List of world championships in mind sports

This article gives a list of world championships in mind sports which usually represent the most prestigious competition for a specific board game, card game or mind sport. World championships can only be held for most games or mind sports with the ratification of an official body. Some Eastern games only have amateur world championships and separate professional competitions as can be seen for Go (list of professional Go tournaments).

Mind Sports Olympiad All-round

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World championships organized by Mind Sports Olympiad, that consist of competitions across multiple events to find the strongest games all-rounders.

Sport / Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Last Held Next Held every
Decamentathlon World Championship[1] Individuals 1997   Martyn Hamer 2019 2020 One year
Modern Abstract Games World Championship[2] Individuals 2008   Andres Kuusk 2022 2023 One year
Pentamind World Championship[3] Individuals 1997   Andres Kuusk 2024 2025 One year

Classic/traditional board games

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Major world championships for classic strategy board games, such as chess or go.

Category Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Last held Next Held every
Backgammon Backgammon Backgammon World Championship Individuals 1967   Frank Frigo 2023 2024 One year
Chaturanga variants Chess World Chess Championship Individuals 1886   Ding Liren 2023 2024 Two years
Shogi Meijin (shogi) [a] Individuals 1937   Sōta Fujii 2024 2025 One year
Xiangqi World Xiangqi Championship Individuals 1990   Wang Tianyi 2022 2024 Two years
Draughts International draughts Draughts World Championship Individuals 1885   Yuri Anikeev 2023 2024 One year
English draughts World Checkers Championship Individuals 1840   Sergio Scarpetta (3-Move)

  Matteo Bernini (GAYP)

2024
2024
2026
2026
Two years
Brazilian draughts and
Russian draughts
World Draughts-64 Championship Individuals 1985
1993
  Alexander Schwarzman (Braz)
  Andrei Fedotov (Rus)
2018
2020
?
2021
?
One year
Italian draughts Italian Draughts World Championship Individuals 2024   Damiano Sciuto[4] 2024 ? ?
Go Go Ing Cup [b] Individuals 1988  Ryo Ichiriki 2024 ? Four years
Five in a row Gomoku Gomoku World Championship Individuals 1989   Pavel Laube 2023 2025 Two years
Renju Renju World Championship Individuals 1989   Lu Hai 2023 2025 Two years
Morris Morabaraba Morabaraba World Championship Individuals 1997   Senane Gadlela 2015 2016 One year
Reversi Othello World Othello Championship Individuals 1977   Yasushi Nagano 2023 2024 One year
  1. ^ The Meijin match is not considered as a world championship. It is listed because Meijin is one of the most prestigious shogi titles in Japan.
  2. ^ There is no official world championship in professional Go. The Ing Cup is one of the most influential professional Go tournaments.

Classic/traditional card/tile games

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World championships in Traditional card games and tile-based games.

Category Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Last held Next Held every
Contract bridge Contract bridge Bermuda Bowl Teams 1950   Poland 2019 2021 Two years
Dominoes Dominoes World Championship Domino Tournament[5] Individuals 1976   Chris Authement 2019 2020 One year
Domino World Championship[6] Individuals 1995   Hege Lofthus 2011 2012 One year
Mahjong Mahjong World Mahjong Championship Individuals 2002   Baohua Sun 2017 2019 Two years
Riichi mahjong World Riichi Championship Individuals 2014   Keijun Nara 2022 2025 Three years
Poker Poker World Series of Poker Main Event Individuals 1970   Jonathan Tamayo 2024 2025 One year
Skat Skat World Skat Championship Individuals 1978   Maik Neumann (Men)
  Carmen Schulze (Women)
2018 2022 Two years
Teams   BABEDA
Nations   Netherlands

Mental disciplines

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Competitions using mental tests.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Memory World Memory Championships[7] Individuals 1991   Munkhshur Narmandakh 2022 One year
Mental calculation Mental Calculation World Cup Individuals 2004   Aaryan Nitin Shukla - 2024 2026 Two years
MSO Mental Calculation World Championship Individuals 1998 Kaloyan Geshev - 2024 2025 One year
Junior Mental Calculation World Championship Individuals (age restricted) 2013 2023 -

Andrej Zivanovic (Juniors 1)
Kaloyan Geshev (Juniors 2)
Abhilakshya Arora(Seniors)

2024 One year
Calculation League Individuals 2024 (Spring)

Wenzel Grüß (gold)
Aaryan Nitin Shukla (silver)
Kaloyan Geshev (bronze)

2024 (fall) Twice per year
Memory and Calculation Memoriad Individuals 2008 (15 winners) 2020 Four years

Modern board games

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Competitions in abstract strategy games and other modern board games.

