Results & Medals
This page collects the podium finishes from all four editions of the SportAccord World Mind Games, compiled from contemporary event reporting. The 2011 edition published a consolidated medallist list covering every event; the 2013 and 2014 editions were documented in detail through daily competition reports; coverage of the 2012 edition survives only in part, so only its confirmed results are listed.
2011 — First Edition (December 8–16)
The inaugural edition awarded 19 sets of medals across the five sports. The complete medallist list, as published at the close of the games:
Bridge
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individuals, Open | Christopher Willenken (USA) | Li Jie (China) | Brad Moss (USA) |
| Individuals, Women | Janice Seamon-Molson (USA) | Nicola Smith (Great Britain) | Tobi Sokolow (USA) |
| Pairs, Open | Hou & Shi (China) | Charlsen & Hoftaniska (Norway) | Gitelman & Moss (USA) |
| Pairs, Women | Deas & Palmer (USA) | Sun & Feng (China) | Cronier & Willard (France) |
| Teams, Open | Netherlands | United States | Norway |
| Teams, Women | United States | Great Britain | China |
Chess
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Rapid | Wang Hao (China) | Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) | Gata Kamsky (USA) |
| Women’s Rapid | Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) | Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine) | Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia) |
| Men’s Blitz | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) | Alexander Grischuk (Russia) | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) |
| Women’s Blitz | Hou Yifan (China) | Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) | Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) |
| Men’s Blindfold | Zoltan Almasi (Hungary) | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) | Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) |
| Women’s Blindfold | Hou Yifan (China) | Viktorija Cmilyte (Lithuania) | Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) |
Draughts
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s 100-square | Alexander Georgiev (Russia) | Guntis Valneris (Latvia) | Roel Boomstra (Netherlands) |
| Open 64-square | Gavril Kolesov (Russia) | Vladimir Skrabov (Russia) | Sergiy Bilosheyev (Ukraine) |
| Women’s 100-square | Volha Fedarovich (Belarus) | Zoja Golubeva (Latvia) | Darya Tkachenko (Ukraine) |
Go
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed Doubles | China | Korea | Japan |
| Mixed Team | China | Korea | Japan |
The mixed doubles gold was won by the Chinese pairing of Li He and Piao Wenyao.
Xiangqi
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Individual | Jiang Chuan (China) | Wong Hok Him Vincent (Hong Kong) | Woo Tsung Han Alvin (Singapore) |
| Women’s Individual | Jin Haiying (China) | Ngo Lan Huong (Vietnam) | Liu Bijun (Australia) |
2012 — Second Edition (December 12–19)
Day-by-day coverage of the second edition survives only in part, so a complete medal table cannot be reconstructed; the results below are those confirmed in event reporting. The edition brought 150 players from 39 countries to Beijing, with fields headlined by Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru in chess; Bauke Muller, Sjoert Brink and Sylvie Willard in bridge; Alexander Georgiev, Alexey Chizhov and Zoja Golubeva in draughts; Choi Chulhan and Li He in go; and Wang Tianyi in xiangqi.
The confirmed podium results come from the draughts finals:
| Event | Result |
|---|---|
| Draughts, Men | Gold: Alexander Georgiev (Russia), who secured the title despite a narrow last-round loss to Alexey Chizhov |
| Draughts, Women | Gold: Matrena Nogovitsyna (Russia); Silver: Viktoriya Motrichko (Ukraine), beaten in the deciding tie-break |
Later event coverage confirms two further 2012 podium notes: Alexandra Kosteniuk was a winner and medallist at both the 2011 and 2012 editions in chess, and Viktoriya Motrichko’s draughts silver was her breakthrough result at the games.
2013 — Third Edition (December 12–18)
The third edition carried a 1.4 million dollar prize fund for its 150 players from 37 countries. Podium finishes per discipline, as reported from Beijing:
Chess
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Rapid | Wang Yue (China) | Peter Leko (Hungary) | Alexander Grischuk (Russia) |
| Women’s Rapid | Valentina Gunina (Russia) | Hou Yifan (China) | Ju Wenjun (China) |
| Men’s Basque | Sergey Karjakin (Russia) | Podium completed by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) and Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) | |
| Women’s Basque | Zhao Xue (China) | Hou Yifan (China) | Ju Wenjun (China) |
The blitz medals were decided on day five; going into the final rounds Shakhriyar Mamedyarov led the men’s event and Valentina Gunina was in medal contention in the women’s, but the final blitz standings were not preserved in the surviving daily reports.
Draughts
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Rapid | Alexander Georgiev (Russia) | Roel Boomstra (Netherlands) | Guntis Valneris (Latvia) |
| Women’s Rapid | Zoja Golubeva (Latvia) | Volha Fedarovich (Belarus) | Tamara Tansykkuzhina (Russia) |
| Men’s Super Blitz | Alexander Schwarzman (Russia) | Guntis Valneris (Latvia) | Jean Marc Ndjofang (Cameroon) |
| Women’s Super Blitz | Darya Tkachenko (Ukraine) | Tamara Tansykkuzhina (Russia) | Matrena Nogovitsyna (Russia) |
The men’s blitz event produced the result of the games: N’Cho Joel Atse of Ivory Coast won gold ahead of ten-time world champion Alexey Chizhov and seven-time world champion Alexander Georgiev — the first gold medal for an African player at the World Mind Games.
