World Memory Championships
The World Memory Championships is an organized competition of memory sports in which competitors memorize as much information as possible within a given period of time. The championship has taken place annually since 1991, with the exception of 1992. It was originated by Tony Buzan and co founded by Tony Buzan and Ray Keene. It continues to be organized by the World Memory Sports Council, which was jointly founded by Tony Buzan and Ray Keene. In 2016, due to the dispute between some players and WMSC, the International Association of Memory was launched. From 2017 onward, both organizations have hosted their own world championships.
The current IAM world champion is Andrea Muzii of Italy. The current WMSC world champion is Ryu Song I of DPR Korea.
Format
The World Championships consist of ten different disciplines, where the competitors have to memorize as much as they can in a period of time:- One hour numbers
- 5-minute numbers
- Spoken numbers, read out one per second
- 30-minute binary digits
- One hour playing cards
- 15-minute random lists of words
- 15-minute names and faces
- 5-minute historic dates
- 15-minute abstract images / 5-minute random images
- Speed cards - Always the last discipline. Memorize the order of one shuffled deck of 52 playing cards as fast as possible.
Venues and winners
Undisputed world champions (1991-2016)
IAM world champions (2017–present)
WMSC world champions (2017–present)
Notes:- – The 2016 World Championships was hosted by the WMSC and was the first world championship not recognized by the IAM, who did not host their own world championship that year.
- – For comparison, WMSC point totals above from 2017 onward have been normalized using the IAM scoring standards in effect at the time of competition. The point component for the abstract images event, which is not performed at IAM events, was not adjusted.
- – Narmandakh also attended the 2017 IAM World Championship, finishing second behind Mullen, who did not compete in the WMSC event.
Records
| Discipline | Record | Athlete | Event |
| Hour numbers | 4620 digits |  Ryu Song I | WMSC World Championships 2019 |
| 5-minute numbers | 616 digits |  Wei Qinru | WMSC World Championships 2018 |
| Spoken numbers | 547 digits | Ryu Song I | WMSC World Championships 2019 |
| 30-minute binary digits | 7485 digits | Ryu Song I | WMSC World Championships 2019 |
| Hour cards | 2530 cards | Kim Su Rim | WMSC World Championships 2019 |
| Speed cards | 12.74 seconds |  Shijir-Erdene Bat-Enkh | IAM Korea Open 2018 |
| 15-minute random words | 335 words |  Prateek Yadav | WMSC World Championships 2019 |
| 15-minute names and faces | 224 points |  Katie Kermode | IAM World Championships 2018 |
| 5-minute historic dates | 154 dates | Prateek Yadav | WMSC World Championships 2019 |
| 15-minute abstract images | 756 points | Zhang Xingrong | WMSC World Championships 2018 |
| 5-minute random images | 455 points |  Andrea Muzii | IAM European Open Championship 2019 |