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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

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 England Martyn Hamer 2019 2020 One year
Modern Abstract Games World Championship[2] Individuals 2008 Estonia Andres Kuusk 2022 2023 One year
Pentamind World Championship[3] Individuals 1997 Estonia Andres Kuusk 2022 2023 One year

Classic/traditional board games

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 United States Frank Frigo 2023 2024 One year
Chaturanga variants Chess World Chess Championship Individuals 1886 China Ding Liren 2023 2024 Two years
Shogi Meijin (shogi) [a] Individuals 1937 Japan Akira Watanabe 2022 2023 One year
Xiangqi World Xiangqi Championship Individuals 1990 China Wang Tianyi 2022 2024 Two years
Draughts International draughts Draughts World Championship Individuals 1885 UkraineYuri Anikeev 2023 2024 One year
English draughts World Checkers Championship Individuals 1840 Italy Sergio Scarpetta (3-Move)

Italy Matteo Bernini (GAYP)

2022
2022 		2024
2024 		Two years
Brazilian draughts and
Russian draughts 		World Draughts-64 Championship Individuals 1985
1993 		Russia Alexander Schwarzman (Braz)
Russia Andrei Fedotov (Rus) 		2018
2020 		?
2021 		?
One year
Go Go Ing Cup [b] Individuals 1988 South Korea Shin Jin-seo 2023 ? Four years
Five in a row Gomoku Gomoku World Championship Individuals 1989 Czech Republic Pavel Laube 2023 2025 Two years
Renju Renju World Championship Individuals 1989 China Lu Hai 2023 2025 Two years
Morris Morabaraba Morabaraba World Championship Individuals 1997 Eswatini Senane Gadlela 2015 2016 One year
Reversi Othello World Othello Championship Individuals 1977 Japan Kento Urano 2022 2023 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

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 Poland 2019 2021 Two years
Dominoes Dominoes World Championship Domino Tournament[4] Individuals 1976 United States Chris Authement 2019 2020 One year
Domino World Championship[5] Individuals 1995 Norway Hege Lofthus 2011 2012 One year
Mahjong Mahjong World Mahjong Championship Individuals 2002 China Baohua Sun 2017 2019 Two years
Riichi mahjong World Riichi Championship Individuals 2014 Japan Keijun Nara 2022 2025 Three years
Poker Poker World Series of Poker Main Event Individuals 1970 Germany Koray Aldemir 2021 2022 One year
Skat Skat World Skat Championship Individuals 1978 Germany Maik Neumann (Men)
Germany Carmen Schulze (Women) 		2018 2022 Two years
Teams Germany BABEDA
Nations  Netherlands

Mental disciplines

Competitions using mental tests.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities 		First
held 		Current holder Next Held every
Memory World Memory Championships[6] Individuals 1991 Mongolia Munkhshur Narmandakh 2022 One year
Mental calculation Mental Calculation World Cup Individuals 2004 India Aaryan Nitin Shukla - 2022 2024 Two years
MSO Mental Calculation World Championship Individuals 1998 India Aaryan Nitin Shukla - 2021 2022 One year
Junior Mental Calculation World Championship Individuals (age restricted) 2013 2020 -

India Aaryan Nitin Shukla (Juniors 1)
United Arab Emirates Archita Pal (Juniors 1)
United Arab Emirates Asmita Pal (Juniors 2)
India Shashank Jain (Seniors)

2022 One year
Memory and Calculation Memoriad Individuals 2008 (15 winners) 2020 Four years

Modern board games

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[7] Individuals 2004 United Kingdom Jerome Richmond 2020 One year
Bōku Bōku World Championship[8] Individuals 2000 South Africa Alain Dekker 2017 One year
Entropy/Hyle Entropy World Championship[8] Individuals 1997 Wales David Jameson 2019 One year
GIPF Project Gipf World Championship Individuals 2008 Netherlands Mathijs Booden (2008)
Kamisado Kamisado World Championship[8] Individuals 2011 Estonia Andres Kuusk 2017 One Year
Lines of Action LoA World Championship[8] Individuals 1997 England James Heppell 2017 One year
Stratego Stratego World Championship[8] Individuals 1997 Netherlands Tim Slagboom 2020 One year
Twilight Struggle International Twilight Struggle League[9] Individuals 2005 China Min Cao 2022 One year
Twixt TwixT World Championship[8] Individuals 1997 France Florian Jamain 2017 One Year

