And Cyprus and Turkey. OK, we have traditional commonwealth ties with Cyprus and Malta, and the Irish connection is obvious, but I fear that the only reason why Turkey gave us a point is that they liked our song. That's almost too bizarre to contemplate.
It's also true that our singer, Javine, was far from top form, having recently had a sore throat and all that. Can't help feeling that an eight-months-pregnant Jordan (the singer, not the country, wise guys) would've scored more.
See this entry in the Google Weblog by Google employee Wei-Hwa Huang. It mentions that the best performers in the US Puzzle Championship go on to form part of the US team in the World Puzzle Championships; Wei-Hwa has been part of the US team for each of the past 12 years and won the whole World Championships in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 1999. It's fair to say that the conduit between impressive competitors in the championships and Google is pretty well-defined, to both parties' benefit - though, like you, I don't know of any Google employees who joined as a result of their participation.
The old saw about "You're good at chess? Oh, you must be good at maths" has some logical background to it. Emanuel Lasker, World Chess Champion between 1894 and 1921, was also a world-class mathematician, doing original research in his chosen field under Hilbert.
(Some confirmation on the Agdestein story is also available, if you're interested.)
I am also led to understand that some of the lesser British chess GMs make more money from poker than they do from chess.
Demis Hassabis, who co-created Theme Park and whose company, Elixir Studios, is currently at work on Republic - the Revolution is a strong amateur shogi player. (OK, strong by Western standards.) He won five out of six (even, as opposed to handicapped) games in the British Open Championship the weekend before last and so has qualified to be part of the team to represent the UK in the World Championship later in the year. It's not much of an exaggeration to say Demis is a strong amateur * player - because if he isn't a strong amateur at a game yet, he's proved that he will pick it up frighteningly quickly - though I understand his poker isn't going to be taking him to the World Series in the near future.
Slashdot Mirror
And Cyprus and Turkey. OK, we have traditional commonwealth ties with Cyprus and Malta, and the Irish connection is obvious, but I fear that the only reason why Turkey gave us a point is that they liked our song. That's almost too bizarre to contemplate.
It's also true that our singer, Javine, was far from top form, having recently had a sore throat and all that. Can't help feeling that an eight-months-pregnant Jordan (the singer, not the country, wise guys) would've scored more.
See this entry in the Google Weblog by Google employee Wei-Hwa Huang. It mentions that the best performers in the US Puzzle Championship go on to form part of the US team in the World Puzzle Championships; Wei-Hwa has been part of the US team for each of the past 12 years and won the whole World Championships in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 1999. It's fair to say that the conduit between impressive competitors in the championships and Google is pretty well-defined, to both parties' benefit - though, like you, I don't know of any Google employees who joined as a result of their participation.
If you're interested in the World Puzzle Championships, I blogged live from their finals day last year.
Chris Dickson (82nd out of 90, 2004 World Puzzle Championships)
The old saw about "You're good at chess? Oh, you must be good at maths" has some logical background to it. Emanuel Lasker, World Chess Champion between 1894 and 1921, was also a world-class mathematician, doing original research in his chosen field under Hilbert.
(Some confirmation on the Agdestein story is also available, if you're interested.)
I am also led to understand that some of the lesser British chess GMs make more money from poker than they do from chess.
Demis Hassabis, who co-created Theme Park and whose company, Elixir Studios, is currently at work on Republic - the Revolution is a strong amateur shogi player. (OK, strong by Western standards.) He won five out of six (even, as opposed to handicapped) games in the British Open Championship the weekend before last and so has qualified to be part of the team to represent the UK in the World Championship later in the year. It's not much of an exaggeration to say Demis is a strong amateur * player - because if he isn't a strong amateur at a game yet, he's proved that he will pick it up frighteningly quickly - though I understand his poker isn't going to be taking him to the World Series in the near future.
Good luck Demis! (...and Stephen and Les...)