This page gives a list of world championships in mind sports which usually represent the most prestigious competition for a specific board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

, card game

Card game

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...

 or mind sport

Mind sport

A Mind Sport is a sport or a game of skill where the mentalcomponent is much more significant than the physical. The official bodies that use the term have over 500 million registered users.- History of the term :...

. World championships

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...

 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	Individual	2008	David M. Pearce	2012	One year
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...	Decamentathlon World Championship 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...	Individual	1997	Mathew Cordell	2012	One year
Mind Sports Mind sport A Mind Sport is a sport or a game of skill where the mentalcomponent is much more significant than the physical. The official bodies that use the term have over 500 million registered users.- History of the term :...	The Pentamind	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 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...	Bermuda Bowl Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a trophy awarded to the winners of the Open series in the World Team Championship in contract bridge and is named for the site of the inaugural tournament held in 1950...	Teams	1950	USA 2	2011	Two years
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...	World Series of Poker Main Event	Individual	1971	Jonathan Duhamel Jonathan Duhamel Jonathan Duhamel is a Canadian poker professional from Boucherville, Quebec, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2010 World Series of Poker . He is the first Canadian player to capture the Main Event bracelet....	2011	One year
Magic: The Gathering Magic: The Gathering Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...	Magic: The Gathering World Championship Magic: The Gathering World Championship The Magic: The Gathering World Championships have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering to the winner a cash prize of $45,000. Originally open to all competitors, Worlds is now an invitation-only event and the last Pro Tour...	Individual	1994	Jun'ya Iyanaga	2012	One year

Classic / Traditional Strategy Games

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

Oware

Oware is an abstract strategy game of Akan origin. Part of the mancala family, it is played throughout West Africa and the Caribbean. Among its many names are Ayò , Awalé , Wari , Ouri, Ouril or Uril , Warri , Adji , and Awélé...

