Memory is vital in chess, not least because modern opening theory has expanded in such a daunting way. I was, therefore, interested to observe the results of the UK Memory Championship which took place last month at the London Science Museum and resulted in victory for Katie Kermode. In the course of the championship Katie bested second-placed Dominic O’Brien, the eight-times World Memory Champion. It was a sensational performance. Events included the memorisation of names and faces, recall of 620 numbers and, in the final showdown which clinched her victory, the accurate memorisation of a shuffled deck of cards in two minutes and 0.93 seconds.
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James Delingpole
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Katie is 34 years old, from Cheshire, married, and expecting her second child in December. By profession she is a translator of Dutch, French and German and has an MA in computer science from Churchill College, Cambridge.
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