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.

All-round game competitions

World championships that consist of competitions across multiple events to find the strongest games all-rounders.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderLast HeldNextHeld every
Abstract strategy gamesAbstract Games World ChampionshipIndividuals2008 Andres Kuusk20132014One year
EsportsInternational e-Sports FederationNations200920182019One year
DecamentathlonDecamentathlon World ChampionshipIndividuals1997 Matthew Hathrell20172018One year
Mind SportsThe PentamindIndividuals1997 James Heppell20172018One year

Classic/traditional strategy games

Major world championships for :Category:Traditional board games|classic strategy board games, such as chess or go.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderLast heldNextHeld every
BackgammonBackgammon World ChampionshipIndividuals1967 Eli Roymi20192020One year
ChessWorld Chess ChampionshipIndividuals1886 Magnus Carlsen20182020Two years
International draughtsDraughts World ChampionshipIndividuals1885 Roel Boomstra20182019One year
English draughtsWorld Checkers ChampionshipIndividuals1847 Sergio Scarpetta
Lubabalo Kondlo 		2017
2018		2019
2020		Two years
Brazilian draughts and
Russian draughts		World Draughts-64 ChampionshipIndividuals1985
1993		 Alexander Schwarzman
Igor Mikhalchenko 		2018
2019		?
2020		?
One year
GoIng CupIndividuals1988 Tang Weixing20162020Four years
RenjuRenju World ChampionshipIndividuals1989 Cao Dong20192021Two years
GomokuGomoku World ChampionshipIndividuals1989 Martin Muzika20192021Two years
ShogiMeijin Individuals1937 Masayuki Toyoshima20192020One year
XiangqiWorld Xiangqi ChampionshipIndividuals1990 Wang Tianyi20172019Two years

Card games

World championships in card games.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderLast heldNextHeld every
Contract bridgeBermuda BowlTeams1950 Poland20192021Two years
MahjongWorld Mahjong ChampionshipIndividuals2002 Baohua Sun20172019Two years
PokerWorld Series of Poker Main EventIndividuals1970 Hossein Ensan20192020One year
''Individuals1994 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa20192020One year
Teams1995 France20182019One year
Pokémon Trading Card GamePokémon World ChampionshipsIndividuals2004
Haruki Miyamoto
Kaya Lichtleitner
Henry Brand 		20192020One year
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card GameYu-Gi-Oh! World ChampionshipsIndividuals2004
Wang Chia Ching
Takahiro Hamada
Charley Futch III 		20182019One year
Wizard Card GameWizard World ChampionshipIndividuals2010 Vasilis Papadakis20182019One year

Esports

Official world championships in both individual and team based esports.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextFrequency
Arena of ValorArena of Valor International ChampionshipTeams2017 Team Flash 2020One year
Arena of ValorArena of Valor World CupNations2018 Vietnam 2021One year
Call of DutyCall of Duty ChampionshipTeams2013 eUnited 2019One year
Clash RoyaleClash Royale Crown ChampionshipIndividuals2017 Sérgio "Sergioramos" Ramos TBDNo regular schedule
Clash RoyaleClash Royale LeagueTeams2018 Team Liquid 2020One year
'TeamsFall 2013 Astralis 2020 SpringBiyearly
Dota 2The InternationalTeams2011 OG 2020One year
EA Sports FIFAFIFA eWorld CupIndividuals2004 Mohammed "MoAuba" Harkous 2020One year
Fortnite: Battle RoyaleFortnite World CupSolos2019 Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf 2020One year
Fortnite: Battle RoyaleFortnite World CupDuos2019 Emil "Nyhrox" Pederson & David "aqua" W. 2020One year
HearthstoneHearthStone Championship TourIndividuals2018 Summer Mihai “languagehacker” Dragalin 2018 WinterOne quarter
HearthstoneHearthStone Global GamesNations2017 Denmark 2020One year
Heroes of the StormHeroes of the Storm Global ChampionshipTeams2016 Generation Gaming 2019One year
League of LegendsLeague of Legends World ChampionshipTeams2011 FunPlus Phoenix 2020One year
OverwatchOverwatch World CupNations2016 United States 2020One year
OverwatchOverwatch LeagueTeams2018 San Francisco Shock 2020One year
PESPES LeagueIndividuals2010 Walid "usmakabyle" Teban 2020One year
PESPES LeagueTeams2018 eLiga Sul Stars 2020One year
PokémonPokémon World ChampionshipsIndividuals2009
Shoma Honami
Mark McQuillan
Kotone Yasue 		2016One year
PUBGPUBG Global Invitational - TPPTeams2018 Generation Gaming Gold 2019One year
PUBGPUBG Global Invitational - FPPTeams2018 Oh My God 2019One year
PUBGPUBG Mobile Star ChallengeTeams2018 RRQ Athena 2019One year
SmiteSmite World ChampionshipTeams2015 2019One year
'StarCraft II World Championship SeriesIndividuals2012 Joona "Serral" Sotala 2019One year
Street FighterCapcom CupIndividuals2017 iDom 2020One year
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft Arena World ChampionshipTeams2008 Method Black 2020One year