Go
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Team | Korea | China | Chinese Taipei |
| Women’s Individual | Yu Zhiying (China) | Wang Chenxing (China) | Park Jieun (Korea) |
| Pair Go | Wang Chenxing & Zhou Ruiyang (China) | Joanne Missingham & Wang Yuan-jyun (Chinese Taipei) | Park Jieun & Kim Jiseok (Korea) |
Bridge
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams, Open | Monaco | Poland | China |
| Teams, Women | China | England | — |
| Pairs, Open | Fulvio Fantoni & Claudio Nunes (Monaco) | Shi Haojun & Dai Jianming (China) | Krzysztof Buras & Andrzej Narkiewicz (Poland) |
| Pairs, Women | Feng Xuefeng & Zhang Yu (China) | Heather Dhondy & Nevena Senior (England) | Dana Tal & Noga Tal (Israel) |
Monaco’s open teams squad — Fantoni, Nunes, Tor Helness, Geir Helgemo, Franck Multon and Pierre Zimmermann — beat Poland 128–54 in the final, while China’s women overhauled England on the very last board, 101–95.5. The individual championships closed the program on the final day; after the opening day Adam Zmudzinski (Poland) led the open field and Cheri Bjerkan (USA) and Nevena Senior (England) shared the women’s lead, but the final individual standings were not preserved in the surviving reports.
Xiangqi
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Individual | Wang Tianyi (China) | Sun Yongzheng (China) | Lei Kam Fun (Macau) |
| Women’s Individual | Tang Dan (China) | Nguyen Hoang Yen (Vietnam) | Jia Dan (USA) |
2014 — Fourth Edition (December 11–17)
The final edition offered 24 medal rounds across 14 disciplines. Russia topped the medal count with 6 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze.
Chess
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Rapid | Alexander Grischuk (Russia) | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) | Wang Hao (China) |
| Women’s Rapid | Valentina Gunina (Russia) | Hou Yifan (China) | Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) |
| Men’s Blitz | Alexander Grischuk (Russia) | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) | Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) |
| Women’s Blitz | Hou Yifan (China) | Valentina Gunina (Russia) | Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) |
| Men’s Basque | Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) | Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) |
| Women’s Basque | Hou Yifan (China) | Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) | See note |
Contemporary reports differed on the women’s basque bronze, naming both Zhao Xue (China) and Humpy Koneru (India); the title race itself went down to a final-round game between Hou Yifan and Koneru. Grischuk’s rapid-and-blitz double and Hou Yifan’s blitz-and-basque double made them the edition’s standout chess performers.
Draughts
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Rapid | Roel Boomstra (Netherlands) | Alexander Schwarzman (Russia) | Guntis Valneris (Latvia) |
| Women’s Rapid | Tamara Tansykkuzhina (Russia) | Viktoriya Motrichko (Ukraine) | Volha Fedarovich (Belarus) |
| Men’s Blitz | Alexander Schwarzman (Russia) | Guntis Valneris (Latvia) | Yuriy Anikieiev (Ukraine) |
| Women’s Blitz | Darya Tkachenko (Ukraine) | Matrena Nogovitsyna (Russia) | Tamara Tansykkuzhina (Russia) |
| Men’s Super Blitz | Jean Marc Ndjofang (Cameroon) | Podium completed by Roel Boomstra and Pieter Meurs (both Netherlands) | |
| Women’s Super Blitz | Viktoriya Motrichko (Ukraine) | Reported as a flawless wire-to-wire win; minor placings not preserved | |
Ndjofang’s super blitz gold — won by beating all three Russian grandmasters in the field, with Boomstra leading until the very end — was the second African draughts triumph in as many editions. A Georgiev–Ivanov super blitz duel earlier in the event ran to a record 18 games.
Go
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Team | China (Tuo Jiaxi, Mi Yuting, Shi Yue) | China won all five matches; minor placings not preserved | |
| Women’s Individual | Yu Zhiying (China) | Kim Chae Young (Korea) | — |
| Pair Go | Yu Zhiying & Mi Yuting (China) | Na Hyun & Choi Jeong (Korea) | Chang Kai-Hsin & Lin Li-Hsiang (Chinese Taipei) |
China swept all three go golds, with Yu Zhiying and Mi Yuting each collecting two titles.
Bridge
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams, Open | Israel | United States | Monaco |
| Teams, Women | England | Netherlands | China |
| Pairs, Open | Tied gold: Tor Helness & Geir Helgemo (Monaco) and Ilan & Ophir Herbst (Israel) | Justin Lall & Roger Lee (USA) completed the podium | |
| Pairs, Women | Marion Michielsen & Meike Wortel (Netherlands) | Wang Wenfei & Ran Jingrong (China) | — |
| Individuals, Open | Geir Helgemo (Monaco) | Tied silver: Ilan Herbst (Israel) and Tor Helness (Monaco), both at 56.9% | |
| Individuals, Women | Nicola Smith (England) | Marion Michielsen (Netherlands) | Catherine-Ann Draper (England) |
England’s women won the teams final against the Netherlands on a 16-IMP carryover after the Dutch had won the head-to-head boards — a finish decided on the 48th and final board. Nicola Smith then edged Michielsen by a single point for the individual title, her second gold of the week; Geir Helgemo likewise left Beijing with two golds.
Xiangqi
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Individual | Jiang Chuan (China) | Cao Yanlei (Macau) | Wong Hok Him (Hong Kong) |
| Women’s Individual | Nguyen Hoang Yen (Vietnam) | — | Tang Sinan (China) |
Jiang Chuan successfully defended the men’s title he had won in 2013, securing gold with a final-round draw against Wong Hok Him. In the women’s event the closing report confirmed Nguyen Hoang Yen’s gold and Tang Sinan’s bronze; the silver medallist was not named in the surviving coverage.
For the full story of each edition — the formats, the venue, the online tournaments and the cultural program — see the main World Mind Games page, or read about the players who represented each sport on the ambassadors page.