed cards
The goal is to memorize a deck of cards as quickly as possible. We had two attempts with two different decks, and only the top score counts. I figured I would need to do it in about 30 seconds to hit my goal. But that would be a miracle. If I tried that, the most likely result would be that I mess up and get an embarrassing score. So in the first round, I was cautious, taking my time and reviewing the deck before stopping the clock after 72 seconds. I recalled everything easily. In the next trial, I decided to go faster and skip review. But I didn't think I could do it in 30 seconds, so I went at a pace that is around my average and stopped the clock after 41.79 seconds. At first I was unsure about a few of the cards, but I figured it out and got another perfect deck, scoring 417 points. I have done this event before in the USA Memory Championship and the Canadian Open, and this was my best result ever in a competition. Vishvaa won the event by memorizing a whole deck in just 20.68 seconds.
I finished 15th overall with 2882 points, narrowly missing my goal. The winners:
The best competitors from France:
Nicolas Pommies, Dorian Huchard, and Nathan Renaud flanked by two arbiters
I know Dorian and Nathan from Memory League. We have played a few matches against each other, including a France vs. USA team event a few months ago (I had been on Team USA with Jason Smith and John Lance).
Team Australia. Unfortunately I don't know their names
At the end, I went out to lunch with some of the other competitors and had more great food. Overall, I'm happy with my performance. When the results are submitted, I should be #8 in the US (
USA rankings). My best event was Spoken Numbers, where I will be almost in the world top 100 (
Spoken Numbers Ranking). If I train harder with images and binaries, then getting 3000 points shouldn't be a problem next time.
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Impressions of Paris
Great food. So many bicyclists. So many runners. And so much smoking. On the day after the tournament, I passed through the Luxembourg Gardens on the way to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Some of the people there were tourists, but there were also tons of French people there on the middle of a work day. A few of them were drawing sketches of the many statues in the park. Though the cathedral was a major tourist attraction, it did try to maintain a reverent atmosphere. We were encouraged to be quiet and dress modestly. A few nuns were praying, and a priest was speaking to a few congregants. The artwork in the cathedral was amazing. It was a great trip.
