Robert Racasa, a seven-time Philippine team member in the World Memory Championship, is set to host a groundbreaking “memory sport” event—the Battle of the Calendrical Savants—on April 9 at Eurotel, Cubao, Quezon City.
This unique competition challenges participants to mentally compute and determine the exact day of the week for any given date in history.
“People will witness a truly one-of-a-kind competition—the first of its kind in the Philippines and the world,” said Racasa.
A calendrical savant, also known as a calendar savant, possesses an extraordinary ability to instantly and accurately determine the day of the week for any date, sometimes spanning centuries or even millennia. Imagine someone telling you the exact day of the week you were born, and upon verifying, you find out they were absolutely correct. You’d likely be amazed—perhaps even shocked—by their seemingly superhuman ability.
Now, picture an entire group of individuals demonstrating this skill, recalling any random date across more than 8,418 years of the Gregorian Calendar, from October 15, 1582, to December 31, 9999. Witnessing such a feat in real-time is bound to leave audiences in awe.
The event will be judged by some of the most accomplished minds in the field, including Ireneo Bughao, a Ripley’s Believe It or Not Hall of Famer known as the Walking Human Calendar; Grandmaster Mark Anthony Castaneda, the first Filipino Grandmaster of Memory Sport; Axel Tabernilla, an International Memory Master; and John Paul Botin, the creator of the Perpetual Calendar Formula.
Among the standout participants are Antonella Berthe Racasa, a two-time Philippine representative in the World Cadets Chess Championship; Jeanne Arcinue, a 10-year-old prodigy who memorized the entire Gregorian Calendar and gained viral fame online; and lawyer Jerzon Sebastian, a mental athlete with a passion for memory sports.
The competition consists of multiple challenging rounds. In the Challenging Round, dates will be randomly selected by software from the years 1900 to 2099. In the Interactive Round, sponsors and judges will provide random dates, and participants will write their answers on whiteboards. The Difficult Round will push competitors further, with randomly generated dates spanning from 1582 to 9999.At the end of all rounds, scores will be tallied to determine the winners. The champion will receive a trophy and a cash prize of P5,000.