List of world championships in mind sports
{{Short description|none}}
{{Update|inaccurate=yes|date=November 2020}}
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.
Classic/traditional board games
Major world championships for classic strategy board games, such as chess or go.
| style="font-size:90%;" class="wikitable sortable"
! Category ! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Last held ! Next ! Held every |
| Backgammon
|Backgammon World Championship |Individuals |1967 |{{flagicon|SWE}} Johan Moazed |2024 |2025 |One year |
| rowspan="3" |Chaturanga variants
|Individuals |1886 |{{flagicon|IND}} Gukesh Dommaraju |2024 |2026 |Two years |
| Shogi
|Meijin (shogi) {{efn|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.|group=classical}} |Individuals |1937 |{{flagicon|JPN}} Sōta Fujii |2024 |2025 |One year |
| Xiangqi
|Individuals |1990 |{{flagicon|CHN}} Wang Tianyi |2022 |2024 |Two years |
| rowspan="4" |Draughts
|Individuals |1885 |{{flagicon|UKR}} Yuri Anikeev |2023 |2024 |One year |
| English draughts
|Individuals |1840 |{{flagicon|ITA}} Sergio Scarpetta (3-Move) {{flagicon|ITA}} Matteo Bernini (GAYP) |2024 |2026 |Two years |
| Brazilian draughts and Russian draughts |World Draughts-64 Championship |Individuals |1985 |Nikolay Struchkov (Classic) |2024 |2025 |One year |
| Italian draughts
|Italian Draughts World Championship |Individuals |2024 |{{flagicon|ITA}} Damiano Sciuto{{Cite web |date=2024-04-27 |title=1st World Championship Italian Draughts Final standings |url=https://results.fmjd.org/tournaments/2024/f_562/final_standings&11.html |access-date=2024-04-27 |website=FMJD Results}} |2024 |? |? |
| Go
|Go |Ing Cup {{efn|There is no official world championship in professional Go. The Ing Cup is one of the most influential professional Go tournaments.|group=classical}} |Individuals |1988 |{{flagicon|JPN}}Ryo Ichiriki |2024 |? |Four years |
| rowspan="2" |Five in a row
|Individuals |1989 |{{flagicon|CZE}} Pavel Laube |2023 |2025 |Two years |
| Renju
|Individuals |1989 |{{flagicon|CHN}} Lu Hai |2023 |2025 |Two years |
| Reversi
|Individuals |1977 |{{flagicon|JPN}} Yasushi Nagano |2023 |2024 |One year |
{{notelist|group=classical}}
Classic/traditional card/tile games
World championships in Traditional card games and tile-based games.
| style="font-size:90%;" class="wikitable sortable"
! Category ! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Last held ! Next ! Held every | |
| rowspan="3"|Contract bridge
|rowspan="3"|Contract bridge |Teams (Open) |1950 |{{flagicon|SUI}} Switzerland |2023 |2025 |Two years | |
| Venice Cup
|Teams (Women) |1937 |{{flagicon|ISR}} Israel |2023 |2025 |Two years | |
| d'Orsi Senior Bowl
|Teams (Seniors) |2001 |{{flagicon|DEN}} Denmark |2023 |2025 |Two years | |
| rowspan="2" | Dominoes
|rowspan="2" | Dominoes |World Championship Domino Tournamentby Rotary Club:{{cite web | url=http://www.worlddomino.com/ | title=World Championship Domino Tournament page | access-date=2011-02-16 | archive-date=2010-03-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325220142/http://www.worlddomino.com/ | url-status=dead }} |Individuals |1976 |{{flagicon|USA}} Chris Authement |2019 |2020 |One year | |
| Domino World Championshipby Fédération Internationale de Domino (FIDO): {{cite web| url=http://www.dominospiel.de/wm.php?lang=EN |title=Fédération Internationale de Domino (FIDO): World Championship page}}
|Individuals |1995 |{{flagicon|GER}} Torsten Fornefeld |2023 |2024 |One year | |
| rowspan="2"|Mahjong
|Individuals |2002 |{{flagicon|CHN}} Zhou Yong |2019 |2021 |Two years | |
| Riichi mahjong
|Individuals |2014 |{{flagicon|JPN}} Keijun Nara |2022 |2025 |Three years | |
| Poker
|World Series of Poker Main Event |Individuals |1970 | {{flagicon|USA}} Jonathan Tamayo
|2024 |2025 |One year |
| rowspan="3"|Skat
|rowspan="3"|Skat |rowspan="3"|World Skat Championship |Individuals |rowspan="3"|1978 |{{flagicon|GER}} Deni Lazicic (Men) |rowspan="3"|2022 |rowspan="3"|2024 |rowspan="3"|Two years | |
| Teams
|{{flagicon|GER}} ISPAWORLD and Friends | |
| Nations
|{{flag|Canada}} |
Mental disciplines
Competitions using mental tests.
| style="font-size:90%;" class="wikitable sortable"
! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Next ! Held every |
| Memory
|World Memory Championships{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091305448.html | title=For this champion, life is (mostly) a memory game | date=2010-09-13 | newspaper=The Washington Post | first1=Rebecca | last1=Omonira-Oyekanmi | first2=Justin | last2=Moyer}} |Individuals |1991 |{{flagicon|CHN}} Huang Jinyao |2024 | One year |
| rowspan="4" | Mental calculation
|Individuals |2004 |{{flagicon|IND}} 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 |
Modern board games
Competitions in abstract strategy games and other modern board games.
