Mind Sports

Unlike the triviality of modern computer games, ancient Mind Sports are for elite young pupils and are exceedingly popular at Loughborough. Meetings take place every lunchtime in Red House and are open to all year groups including girls from the High School. Rather than list the wide range that are popular, obviously including Chess, consider the benefits of just two.

Go is probably the oldest intellectual game in the world. Developed in China over 3000 years ago it has been the national 'sport' of Japan for centuries and is now recognised worldwide as a pursuit for leaders of substance. Similar to chess in that it requires pure skill, Go is not merely a single battle but an entire campaign in which the strategic movements of the masses will ultimately decide the victory. Battles occur at different parts of the board, several going on at the same time. Strong positions are often besieged and sometimes whole armies are cut off from their line of communications and are taken prisoner. It is no coincidence that Japanese generals and government leaders are normally high ranking players.

Or consider Backgammon. On the surface it looks like a relatively simple gambling game for the idle rich. But a master backgammon player isn't gambling – he's calculating the mathematical odds of winning or losing after every throw of the dice. Naturally our boys don't play for money but they learn the depths of the game and the complexities that distinguish regular winners from rash losers.

From Scrabble and Draughts to Bridge and Mancala – Mind Sports form an important and popular part of life at Loughborough. Although the games are played for their own sake, in recent years Loughborough have been the English Champions at Bridge, UK Champions at Go and nationally ranked eighth at Chess.