A sporting contest with a difference (Image: World Mind Games)

The summer Olympics may be a distant memory, but the World Mind Games are something altogether different, seeing international memory athletes flock to China to compete with brain instead of brawn.

This extravaganza of mental muscle finished in Beijing, China on 17 December, with Russia emerging as the big winner. The event saw 150 athletes from 27 countries competing in 14 variations of five sports, including chess, go, draughts, bridge and xiangqi – a Chinese game that resembles chess.

Russia topped the medal table with six golds, five silvers and one bronze, with the Chinese team coming in a close second. England improved upon last year’s tenth place, moving up to seventh with two golds and one bronze medal. The US fell from sixth in 2013 to 13th position this year.


Highlights of the games included a close battle in the women’s individual bridge title, as England’s own grandmaster Nicola Smith fought tough Dutch opposition to win on the final deal. China also managed to make an impressive clean sweep across all categories of go – an ancient board game that involves placing black and white stones on a grid with the aim of surrounding a larger portion of the board than your opponent.

Ilan Herbst from Israel was the most successful male in the competition, winning 2 gold medals in the bridge pairs and team events, and silver in the men’s individual bridge event.

Grandmaster Hou Yifan from China topped the female leader board. She won two gold medals and one silver in three disciplines of chess, including gold in the “Basque system” event, where competitors have to play on two boards simultaneously with a time limit of 20 minutes. The 20-year-old says she has been playing chess since the age of five and a half, and is currently number two in the World Chess Federation rankings of female players.

As with all professional sporting events, all athletes had to abide by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s rules and prove they were not using any cognitive-enhancing drugs to improve their memory or concentration. Spot checks were conducted throughout the games.

If you fancy your chances at some mind games, beginners and advanced mental manipulators alike can enter next year’s online World Mind Games tournament, which runs alongside the main event each year.