Games made for 2 players:
| style="font-size:90%;" class="wikitable sortable"
! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Next ! Held every |
| Arimaa
|Arimaa World ChampionshipArimaa World Championship results pages, http://arimaa.com/arimaa/wc/, 31 Dec 2014 |Individuals |2004 |{{flagicon|USA}} Mathew Brown (2023) |2024 | One year |
| Entropy/Hyle
|Entropy World ChampionshipMind Sports Olympiad results pages, http://www.boardability.com/results.php, 15 February 2011 |Individuals |1997 |{{flagicon|South Africa}} Alain Dekker (2024) |2025 |One year |
| Kamisado
| Individuals | 2011 | {{flagicon|England}} David Pearce (2024) | 2025 | One Year |
| Lines of Action
| Individuals | 1997 | {{flagicon|ENG}} James Heppell (2024) | 2025 | One year |
| Stratego
| Individuals | 1997 | {{flagicon|NED}} Vince van Geffen (2024) | 2025 | One year |
| Twilight Struggle
|International Twilight Struggle League{{Cite news| url=https://www.twilight-league.com/?p=2112|title=ITSL Season 10 Hall of Fame|website=www.twilight-league.com}} | Individuals | 2005 | {{flagicon|Czechia}} Tomas Tvaroh (2024) | 2025 | One year |
| Twixt
| Individuals | 1997 | {{flagicon|FRA}} Florian Jamain (2024) | 2025 | One Year |
Games supporting 3 or more players:
Modern card games
Competitions in collectible card games and other modern card games.
Speaking competitions
World championships in speaking.
| style="font-size:90%;" class="wikitable sortable"
! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Next ! Held every |
| Auctioneering
|World Livestock Auctioneer Championship |Individuals |1963 |{{flagicon|USA}} Jared Miller (2018) |2019 |One year |
| rowspan="2" |Debating
|World Universities Debating ChampionshipWorld Debating website, http://www.debating.ie// | Pairs | 1979 | {{flagicon|ENG}} Mark Rothery & Aniket Chakravorty (2024) | 2025 | One year |
| World Schools Debating Championships
|Nations |1988 |{{flagicon|SCO}} Scotland (2024) |2025 |One year |
| Debating (Spanish)
|World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish | Pairs | 2011 |{{flagicon|PER}} Francisco Vergara & Mauricio Jarufe (2021) | 2022 | One year |
| Debating (Portuguese)
|World Debating Championship in Portuguese | Pairs | 2018 |{{flagicon|MEX}} David Alatorre López & {{flagicon|USA}} Brittany Garcia (2019) | TBD | One year |
Tile games
World championships held in tile-based games include:
Word games
World championships in word games.
| style="font-size:90%;" class="wikitable sortable"
! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Next ! Held every |
| Scrabble (English)
| World Scrabble ChampionshipOfficial Scrabble World Championship site, http://www.wscgames.com/ | Individuals | 1991 | {{flagicon|AUS}} David Eldar (2023) | 2024 | Two years; one year since 2013 |
| Scrabble (Spanish)
| Spanish World Scrabble ChampionshipFISE Scrabble site, http://fisescrabble.org/torneos/mundiales/ | Individuals | 1997 | {{flagicon|FRA}} Serge Emig (2019) | 2020 | One year |
| rowspan="2" | Scrabble (French)
| French World Scrabble Championships DuplicateFISF Scrabble site, http://www.fisf.net | Individuals | 1972 | {{flagicon|NZL}} Nigel Richards (2019) | 2020 | One year |
| French World Scrabble Championship Classic
| Individuals | 2006 | {{flagicon|CAN}} Francis Desjardins (2019) | 2020 | One year |
Information technology
World championships in competitive programming.
| style="font-size:90%;" class="wikitable sortable"
! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Next ! Held every |
| Competitive programming
| Individuals | 2001 | {{flagicon|BLR}} Gennady Korotkevich (2022) | 2023 | once a year |
| Corewars
| ICWS | Individuals/teams | 1985 | ? | ? | yearly |
Quizzing
Quizzing competitions organized by the private company International Quizzing Assoc.
| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%;"
! Sport ! Competition name ! Competing ! First ! Current holder ! Next ! Held every |
| Quiz
| Individuals | {{flagicon|USA}} Victoria Groce (2024) | 2025 | yearly |
See also
{{portal|Sports|World}}
- Esports
- List of esports leagues and tournaments
- Mind Sports Organisation
- International Association of Memory
- World Memory Championships
- World Junior Memory Championships
- World Memory Tournament Federation
- World Mind Sports Games
- Mind Sports Olympiad
- International Philosophy Olympiad
- World cup competition
- World championship
- List of world sports championships
- List of world cups and world championships for juniors and youth