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Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
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...	Backgammon World Championship.	Individual	1967	Takumitsu Suzuki	2012	One year
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...	World Chess Championship World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....	Individual	1886	Vishwanathan Anand	2012
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...	Draughts World Championships English draughts English draughts or checkers , also called American checkers or straight checkers or in Israel damka, is a form of draughts board game. Unlike international draughts, it is played on an eight by eight squared board with twelve pieces on each side...	Individual	1948	Alexander Georgiev Alexander Georgiev Alexander Sergeyevich Georgiev is a draughts player who won the world championship in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2011. He is considered to be among the best living players of the game.-External links:*...	2013
Go	World Amateur Go Championship World Amateur Go Championship The World Amateur Go Championship is an international tournament for amateur Go players, held once a year since 1979. The organising body is the International Go Federation . Each participating country sends one player, although in the beginning of the contest there were multiple players from the...	Individual	1979	Baoxiang Bai	2012	One year
Mahjong Mahjong Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...	World Mahjong Championship World Mahjong Championship The World Mahjong Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the table game Mahjong held by World Mahjong Organization . Both men and women are eligible to contest this title, and the championship holds both of Individual event and Team event.-History:During the propagation of...	Individual	2007	Linghua Jiao	(2010)
Shogi Shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...	Shogi World Championship Shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...	Individual	2000	Paul Ogi	(2009)
Xiangqi Xiangqi Xiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...	Xiangqi World Championships Xiangqi Xiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...	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 Memory In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....	World Memory Championships World Memory Championships The World Memory Championships is an organized competition of mental sports in which competitors memorize as much information as possible within a given period of time. The Championship has taken place annually since 1991 and has been staged by various organisations...	Individual	1991	Wang Feng	2011	One year
Mental calculation Mental calculation Mental calculation comprises arithmetical calculations using only the human brain, with no help from calculators, computers, or pen and paper. People use mental calculation when computing tools are not available, when it is faster than other means of calculation , or in a competition context...	Mental Calculation World Cup Mental Calculation World Cup -Mental Calculation World Cup 2004:The first Mental Calculation World Cup was held in Annaberg-Buchholz, Germany on 30 October 2004. There were 17 participants from 10 countries.The World Cup involved the following contests :...	Individual	2004	Priyanshi Somani Priyanshi Somani Priyanshi Somani is a mental calculator. She was the youngest participant of the Mental Calculation World Cup 2010 and won the overall title. She is the only participant who has done 100% accuracy in Addition, Multiplication, Square Root till date in all four Mental Calculation World Cups. 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 The objective of the game is to move a rabbit of one's own color onto the home rank of the opponent. Thus Gold wins by moving a gold rabbit to the eighth rank, and Silver wins by moving a silver rabbit to the first rank...	Arimaa World Championship Arimaa The objective of the game is to move a rabbit of one's own color onto the home rank of the opponent. Thus Gold wins by moving a gold rabbit to the eighth rank, and Silver wins by moving a silver rabbit to the first rank...	Individual	2004	Jean Daligault	2012	One year
Boku Boku Boku may refer to:*The Cuban name for the Ashiko, a type of drum*Boku , a juice carton drink.*Bōku, a board game.*BOKU, the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, in Austria....	Boku World Championship Boku (game) Bōku is an abstract strategy board game played by putting marbles on a perforated hexagonal board with 80 spaces and the winner is the first player to get 5 marbles in a row...	Individual	2000	Andres Kuusk	2012	One year
Entropy / Hyle Entropy (board game) There are at least two board games known under the name Entropy. Both are two-player abstract strategic games played on square boards.- Eric Solomon's Entropy :Eric Solomon's game was invented and published in 1977...	Entropy World Championship Entropy (board game) There are at least two board games known under the name Entropy. Both are two-player abstract strategic games played on square boards.- Eric Solomon's Entropy :Eric Solomon's game was invented and published in 1977...	Individual	1997	Peter Horlock	2012	One year
GIPF GIPF (game) GIPF is an abstract strategy board game by Kris Burm, the first of six games in his series of games called the GIPF Project.GIPF was recommended by Spiel des Jahres in 1998.-Gameplay:...	Project Gipf World Championship GIPF project The GIPF Project is an award-winning series of six abstract strategy games by designer Kris Burm.The series is named after the first game, GIPF, and the idea behind the project is that the reward for winning each of the other games in the series is to allow the winner to introduce new pieces with...	Individual	2008	Mathijs Booden	(2008)
Kamisado Kamisado Kamisado is an abstract strategy board game for two players that's played on an 8x8 multicoloured board. Each player controls a set of eight octagonal dragon tower pieces. Each player’s set of dragon towers contains a tower to match each of the colours that appear on the squares of the board...	Kamisado World Championship Kamisado Kamisado is an abstract strategy board game for two players that's played on an 8x8 multicoloured board. Each player controls a set of eight octagonal dragon tower pieces. Each player’s set of dragon towers contains a tower to match each of the colours that appear on the squares of the board...	Individual	2011	David M. Pearce	2012	One Year
Lines of action Lines of Action Lines of Action is a two-player abstract strategy board game invented by Claude Soucie. The objective of the game is to connect all of your pieces...	LoA World Championship Lines of Action Lines of Action is a two-player abstract strategy board game invented by Claude Soucie. The objective of the game is to connect all of your pieces...	Individual	1997	Tim Hebbes	2012	One year
Morabaraba Morabaraba Morabaraba or Twelve Men's Morris is a two-player abstract strategy board game. It is a variation on the board game Nine Men's Morris, with the addition of diagonals and more pieces. Introduced to Africa by British settlers, it is today most popular amongst rural African youth in southern Africa....	Morabaraba World Championship Morabaraba Morabaraba or Twelve Men's Morris is a two-player abstract strategy board game. It is a variation on the board game Nine Men's Morris, with the addition of diagonals and more pieces. Introduced to Africa by British settlers, it is today most popular amongst rural African youth in southern Africa....	Individual	1997	Rannyadi Moses	(2008)
Othello / Reversi Reversi Reversi is a board game involving abstract strategy and played by two players on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns and a set of distinct pieces for each side. Pieces typically are disks with a light and a dark face, each face belonging to one player...	World Othello Championship Reversi Reversi is a board game involving abstract strategy and played by two players on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns and a set of distinct pieces for each side. Pieces typically are disks with a light and a dark face, each face belonging to one player...	Individual	1977	Yuseke Takanashi	2011	One year
Renju Renju Renju is the professional variant of Gomoku, a board game originated from Japan in Heian Period. It was named Renju by Japanese journalist Ruikou Kuroiwa on December 6, 1899 in a Japanese newspaper Yorozu chouhou . It is played with black and white stones on a 15x15 intersection Go board...	Renju World Championship Renju Renju is the professional variant of Gomoku, a board game originated from Japan in Heian Period. It was named Renju by Japanese journalist Ruikou Kuroiwa on December 6, 1899 in a Japanese newspaper Yorozu chouhou . It is played with black and white stones on a 15x15 intersection Go board...	Individual	1989	Cao Dong	2013	Two years
Stratego Stratego Stratego is a board game featuring a 10×10 square board and two players with 40 pieces each. Pieces represent individual officers and soldiers in an army. The objective of the game is to either find and capture the opponent's Flag or to capture so many of the opponent's pieces that he/she cannot...	Stratego World Championship Stratego Stratego is a board game featuring a 10×10 square board and two players with 40 pieces each. Pieces represent individual officers and soldiers in an army. The objective of the game is to either find and capture the opponent's Flag or to capture so many of the opponent's pieces that he/she cannot...	Individual	1997	Pim Neimejer	2011	One year
Twixt TwixT TwixT is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Alex Randolph. It is a member of the connection game family, along with games such as Hex, Havannah, Y, PÜNCT and *Star...	TwixT World Championship TwixT TwixT is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Alex Randolph. It is a member of the connection game family, along with games such as Hex, Havannah, Y, PÜNCT and *Star...	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 Diplomacy (game) Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in 1959. Its main distinctions from most board wargames are its negotiation phases and the absence of dice or other game elements that produce random effects...	World Diplomacy Convention International prize list of Diplomacy Tournaments for the Diplomacy board game have been conducted around the world for decades.- WorldDipCon :During the 1970s, there were very few Diplomacy tournaments outside North America...	Individual	1988	Andrew Goff	2012	One year
Hare and Tortoise Hare and Tortoise Hare and Tortoise is a German-style board game designed by David Parlett in 1974 and first published by Intellect Games. In 1978 it was released by Ravensburger in Germany, where the game became a huge hit. It has since sold some 2 million units in at least ten languages, including two known...	Hare and Tortoise World Championships Hare and Tortoise Hare and Tortoise is a German-style board game designed by David Parlett in 1974 and first published by Intellect Games. In 1978 it was released by Ravensburger in Germany, where the game became a huge hit. It has since sold some 2 million units in at least ten languages, including two known...	Individual	1997	Tige Nnando	2012	One year
Monopoly Monopoly (game) Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...	Monopoly World Championships Monopoly (game) Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...	Individual	1973	Bjørn Halvard Knappskog	2013	Four years
Settlers of Catan	Catan World Championships	Individual	2002	Erwin Pauelsen	2011	One year

