Thoughts on Mind Sports, Part 2: What is Mind Sports?

When we hear the word sport, we usually associate it with javelin throwers, football players and skiers. Paul Keres and sport are associated much less. Yet Keres was one of our best athletes in the last century. When Marten, Tiit and Andres founded the Estonian Mental Sports Association a few years ago, they immediately had the question of what mental sports are and how to define them. Since we were aware that an organization does not have a bright future if it cannot clearly define its field of activity, it was necessary to find a definition of mental sports. After discussions and brainstorming, we arrived at a characteristic that distinguishes "serious" games (checkers, chess) from "simpler" games (podkidnoi, dice poker): the component of randomness in the game. From there, some clarifications and the Estonian Mental Sports Association's definition of mental sports sounded: Mind sports are competitive activities where the best competitor is determined solely on the basis of his or her mental ability. This is the definition of the Estonian Mind Sports Association and through it we also defined our mission and action plan. If we break down this definition a little, then only based on mental ability means that the activity/game must lack a random component (a deck of cards, dice). Also, the competitors must not have physical advantages. In addition - mental ability refers to the logical thinking of a person, not fact-based knowledge (memory). Good examples of mind sports are Russian checkers, chess, solving Sudoku, Lines Of action, as well as mental arithmetic (known in Estonia as Pranglimis). Monopoly, Journey Around the World, Podkidnoi and Bismarck are not mind sports according to our definition - they are more like pastimes. Also Poker (for those interested, read: Is poker a mind sport?). An exception to card games is tournament bridge, where randomness is eliminated by means of fixed distributions. There has also been a lot of talk about memory games recently: We are now firmly convinced that memory games are not a mental sport because they are a competition of fact-based knowledge (memory) where logical thinking does not play a major role. If we explain the competitive element of the definition, we are of the opinion that solving sudoku puzzles alone (or calculating by heart) is not a mental sport - the activity becomes a mental sport when it is competed with - for example, solving sudoku puzzles against a time limit. At the same time, every game of checkers or chess is already a mental sport because it is played against an opponent. We are aware that our definition is not the most popular in certain circles (I am primarily referring to the exclusion of Poker and Memory Games from the mental sports areas), but a line had to be drawn somewhere, and so we got a strictly defined field of activity for the Estonian Mental Sports Association.

A few days ago I just heard an interview on the radio where a woman was talking about events taking place in Tartu, and one of the events was a memory game. She said that people who play memory games are invited, that all mental athletes are welcome. I don't remember exactly, but it doesn't matter. Anyway, she associated the memory game with mental sports.

I like pranking, maybe someday Vinti will get to it too...

And memory players are not abandoned, as far as I know they have their own associations and all sorts of leagues....I also know that there are several good memory players in Vints, Metsmees. There are definitely some more in Paprikas. And I believe that poker players look down on us. You can't just become a good poker player.

In addition, there is: In addition - the person's logical thinking is meant by mental ability, not fact-based knowledge (memory). This statement is also somewhat so-so. The smaller the volume of the game, the more fact-based knowledge (memory) is used! That's why drawn openings were introduced in the USSR championships in Russian checkers, to avoid this a little. At the same time, some kind of gomoku, or what, was it said that the one who starts second loses?? We also know about trips - traps trulli, which does not lose, but since it is relatively simple, most people know how to play it by heart, which should generally fit under the name of Thought Sports. I am quite bad at theory, but even a novice player remembers some previous games, how they went and uses his memory for the next game. At the same time, the memory game is completely built on this.

Chess also has its own association, which does not mean that it does not belong to the category of mind games. Rather, the problem is that young people do not have a broad enough horizon for it, and we reject it through the definition of a mind sport. I think that if a memory game were introduced in some form, then this "memory" could be developed, so to speak, like in the case of chess or other games.

What are the main characteristics of classical mental sports such as chess, checkers and go? They are all deterministic, antagonistic games with complete information, where the resources used for the fight are equally divided between both opponents. For example, poker differs from these classical mental sports in several aspects: poker is a stochastic (non-deterministic) game, where the information is not complete for any player (information is also asymmetric in the classical sense, but its amount is symmetric) and the allocation of resources used may not be fair. Thus, poker is not a classical mental sport, but this does not mean that it is not a mental sport. It all depends on the definition. If we use Marten's definition - there is no randomness - then poker of course does not qualify as a mental sport. Again, the question is whether this definition is the best. Personally, I would not be so strict and would allow for a certain chance factor, but the skill factor must of course be clearly dominant. This would also allow games like Entropy to be classified as mind sports, because although the element of chance undoubtedly exists, it is still very small and can only be decisive for the winner in a game of equal strength. This in turn leads to the question of what does clearly dominant mean? How much randomness should be allowed and how to determine this percentage in different games is an extremely complex challenge. Marten's definition with its zero tolerance is better in that such a question does not arise.

You see, thoughts are accumulating in abundance and the benefits of expressing thoughts are evident. I think there would be much less disagreement if the title of this topic were changed to: "What does the Estonian Mind Sport Association do?". And once again: The proposed definition of mind sport is the view of the Estonian Mind Sport Association on the matter. It is not absolute. Wikipedia definition can be read by anyone: A Mind Sport is a sport or a game of skill where the mental component is much more significant than the physical. I think that this is a very rough definition and we will not get far with it.

Oh, and I didn't mention the connection with the Estonian Gambling Act. The Gambling Act says: A game where there is a bet and the outcome depends on chance (there is a random component) is gambling. Here are two thoughts: 1) Checkers and chess can be played publicly for money, poker cannot. 2) The Estonian Mental Sports Association does not deal with gambling!