List of world championships in mind sports

This page 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.

All-round Games Competitions

World Championships that comprise of competitions across multiple events to find the strongest games all-rounders.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Abstract strategy games	Abstract Games World Championship[1]	Individual	2008	David M. Pearce	2012	One year
Decamentathlon	Decamentathlon World Championship[2]	Individual	1997	Mathew Cordell	2012	One year
Mind Sports	The Pentamind[2]	Individual	1997	Andres Kuusk	2012	One year

Card Games World Championships

World Championships in card games.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Contract bridge	Bermuda Bowl	Teams	1950	USA 2	2011	Two years
Poker	World Series of Poker Main Event	Individual	1971	Jonathan Duhamel	2011	One year
Magic: The Gathering	Magic: The Gathering World Championship	Individual	1994	Guillaume Matignon	2011	One year

Classic / Traditional Strategy Games

Major World Championships for classic strategy board games i.e. go or oware.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Backgammon	Backgammon World Championship.[3]	Individual	1967	Takumitsu Suzuki	2012	One year
Chess	World Chess Championship[4]	Individual	1886	Vishwanathan Anand	2012
Draughts	Draughts World Championships[5]	Individual	1948	Alexander Georgiev	2013
Go	World Amateur Go Championship	Individual	1979	Baoxiang Bai	2012	One year
Mahjong	World Mahjong Championship	Individual	2007	Linghua Jiao	(2010)
Shogi	Shogi World Championship[6]	Individual	2000	Paul Ogi	(2009)
Xiangqi	Xiangqi World Championships[7]	Individual	1990	Zhao Xinxin	2011	Two years

Mental Disciplines

Competitions using mental tests.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Memory	World Memory Championships[8]	Individual	1991	Wang Feng	2011	One year
Mental calculation	Mental Calculation World Cup	Individual	2004	Priyanshi Somani	2012	Two years

Modern Abstract Strategy Games

Competitions in abstract strategy games.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Arimaa	Arimaa World Championship	Individual	2004	Jean Daligault	2012	One year
Boku	Boku World Championship[9]	Individual	2000	Andres Kuusk	2012	One year
Entropy / Hyle	Entropy World Championship[9]	Individual	1997	Peter Horlock	2012	One year
GIPF	Project Gipf World Championship	Individual	2008	Mathijs Booden	(2008)
Kamisado	Kamisado World Championship[9]	Individual	2011	David M. Pearce	2012	One Year
Lines of action	LoA World Championship[9]	Individual	1997	Tim Hebbes	2012	One year
Morabaraba	Morabaraba World Championship	Individual	1997	Rannyadi Moses	(2008)
Othello / Reversi	World Othello Championship[9]	Individual	1977	Yuseke Takanashi	2011	One year
Renju	Renju World Championship[10]	Individual	1989	Cao Dong	2013	Two years
Stratego	Stratego World Championship[9]	Individual	1997	Pim Neimejer	2011	One year
Twixt	TwixT World Championship[9]	Individual	1997	David M. Pearce	2012	One Year

Multiplayer Board games World Championships

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Diplomacy	World Diplomacy Convention[11]	Individual	1988	Andrew Goff	2012	One year
Hare and Tortoise	Hare and Tortoise World Championships[9]	Individual	1997	Tige Nnando	2012	One year
Monopoly	Monopoly World Championships[12][13]	Individual	1973	Bjørn Halvard Knappskog	2013	Four years
Settlers of Catan	Catan World Championships[14]	Individual	2002	Erwin Pauelsen	2011	One year

Speaking competitions

World Championships in speaking.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Debating	World Universities Debating Championship[15]	Pairs	1981	Victor Finkel & Fiona Prowse	2011-2012	Year
Debating in Spanish	World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish (Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español)[16]	Pairs	2011	Jesús Gorrín & Alain Herrera	2011	Year

Tile Games

World Championships held in tile-based games include:

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Continuo	Continuo World Championship[9]	Individual	1997	David M. Pearce	2012	One year
Dominoes	World Championship Domino Tournament[17] and Domino World Championship[18]	Individual and individual	1976 and 1995	Jerome Wooten and Thomas Caflisch	2012 and 2011	One year and one year
Hexago	Hexago World Championship[9]	Individual	2007	David M. Pearce	(2007)
Tantrix	Tantrix World Championship (online)[19]	Individual	1998	Chris Hill	2011	One year
Tantrix	Tantrix World Open (real tiles)[20]	Individual	2009	Niklas Andersson	2011	One year

Variants of classical games

Variants of classic strategy games with notable World Championships. An example of a variant of a classic game is

Chess960.

Word Games

World Championships in word games.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Scrabble	World Scrabble Championship[21]	Individual	1991	Pakorn Nemitrmansuk	2011	Two years

See also

• World Championships
• Mind Sports Olympiad
• World Mind Sports Games

References

1. ^ Abstract Games page at MSO, http://www.boardability.com/game.php?id=abstract_games, 15 February 2011
2. ^ ^{a b} Mind Sports Olympiad Supplements, The Times, July-August 1997.
3. ^ Oswald Jacoby & John Crawford, The Backgammon Book, 1970, Macmillan & co
4. ^ Weeks, M.. "World Chess Championship FIDE Events 1948-1990". http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indy.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-15. 
5. ^ Chang, K. (2007-07-20). "Champion at Checkers That Cannot Lose to People". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/20/science/20checkers.html. Retrieved 20011-02-15. 
6. ^ "Shogi page". http://www.worldshogi.com/. 
7. ^ {Official Xiangqi site, http://www.wxf.org/
8. ^ Omonira-Oyekanmi, Rebecca; Moyer, Justin (2010-09-13). "For this champion, life is (mostly) a memory game". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091305448.html. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Mind Sports Olympiad results pages, http://www.boardability.com/results.php, 15 February 2011
10. ^ Renju official site [1]
11. ^ Peery, Larry. "A History of World DipCon". Diplomatic Corps. http://www.diplomaticcorps.org/History/WDCHistory.txt. 
12. ^ "Norwegian teen wins Monopoly world championship". AFP. 2009-10-23. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26249271-23109,00.html. 
13. ^ worldofmonopoly.com
14. ^ Settlers official site [2]
15. ^ World Debating website, http://www.debating.ie//
16. ^ World Debating website, http://www.debating.ie//
17. ^ by Rotary Club:"World Championship Domino Tournament page". http://www.worlddomino.com/. 
18. ^ by Fédération Internationale de Domino (FIDO): "Fédération Internationale de Domino (FIDO): World Championship page". http://www.dominospiel.de/wm.php?lang=EN. 
19. ^ Tantrix official results (online) 2010 http://tournaments.tantrix.co.uk/auto/index.php?page=showph2&comp=WTC&do=final&year=2010
20. ^ Tantrix official results 2010 http://www.tantrix.com/english/tournaments/Tantrix2010WorldOpen.html
21. ^ Official Scrabble World Championship site, http://www.wscgames.com/