Games supporting 3 or more players:

Sport Competition name Competing
entities 		First
held 		Current holder Next Held every
Diplomacy World Diplomacy Convention[10] Individuals 1988 France Gwen Maggi 2022 One year[11]
Hare and Tortoise Hare and Tortoise World Championships[12] Individuals 1997 Italy Dario de Toffoli 2017 One year
Monopoly Monopoly World Championships[13] Individuals 1973 Italy Nicolò Falcone[14] TBD No regular schedule
Settlers of Catan Catan World Championships[15] Individuals 2002 Mexico Quetzal Hernández 2020 Two years
4 games German Board Game Championship[16] Teams (4 players) 1984 Germany Das Team mit dem Paukenschlag, Bonn 2024 One year
4 games EuropeMasters - European Championships Boardgames[17] Teams (4 players) 1988 Germany Das Team mit dem Paukenschlag, Bonn 2024 One year

Modern card games

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 France Jean-Emmanuel Depraz 2023 2024 One year
World Magic Cup[18] Teams 1995 France France 2018 Discontinued[19] One year
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pokémon World Championships[20] Individuals 2004 Taiwan Shao Tong Yen (Junior)
Brazil Gabriel Fernandez (Senior)
United States Vance Kelley (Master) 		2023 2024 One year
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships[21] Individuals 2003 United States Paul Aronson
N/A Jian Yu Jian (Duel Links)
Germany Netherlands snipehunters (Master Duel) 		2023 2024 One year
Wizard Card Game Wizard World Championship[22] Individuals 2010 Austria Sebastian Holzer 2022 2023 One year

Speaking competitions

World championships in speaking.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities 		First
held 		Current holder Next Held every
Auctioneering World Livestock Auctioneer Championship Individuals 1963 United States Jared Miller (2018) 2019 One year
Debating World Universities Debating Championship[23] Pairs 1979 England Daniel A. DeBois & Archie J.W. Hall (2018) 2019 One year
World Schools Debating Championships Nations 1988 China China (2018) 2019 One year
Debating (Spanish) World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish
Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español[23] 		Pairs 2011 Spain Antonio Fabregat & Javier De La Puerta (2017) 2018 One year
Debating (Portuguese) World Debating Championship in Portuguese
Campeonato Mundial de Debate em Língua Portuguesa[23] 		Pairs 2018 Mexico David Alatorre López & United States Brittany Garcia (2019) TBD One year

Tile games

World championships held in tile-based games include:

Sport Competition name Competing
entities 		First
held 		Current holder Next Held every
Carcassonne Carcassonne World Championship[24] Individuals 2006 United Kingdom Matt Tucker 2024 One year
Continuo Continuo World Championship[8] Individuals 1997 England David M. Pearce 2017 One year
Hexago Hexago World Championship[8] Individuals 2007 England David M. Pearce (2007)
Saboteur Saboteur World Championship[25] Individuals 2016 Germany Alexander Mischke 2023 One year
Tantrix Tantrix World Championship (online)[26] Individuals 1998 Hungary Tamás Gombkötő 2023 One year
Tantrix World Open (real tiles)[27] Individuals 2009 Netherlands Marek Reniers 2023[28] One year (irregular)

Word games

World championships in word games.

Sport Competition name Competing
entities 		First
held 		Current holder Next Held every
Scrabble (English) World Scrabble Championship[29] Individuals 1991 New Zealand Nigel Richards (2019) 2020 Two years; one year since 2013
Scrabble (Spanish) Spanish World Scrabble Championship[30] Individuals 1997 Uruguay Selene Delgado (2017) 2018 One year
Scrabble (French) French World Scrabble Championship Duplicate[31] Individuals 1972 New Zealand Nigel Richards (2017) 2018 One year
French World Scrabble Championship Classic[31] Individuals 2006 France Benjamin Valour (2017) 2018 One year

Information technology

World championships in competitive programming.

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


Quizzing

Quizzing competitions organized by the International Quizzing Association

Sport Competition name Competing
entities 		First
held 		Current holder Next Held every
Quiz World Quizzing Championship Individuals 2003[32] France Didier Bruyere (2022) 2023 yearly

See also

References

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