Games made for 2 players:

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Arimaa Arimaa World Championship[8] Individuals 2004   Mathew Brown 2024 One year
Bōku Bōku World Championship[9] Individuals 2000   David Pearce 2017 One year
Entropy/Hyle Entropy World Championship[9] Individuals 1997   Alain Dekker 2025 One year
GIPF Project Gipf World Championship Individuals 2008   Mathijs Booden (2008)
Kamisado Kamisado World Championship[9] Individuals 2011   David Pearce 2025 One Year
Lines of Action LoA World Championship[9] Individuals 1997   James Heppell 2025 One year
Stratego Stratego World Championship[9] Individuals 1997   Vince van Geffen 2025 One year
Twilight Struggle International Twilight Struggle League[10] Individuals 2005   Tomas Tvaroh 2025 One year
Twixt TwixT World Championship[9] Individuals 1997   Florian Jamain 2025 One Year

Games supporting 3 or more players:

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Diplomacy World Diplomacy Convention[11] Individuals 1988   Gwen Maggi 2022 One year[12]
Hare and Tortoise Hare and Tortoise World Championships[13] Individuals 1997   Dario de Toffoli 2017 One year
Monopoly Monopoly World Championships[14] Individuals 1973   Nicolò Falcone[15] TBD No regular schedule
Settlers of Catan Catan World Championships[16] Individuals 2002   Quetzal Hernández 2020 Two years
4 games German Board Game Championship[17] Teams (4 players) 1984   Das Team mit dem Paukenschlag, Bonn 2024 One year
4 games Europe Masters - European Board Game Championship[18] Teams (4 players) 1988   Das Team mit dem Paukenschlag, Bonn 2024 One year

Modern card games

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Competitions in collectible card games and other modern card games.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Last held Next Held every
Magic: The Gathering Magic: The Gathering World Championship Individuals 1994   Jean-Emmanuel Depraz 2023 2024 One year
World Magic Cup[19] Teams 1995   France 2018 Discontinued[20] One year
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pokémon World Championships[21] Individuals 2004   Sakuya Ota (Junior)
  Evan Pavelski (Senior)
  Fernando Cifuentes (Master)[22]
2024 2025 One year
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships[23] Individuals 2003   Paul Aronson
  Jian Yu Jian (Duel Links)
    snipehunters (Master Duel)
2023 2024 One year
Wizard Card Game Wizard World Championship[24] Individuals 2010   Sebastian Holzer 2022 2023 One year

Speaking competitions

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World championships in speaking.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Auctioneering World Livestock Auctioneer Championship Individuals 1963   Jared Miller (2018) 2019 One year
Debating World Universities Debating Championship[25] Pairs 1979   Daniel A. DeBois & Archie J.W. Hall (2018) 2019 One year
World Schools Debating Championships Nations 1988   China (2018) 2019 One year
Debating (Spanish) World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish
Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español[25]
Pairs 2011   Antonio Fabregat & Javier De La Puerta (2017) 2018 One year
Debating (Portuguese) World Debating Championship in Portuguese
Campeonato Mundial de Debate em Língua Portuguesa[25]
Pairs 2018   David Alatorre López &   Brittany Garcia (2019) TBD One year

Tile games

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World championships held in tile-based games include:

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Carcassonne Carcassonne World Championship[26] Individuals 2006   Matt Tucker 2024 One year
Continuo Continuo World Championship[9] Individuals 1997   David M. Pearce 2017 One year
Hexago Hexago World Championship[9] Individuals 2007   David M. Pearce (2007)
Saboteur Saboteur World Championship[27] Individuals 2016   Alexander Mischke 2023 One year
Tantrix Tantrix World Championship (online)[28] Individuals 1998   Tamás Gombkötő 2023 One year
Tantrix World Open (real tiles)[29] Individuals 2009   Marek Reniers 2023[30] One year (irregular)