Mental disciplines

Competitions using mental tests.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextHeld every
MemoryWorld Memory ChampionshipsIndividuals1991 Alex Mullen2018One year
Mental calculationMental Calculation World CupIndividuals2004 Tomohiro Iseda2020Two years
Mental calculationMSO Mental Calculation World ChampionshipIndividuals1998 Wenzel Grüß2020One year
Mental calculationJunior Mental Calculation World ChampionshipIndividuals 2013
Mohammad El Mir
Wenzel Grüß
Izdar Abulizi 		2017One year
Memory and Calculation:tr:Memoriad|MemoriadIndividuals20082020Four years
Memory and Calculation------
Memory and Calculation------

Modern abstract strategy games

Competitions in abstract strategy games.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextHeld every
ArimaaArimaa World ChampionshipIndividuals2004 Jerome Richmond2020One year
BōkuBōku World ChampionshipIndividuals2000 Alain Dekker2017One year
Entropy/HyleEntropy World ChampionshipIndividuals1997 David Jameson2019One year
GIPFProject Gipf World ChampionshipIndividuals2008 Mathijs Booden
KamisadoKamisado World ChampionshipIndividuals2011 Andres Kuusk2017One Year
Lines of ActionLoA World ChampionshipIndividuals1997 James Heppell2017One year
MorabarabaMorabaraba World ChampionshipIndividuals1997 Rannyadi Moses
Othello/ReversiWorld Othello ChampionshipIndividuals1977 Yusuke Takanashi2018One year
StrategoStratego World ChampionshipIndividuals1997 Tim Slagboom2020One year
TwixtTwixT World ChampionshipIndividuals1997 Florian Jamain2017One Year

Multiplayer board games

Professional services competitions

World championships for professionals and students in professional services industries and disciplines.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextHeld every
Big Data AnalyticsIndividuals2014 Thomas Hjelde Thoresen2018One year
Financial ModelingIndividuals2012 Joseph Lau2016One year
Loyalty Marketing and GamificationIndividuals2014 Martin Naude2016Two years

Speaking competitions

World championships in speaking.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextHeld every
AuctioneeringWorld Livestock Auctioneer ChampionshipIndividuals1963 Jared Miller 2019One year
DebatingWorld Universities Debating ChampionshipPairs1979 Daniel A. DeBois & Archie J.W. Hall 2019One year
DebatingWorld Schools Debating ChampionshipsNations1988 China 2019One year
Debating World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish
Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español		Pairs2011 Antonio Fabregat & Javier De La Puerta 2018One year

Tile games

World championships held in tile-based games include:
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextHeld every
CarcassonneCarcassone World ChampionshipIndividuals2006 Genro Fujimoto2019One year
CarcassonneCarcassone World ChampionshipJuniors2017 Samuel Pires2019One year
ContinuoContinuo World ChampionshipIndividuals1997 David M. Pearce2017One year
DominoesWorld Championship Domino TournamentIndividuals1976 Chris Authement2020One year
DominoesDomino World ChampionshipIndividuals1995 Hege Lofthus2012One year
HexagoHexago World ChampionshipIndividuals2007 David M. Pearce
SaboteurSaboteur World ChampionshipIndividuals Oleg K.2020One year
TantrixTantrix World Championship Individuals1998 Tamás Gombkötő2015One year
TantrixTantrix World Open Individuals2009 Niklas Andersson2015One year

Word games

World championships in word games.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextHeld every
Scrabble World Scrabble ChampionshipIndividuals1991 Nigel Richards 2020Two years; one year since 2013
Scrabble Spanish World Scrabble ChampionshipIndividuals1997 Selene Delgado 2018One year
Scrabble French World Scrabble Championship DuplicateIndividuals1972 Nigel Richards 2018One year
Scrabble French World Scrabble Championship ClassicIndividuals2006 Benjamin Valour 2018One year

Information technology

World championships in competitive programming.
SportCompetition nameCompeting
entities		First
held		Current holderNextHeld every
Competitive programmingTopcoder OpenIndividuals2001 Gennady Korotkevich 2020once a year