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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 (list of professional Go tournaments).
World championships that consist 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 | Individuals | 2008 | Andres Kuusk | 2014 | One year |
| Decamentathlon | Decamentathlon World Championship | Individuals | 1997 | Mathew Cordell | 2015 | One year |
| Mind Sports | The Pentamind | Individuals | 1997 | Andres Kuusk | 2015 | One year |
World championships in card games.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contract bridge | Bermuda Bowl | Teams | 1950 |  Italy |
2015 | Two years |
| Poker | World Series of Poker Main Event | Individuals | 1971 | Joe McKeehen | 2016 | One year |
| Magic: The Gathering | Magic: The Gathering World Championship | Individuals | 1994 |  Shahar Shenhar |
2015 | One year |
| World Magic Cup | Teams | 1995 |
|
2015 | One year | |
| Pokémon Trading Card Game | Pokémon World Championships | Masters, Seniors, Juniors | 2004 |
|
2015 | One year |
| Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game | Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships | Individuals | 2004 |  Sehabi Kheireddine |
2015 | One year |
Major world championships for classic strategy board games i.e. go or oware.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backgammon | Backgammon World Championship. | Individuals | 1967 |  Ali Cihangir Çetinel |
2015 | One year |
| Chess | World Chess Championship | Individuals | 1886 |  Magnus Carlsen |
2014 | One/two years |
| Chinese Checkers | Chinese Checkers World Championship | Individuals | Unknown |  DH Towers |
Ongoing | |
| International draughts | Draughts World Championship | Individuals | 1885 |  Alexander Georgiev |
2013 | |
| English draughts | World Checkers Championship | Individuals | 1847 | Michele Borghetti |
2015 | |
| Go | World Amateur Go Championship | Individuals | 1979 |  Yi-Tien Chan |
2015 | One year |
| Mahjong | World Mahjong Championship | Individuals | 2002 | Linghua Jiao |
(2010) | |
| Renju | Renju World Championship | Individuals | 1989 |  Tunnet Taimla |
(2015) | Two years |
| Shogi | Meijin (shogi) | Individuals | 1937 |  Habu Yoshiharu |
2014 | One year |
| Xiangqi | Xiangqi World Championships | Individuals | 1990 | Zhao Xinxin |
2011 | Two years |
Official world championships in both individual and team based esports.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty | Call of Duty Championship | Teams | 2013 | Denial eSports | 2016 | One year |
| Dota 2 | The International | Teams | 2011 | Evil Geniuses | 2016 | One year |
| League of Legends | League of Legends World Championship | Teams | 2011 | SK Telecom T1 | 2016 | One year |
| Street Fighter | Capcom Cup | Individuals | 2013 | Ryota "Kazunoko" Inoue | 2016 | One year |
| Pokémon | Pokémon World Championships | Individuals | 2009 |
Shoma Honami (Master) |
2016 | One year |
| Smite | Smite World Championship | Teams | 2015 | COGnitive Prime | 2016 | One year |
| StarCraft II | StarCraft II World Championship Series | Individuals | 2012 | Kim "sOs" Yoo-jin | 2016 | One year |
Competitions using mental tests.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memory | World Memory Championships | Individuals | 1991 |  Johannes Mallow |
2013 | One year |
| Mental calculation | Mental Calculation World Cup | Individuals | 2004 |  Granth Thakkar |
2016 | Two years |
| Mind Sports Olympiad | Individuals | 1997 | Gert Mittring |
2015 | One year | |
| Junior Mental Calculation World Championship | Individuals | 2013 |
Mohammad El Mir (Juniors 1) |
2016 | One year |
Competitions in abstract strategy games.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arimaa | Arimaa World Championship | Individuals | 2004 |  Jean Daligault |
2015 | One year |
| Bōku | Bōku World Championship | Individuals | 2000 | Andres Kuusk |
2015 | One year |
| Entropy/Hyle | Entropy World Championship | Individuals | 1997 | David Jameson | 2015 | One year |
| GIPF | Project Gipf World Championship | Individuals | 2008 |  Mathijs Booden |
(2008) | |
| Kamisado | Kamisado World Championship | Individuals | 2011 |  David M. Pearce |
2014 | One Year |
| Lines of action | LoA World Championship | Individuals | 1997 | Alain Dekker | 2015 | One year |
| Morabaraba | Morabaraba World Championship | Individuals | 1997 |  Rannyadi Moses |
(2008) | |
| Othello/Reversi | World Othello Championship | Individuals | 1977 | Yusuke Takanashi |
2016 | One year |
| Stratego | Stratego World Championship | Individuals | 1997 | Pim Neimejer |
2011 | One year |
| Twixt | TwixT World Championship | Individuals | 1997 | Florian Jamian | 2015 | One Year |
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diplomacy | World Diplomacy Convention | Individuals | 1988 | Toby Harris |
2016 | One year |
| Hare and Tortoise | Hare and Tortoise World Championships | Individuals | 1997 | Matthew Hathrell |
2015 | One year |
| Monopoly | Monopoly World Championships | Individuals | 1973 | Nicolò Falcone |
TBD | No regular schedule |
| Settlers of Catan | Catan World Championships | Individuals | 2002 | Sander Stroom |
2016 | Two years |
World championships for professionals and students in professional services industries and disciplines.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Data Analytics | TEXATA: Big Data Analytics World Championships | Individuals | 2014 | Kristin Nguyen | 2016 | One year |
| Financial Modeling | ModelOff: Financial Modeling World Championships | Individuals | 2012 | Joseph Lau | 2016 | One year |
| Loyalty Marketing and Gamification | LoyaltyGames: Loyalty and Gamification World Championships | Individuals | 2014 | Martin Naude | 2016 | Two years |
World championships in speaking.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debating | World Universities Debating Championship | Pairs | 1981 |  Josh Zoffer & Ben Sprung-Keyser |
2015 | Year |
| Debating (Spanish) | World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish Campeonato Mundial Universitario de Debate en Español |
Pairs | 2011 |  Daniel Cardona & Santiago Vásquez |
2016 | Year |
World championships held in tile-based games include:
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuo | Continuo World Championship | Individuals | 1997 | Mathew Cordell |
2015 | One year |
| Dominoes | World Championship Domino Tournament | Individuals | 1976 | Jerome Wooten |
2012 | One year |
| Domino World Championship | Individuals | 1995 | Hege Lofthus |
2012 | One year | |
| Hexago | Hexago World Championship | Individuals | 2007 | David M. Pearce |
(2007) | |
| Tantrix | Tantrix World Championship (online) | Individuals | 1998 |  Chris Hill |
2015 | One year |
| Tantrix | Tantrix World Open (real tiles) | Individuals | 2009 |  Zoltan Nemeth |
2015 | One year (irregular) |
World championships in word games.
| Sport | Competition name | Competing entities |
First held |
Current holder | Next | Held every |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrabble (English) | World Scrabble Championship | Individuals | 1991 | Craig Beevers |
2015 | Two years; one year since 2013 |
| Scrabble (Spanish) | Spanish World Scrabble Championship | Individuals | 1997 |  Jesús Ortega |
2015 | One year |
| Scrabble (French) | French World Scrabble Championship Duplicate | Individuals | 1972 |  David Bovet |
2013 | One year |
| French World Scrabble Championship Classic | Individuals | 2006 |  Pierre-Olivier Georget |
2013 | One year |