Speaking competitions

World Championships in speaking

SPEAKING

In sociolinguistics, SPEAKING or the SPEAKING model, is a model socio-linguistic study developed by Dell Hymes...

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Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Debating	World Universities Debating Championship World Universities Debating Championship The World Universities Debating Championship is the world's largest debating tournament, and one of the largest annual international student events in the world. It is a parliamentary debating event, held using the British Parliamentary Debate format. Each year, the event is hosted by a university...	Pairs	1981	Victor Finkel & Fiona Prowse	2011-2012	Year
Debating in Spanish	World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish The World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish or Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español is the world's largest debating tournament in Spanish....  (Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español)	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 (game) Continuo is an abstract strategy game by Maureen Hiron first published in 1982. It is played by arranging patterns printed on a deck of 42 cards, each card being printed with a grid of 16 colored squares. The goal is to place cards so that the tiles match as many chains of color as possible....	Continuo World Championship Continuo (game) Continuo is an abstract strategy game by Maureen Hiron first published in 1982. It is played by arranging patterns printed on a deck of 42 cards, each card being printed with a grid of 16 colored squares. The goal is to place cards so that the tiles match as many chains of color as possible....	Individual	1997	David M. Pearce	2012	One year
Dominoes Dominoes Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...	World Championship Domino Tournament Dominoes Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge... and Domino World Championship Dominoes Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...	Individual and individual	1976 and 1995	Jerome Wooten and Thomas Caflisch	2012 and 2011	One year and one year
Hexago Continuo (game) Continuo is an abstract strategy game by Maureen Hiron first published in 1982. It is played by arranging patterns printed on a deck of 42 cards, each card being printed with a grid of 16 colored squares. The goal is to place cards so that the tiles match as many chains of color as possible....	Hexago World Championship	Individual	2007	David M. Pearce	(2007)
Tantrix Tantrix Tantrix is a hexagonal tile-based abstract game invented by Mike McManaway from New Zealand. Each of the 56 different tiles in the set contains three lines, going from one edge of the tile to another. No two lines on a tile have the same colour. There are four colours in the set: red, yellow,...	Tantrix World Championship (online) Tantrix Tantrix is a hexagonal tile-based abstract game invented by Mike McManaway from New Zealand. Each of the 56 different tiles in the set contains three lines, going from one edge of the tile to another. No two lines on a tile have the same colour. There are four colours in the set: red, yellow,...	Individual	1998	Chris Hill	2011	One year
Tantrix Tantrix Tantrix is a hexagonal tile-based abstract game invented by Mike McManaway from New Zealand. Each of the 56 different tiles in the set contains three lines, going from one edge of the tile to another. No two lines on a tile have the same colour. There are four colours in the set: red, yellow,...	Tantrix World Open (real tiles) Tantrix Tantrix is a hexagonal tile-based abstract game invented by Mike McManaway from New Zealand. Each of the 56 different tiles in the set contains three lines, going from one edge of the tile to another. No two lines on a tile have the same colour. There are four colours in the set: red, yellow,...	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

Chess960

Chess960 is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home...

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Word Games

World Championships in word games.

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Scrabble Scrabble Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...	World Scrabble Championship World Scrabble Championship The World Scrabble Championship is the most prestigious title in competitive English-language Scrabble. It has been held every second year since 1991. The current World Scrabble Champion is Nigel Richards...	Individual	1991	Pakorn Nemitrmansuk Pakorn Nemitrmansuk Pakorn Nemitrmansuk is one of Thailand's top Scrabble players and the 2009 World Scrabble Champion. An architect and resident of Bangkok, Thailand, Nemitrmansuk has competed at World Scrabble Championship six times between 1999–2011 and was the runner-up in 2003 and 2005.At World Scrabble...	2011	Two years