Word games

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World championships in word games.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Scrabble (English) World Scrabble Championship[31] Individuals 1991   Nigel Richards (2019) 2020 Two years; one year since 2013
Scrabble (Spanish) Spanish World Scrabble Championship[32] Individuals 1997   Selene Delgado (2017) 2018 One year
Scrabble (French) French World Scrabble Championship Duplicate[33] Individuals 1972   Nigel Richards (2017) 2018 One year
French World Scrabble Championship Classic[33] Individuals 2006   Benjamin Valour (2017) 2018 One year

Information technology

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World championships in competitive programming.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Competitive programming Topcoder Open Individuals 2001   Gennady Korotkevich (2017) 2020 once a year
Corewars ICWS Individuals/teams 1985 ? ? yearly


Quizzing

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Quizzing competitions organized by the private company International Quizzing Assoc.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities
First
held
Current holder Next Held every
Quiz World Quizzing Championship Individuals 2003[34]   Victoria Groce (2024) 2025 yearly

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Full results for 2019 Decamentathlon World Championship - Mind Sports Olympiad".
  2. ^ "2020 Medal Table - Mind Sports OlympiadMind Sports Olympiad - Mind Sports Olympiad".
  3. ^ "Ankush Khandelwal Wins the 2020 Pentamind World Championship - Mind Sports Olympiad".
  4. ^ "1st World Championship Italian Draughts Final standings". FMJD Results. 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  5. ^ by Rotary Club:"World Championship Domino Tournament page". Archived from the original on 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  6. ^ by Fédération Internationale de Domino (FIDO): "Fédération Internationale de Domino (FIDO): World Championship page".
  7. ^ Omonira-Oyekanmi, Rebecca; Moyer, Justin (2010-09-13). "For this champion, life is (mostly) a memory game". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ Arimaa World Championship results pages, http://arimaa.com/arimaa/wc/, 31 Dec 2014
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Mind Sports Olympiad results pages, http://www.boardability.com/results.php, 15 February 2011
  10. ^ "ITSL Season 10 Hall of Fame". www.twilight-league.com.
  11. ^ Peery, Larry. "A History of World DipCon". Diplomatic Corps.
  12. ^ Two years until 1994 then one year since 1994 but no world championship in 2020 and 2021 (coronavirus).
  13. ^ "2015 Results". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  14. ^ "Italy Defeats Defending Champion". www.businesswire.com.
  15. ^ "Nicoló Falcone of Italy Defeats Defending Champion Bjørn Halvard Knappskog of Norway to Win 2015 Monopoly World Championship! – Business Wire". businesswire.com. September 8, 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  16. ^ "CATAN World Championship 2018 in Cologne: The new world champion comes from Mexico". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  17. ^ "German Board Game Championship for teams / www.DMMiB.de".
  18. ^ "EuropeMasters - Open European Championships Boardgames".{}
  19. ^ "2018 World Magic Cup - Deux fois c'est bien". Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  20. ^ Chase, Elaine. "The Next Chapter for Magic: Esports". Wizards of the Coast.
  21. ^ "2023 Pokémon World Championships | News". Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  22. ^ "Meet the Winners of the 2024 Pokémon World Championships". The Pokémon Company International. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  23. ^ "Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2023 (WCS2023)".
  24. ^ "Wizard Tournaments".
  25. ^ a b c World Debating website, http://www.debating.ie//
  26. ^ Moder, Peter Janshoff / Thomas. "Carcassonne - World Championship 2022 - Finals". www.spielezentrum.de. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  27. ^ "Saboteur Tournaments".
  28. ^ Tantrix official results (online) 2022 http://tournaments.tantrix.co.uk/auto/index.php?page=showph2&comp=WTC&do=final&year=2022
  29. ^ Tantrix official results 2022 http://www.tantrix.com/tournaments/index.php?page=home&comp=WTO&year=2022
  30. ^ World Tantrix Open 2023 http://tantrix.com/tournaments/index.php?page=home&comp=WTO&year=2023]
  31. ^ Official Scrabble World Championship site, http://www.wscgames.com/
  32. ^ FISE Scrabble site, http://fisescrabble.org/torneos/mundiales/
  33. ^ a b FISF Scrabble site, http://www.fisf.net
  34. ^ "History – World Quizzing Championships". Retrieved 2022-11-25.