Memory games
RECENTLY, I received an invitation from the Philippines’ Memory Man Roberto Racasa to a first ever of its kind memory challenge event here and in the world.
This is the Battle of Calendrical Savants set on April 9 at the Eurotel/Vivaldi Tower in EDSA,Cubao that he has organized with an elite group of participants mostly from the provinces, joining and vying for the honor and the cash prizes at stake.
Definitely, this is not an event for seniors like me who cannot even remember sometimes, okay many times, names or date, or even where we placed our eyeglasses and cellphones, turned out I was wearing the eyeglasses on my head or holding my phone as what happened last Thursday morning on my way to the Rizal Memorial Coliseum where Roberto, together with pretty daughter Antonella , 17, and a protege Jeanne Arcinue, 12, were the guests.
To give you an idea of the eliteness of the participants, the event is only for those who can tell you on what day of the week from centuries ago will a certain date fall, within seconds at that.
And I am speaking from a personal experience because I had a chat with the three in our 4th floor office after lunch with PSC Commissioner Fritz Gaston joining us, in fact after that, I brought them for a photo op to the office of Chairman Dickie Bachmann.
Actually with Tonella, she was a guest together with her father in my birthday party at my house pre pandemic times, she was much younger then but my guests were all amazed when she demonstrated her exceptional memory with a deck of playing cards and random numbers.
And last Thursday, I asked her what day was my birthday, took her maybe four seconds to give the right answer which we verified from a clearbook his father brought showing actual months and years going back in time and to the future.We did the same with our office staff and she got them all right.
When I asked how she did that, Tonella explained it was a combination of memorizing a code and lightning quick mathematical computation, me, I will stick to writing.
Tonella actually, like Jeanne, plays both memory sports and chess, she is already a National Master with an ELO rating of close to 1700 and only needs 200 points more for an International Master title.
Her dream of course is to become a chess grandmaster and I do not have any doubt that she will become one.
No plans for a boyfriend now, she is focused on her dream, but then according to her father, it will really be difficult for suitors as they will need to pass a lot of memory tests and challenges from Roberto.
I was also kidding Roberto, it will be difficult to have a wife wuth a memory like these two girls as they will remember everything.
I asked her what her chances are in the forthcoming competition, and I plan to watch it live, she thinks she has good chances even as she only went back to memory sports training for a couple of weeks after focusing on chess.
In the case of Jeanne, a former gymnast who shifted to chess upon the advice of a doctor, she suffered from an eye problem, her favorite subject is Math, which is half of the secret as Tonella shared, the other half came from her training in memory sports after her mother asked Roberto to mentor her daughter.
Her main focus though is chess where she has had podium finishes in age group competitions already here and abroad, the latest being in Singapore late last year.
Like Tonella, who is her good friend, she also believes she has good chances in the event, moreso that she actually devites nore time to her training, 7 days a week, minimum four hours, sometimes up to 7 hours even.
But Roberto cautioned them about the other participants, most of whom he at one time or another has also trained.
This should be a very interesting event to watch, good thing there is no work on that day, just too bad that even being with geniuses and memory experts does not mean it rubs off on me, but still, this is the closest I have been to beig a genius, I was less than a foot away from Tonella and just across Roberto and Jeanne.
Good luck girls.
By the time you read, we would have known how Alex Eala’s historic campaign in the Miami Tennis Open ended, I wrote this as she was about to play in the semis after beating 3 Grand Slam event champions.
And no matter how she finishes, Alex is a winner, no luck involved, what she has reached, she did with hard work and dedication, I can only look to the future with Alex steadily moving up the world rankings.
I understand she is already in the top 100 after her performance so far.
