Javaness2 wrote:
I saw recently that the prospect of the next World Mind Sports Games being held in Brazil had vanished. Baku in Azerbaijan was touted as a candidate replacement. Does anyone know any more gossip on this topic. I wondered if it had anything to do with the break up of the contract between the IMSA (international mind sports association) and MSP (Mind sports partners) - you may well ask what both organisations are.
The Brazilian WMSG was closed off because of concerns whether Brazil could handle the 2016 Summer Olympics. Baku is already on the book for hosting the 2016 Chess Olympiad, so it was natural to consider it as a candidate for expansion to include all mind sports. None of this had anything to do with the contract breach by MSP with IMSA, BTW. (I am sure you do not want the gory details about that!)
Considering the 2008 WMSG-I at Beijing and the 2012 WMSG-II at Lille, we are actually ahead of the game. So I remain optimistic that the whole thing will be pulled off.