Click here for Part 1. After this, there will be one more blog post about memory, and then we will go back to writing about chess.
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The 2018
National Memory Championship: Finals
I had barely qualified
and knew that I didn’t have the best memory in America. I trained harder than
ever, but most of my rivals were still well ahead of me. My goal was to survive
Round 1 to prove that I belonged there.
But my biggest worry was
about the night before the tournament. Would I sleep? Two weeks before, I had
traveled to a chess tournament and didn’t sleep at all. I tried another
tournament in Chicago a week later. Almost no sleep! I forced myself to play a
game anyways. That was a very unwise decision. It was so hard to calculate
anything. I ended up drawing against a much weaker player. My doctor prescribed
some pills to use when traveling. “These will knock you out,” she promised. I
wasn’t certain. Would they really work?
I stayed in a beautiful
hotel close to the MIT campus. Right before bed, I took a pill. A few minutes
later, a muscle would occasionally twitch. Is that supposed to happen? The next
thing I remember is waking up after getting the best night’s sleep that I had
ever gotten in my life. That’s exactly how you want to feel before a
competition! I downed some oatmeal and walked to the auditorium on campus. Most
of the other competitors arrived around the same time. We had come early in
case the media wanted to talk to us. If I thought I had a serious chance of
winning, I would have declined. Just get some extra rest and focus. But since I
was almost certain to lose, I thought I might as well enjoy the time in the
spotlight. Alas, the media had no interest in talking to Guy Who Finished
Ninth. So instead I chatted with the other competitors. The first event
wouldn’t start until a few hours later, so no one seemed too tense yet.
Lunch was different. A
quiet and serious affair. Round 1 would start almost immediately afterwards.
Focus. Get in the zone. I don’t even remember what I ate. My thoughts were
elsewhere.
The finalists from the
qualifier were joined by a wildcard nominee and a few stars from the high
school championship. Thirteen of us in all. They lead us downstairs. We each
had a sheet with 300 random English words. Memorize as many as possible in 15
minutes. Make 2 mistakes and you’re eliminated. I tried to sit away from
everyone else so that there would be no distractions. Concentration is
critical. Like most of the competitors, I had earplugs to block out any
distracting noise.
We turned over our sheets
and started memorizing. There was no way that I could get through all 300
words. But I didn’t have to. In the past, knowing the first 100 was always more
than enough. But in the past, you were eliminated after just 1 mistake. Maybe
we would have to know more than 100 this time. I tried 104, since I knew I
couldn’t do much more than that. Words like “climb” and “laptop” were easy,
since they are very visual (memory techniques are all about visuals). I
struggled to come up with an image for “intuition.” I went with Jose
Capablanca, a former world chess champion known for his excellent intuition. I
reviewed the sheet twice. They lead us up to the stage.
The wildcard was in the
first seat. He had to say the first word in the list. Then the second person
had to say the next word, and so on. I was tenth. Recalling a list words in the
comfort of my apartment is not so bad, but recalling them on stage could be
very different. Bright lights, a large audience and the media, and with only
seconds to state the right answer. But my nerves were steady. Professors are
used to performing in front of large groups of strangers. I closed my eyes to
better focus on the images in my mind. There was a scoreboard with the number
of mistakes that each of us made. I was going to ignore it. Just make sure you
get the word right when it’s your turn. That’s all that matters.
My plan to ignore
everyone else was almost immediately derailed. Four-time national champion
Nelson Dellis was the first to be eliminated. My eyes popped open. He had won
the qualifier and he owned several national records. How on earth was he the
first one to go?! Focus, Matt. I closed my eyes again and got back in the zone.
I just had to outlast two more competitors.
When it was my turn, the
next image and word sprang to mind quickly. Someone else stumbled and got
eliminated. I didn’t know who it was. It didn’t matter to me – just get your
word right when it’s your turn. Now I only had to outlast one more rival and
then I could go on to Round 2.
A high schooler messed up
and was knocked out. I had sailed through Round 1 with no mistakes! During the
break, I took a short walk. I had achieved my goal! If I somehow survived Round
2, that was just an added bonus. We’ll worry about winning the championship
next year.
I returned to the
auditorium.
“Good luck,” a woman said
as I went down the stairs.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“I’m also from Missouri,
so I’m rooting for you,” she said.
I have fans!! How cool is
that?!
Round 2 was the Tea
Party. Four “tea party guests” told us personal information about themselves.
Name, birthday, job, etc. Make 3 mistakes and you’re out. The event would end
when the 10 remaining finalists were winnowed down to 7. I had barely trained
for this event, but I wasn’t nervous – the mission had already been
accomplished.
The tea party guests
talked so fast! I was overwhelmed. I hardly caught any of it. We had five
minutes to study the same information written on paper, but it was still
overwhelming. I knew I was busted. But I don’t lose motivation when the
situation is hopeless. As chess players know, keep fighting hard even when the
position is lost; maybe the opponent will make a mistake. I blocked out the
rest of the world and focused all my attention on the sheet. Soak up as much
information as possible. The Boston Globe noticed the intense concentration on
my face and they decided to put my picture in the paper! The headline was "Competition Puts Their Memory to the Test". I’m famous!!
It turned out that many
of the competitors were just as overwhelmed as I was. I botched the first
question, but my rivals were also making mistakes left and right. One of them
didn’t get anything right. He was the first one to go. Then a former national
champion stumbled. It suddenly occurred to me that I might actually survive! I
only had to outlast one more rival. I was still struggling and making mistakes,
but I got one correct answer. Then I had to recall the name of one of the tea
party guests. In my mind, it was blended with the names of the other people and
a muddle of other semi-memorized information. I got it wrong. I was eliminated.
The round ended and the 7 remaining finalists proceeded to Round 3.
I could relax. I had
accomplished my goal and had been so close to making it through the next round.
I took a seat in the audience and watched the rest of the finalists sweat
through Round 3.
The organizers had
dreamed up a new form of mental torture for this round. “Long Term Recall.” A
month earlier, they had sent out spreadsheets with a vast amount of information.
The Academy Award winners, the Football Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, and the periodic table of elements. That was too much for me. I only got
through about half of it. It was good training, but I really hope that I never
have to do that again. So even if I had survived Round 2, I would not have made
it much further. The wildcard was swiftly eliminated. However, a pair of high
schoolers performed very well; it took a long time to knock them out. John
Graham, the second seed from the qualifier, advanced to the last round. He was
joined by prodigy Claire Wang and newcomer Avi Chavda, who had been seated next
to me in the qualifier.
In Round 4, they had 5
minutes to memorize two decks of cards. Claire stumbled quickly and was knocked
out. Avi seemed to be recalling the cards easily while John took his time
before answering. I wondered if it would go to tiebreaks. At this level,
memorizing 2 decks in 5 minutes is not very hard. But Avi messed up in the
second deck, so John Graham became the national memory champion.
Nice work, John. I’ll try
to beat you next time! We went out to dinner with the other competitors and the
organizers (they’re wonderful people). Our generous hosts from MIT paid the
bill. Since the tournament was during summer break, I got to stay in Boston for
a few extra days and enjoy the history and art in the city. There is so much to
do in Boston! This is the second time I have visited and I’ve only seen a small
fraction of the city. No one recognized me from the Boston Globe photo; I guess
I’m not really a celebrity yet 😃
Farewell, Boston. I hope
I get an excuse to visit you again!
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