List of all-rounders in games of skill

This is a list of all-rounders in games of skill: those people who have reached world-class performance in more than one game. Games of skill include chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

, checkers (or draughts), go

Go (board game)

Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...

, bridge

Contract bridge

Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...

, backgammon

Backgammon

Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...

and poker

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

. Few players excel in more than one of these games.

All-rounders in chess, draughts, backgammon, bridge and poker

Name	Chess Chess Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...	Draughts Draughts Draughts is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque...	Backgammon Backgammon Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...	Bridge Contract bridge Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...	Poker Poker Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
Mads Andersen Mads Andersen Mads Andersen is a poker and backgammon player from Copenhagen, Denmark. Before making his mark in the poker world, Andersen won the 2002 World Backgammon Championships. Andersen won the European Poker Tour second season Scandinavian Open where he outlasted the field to take home DKr 2,548,040....	—	—	World Champion 2002	—	Winner European Poker Tour European Poker Tour The Pokerstars European Poker Tour is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour , created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity... Scandinavian Open 2006
John R. Crawford John R. Crawford John Randolph Crawford was an American bridge and backgammon player...	—	—	International Tournament Champion 1965	World Champion 1950, 1951, 1953	—
Billy Eisenberg Billy Eisenberg William Eisenberg is an American bridge and backgammon professional. In bridge, Eisenberg has won five Bermuda Bowl world team titles and in backgammon he won the world title in 1975...	—	—	World Champion 1975	World Champion 1970, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1979	—
Pierre Ghestem Pierre Ghestem Pierre Ghestem was a French bridge and checkers player. In 1947 he became the world champion in checkers...	—	World Champion 1947	—	World Champion 1956, 1960	—
Oswald Jacoby Oswald Jacoby Oswald Jacoby was an American contract bridge player and author, considered one of the greatest bridge players of all time. He also excelled at, and wrote about, other games including backgammon, gin rummy, and poker.Born in Brooklyn, he was taught to play whist at the age of six and played his...	—	—	World Champion 1972	World Champion 1935	—
Irina Levitina Irina Levitina Irina Solomonovna Levitina is a Russian-American chess and bridge player. In chess, she has been a World Championship Candidate and gained the title Woman Grandmaster. In contract bridge she has been five times the World Champion.-Chess career:In 1973, she tied for 2nd-5th in Menorca...	Women's World Champion Challenger 1984	—	—	Women's World Champion 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007	—
Bill Robertie Bill Robertie Bill Robertie is a backgammon, chess, and poker player and author. He is one of three backgammon players to have won the Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship twice . Robertie also won the Pro-Am in the Bahamas in the year 1993 and the Istanbul World Cup in 1994. In chess, Robertie won the 1970...	US Speed Chess Champion 1970	—	World Champion 1983, 1987	—	—
Dan Harrington Dan Harrington Dan Harrington is a professional poker player, best known for winning the main event world championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. He has earned one World Poker Tour title, two WSOP bracelets, and over six million dollars in tournament cashes in his poker career...	—	—	Gold Cup Champion 1981	—	WSOP Main Event Champion 1995. Final table 1987, 2003, 2004
Kit Woolsey Kit Woolsey Kit Woolsey is an American bridge and backgammon player. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1964. He earned a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1965....	—	—	2nd at the World Cup 1996	World Champion 1986, 2000, 2003	—
Paul Magriel Paul Magriel Paul David Magriel Jr. is an American professional backgammon player, poker player and author based in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Chess:Paul was New York State Junior Chess Champion at the age of 19, while a student at New York University....	New York State Junior Chess Champion 1966	—	World Champion 1978	—	Final table World Poker Tour World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that... , Professional Poker Tour Professional Poker Tour The Professional Poker Tour was a series of televised poker tournaments, spinning off from the World Poker Tour television series. It billed itself as the first professional poker league, and was limited to players who have established themselves on the World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker,... and Ultimate Poker Challenge Ultimate Poker Challenge The Ultimate Poker Challenge was a series of weekly poker tournaments acting as super-satellites into the series semi-finals.The first and second seasons are available on NTSC DVD...

All-round games competitions

The Mind Sports Olympiad introduced competitions where players have to compete across a range of games of skill / Mind Sports to find the best all-rounder. The three main competitions are The Pentamind

Mind Sports Organisation

The Mind Sports Organisation is an association for promoting mental-skill games including Contract Bridge, Chess, Go, Mastermind, and Scrabble. Since 1997 it has annually organised in England a multi-sport competition, the Mind Sports Olympiad main event.The MSO was founded in conjunction with...

, The Decamentathlon

Decamentathlon

Decamentathlon is a multi disciplined games event that was created as part of the first Mind Sports Olympiad. It was founded to try to find the best games all-rounder in the world and hence possibly the best games player. It was given a prize fund of £10,000 for the inaugural competition, that...

World championship

A world championship is the top achievement for any sport or contest. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best nation, team, individual in the world in a particular field. Certain sports do not have a world championship, instead...

and abstract games

Abstract strategy game

An abstract strategy game is a strategy game, aiming to minimise luck, and without a theme. Almost all abstract strategy games will conform to the strictest definition of: a board or card game, in which there is no hidden information, no non-deterministic elements , in which two players or teams...

world championship. The most important of these is the pentamind won 5 times by Demis Hassabis

Demis Hassabis

Demis Hassabis is a computer game designer, AI programmer, neuroscientist and world-class games player. A child prodigy in chess, he reached master standard at the age of 13 with an Elo rating of 2300...

All-rounders in chess, draughts, backgammon, bridge and poker

All-round games competitions

See Also