The 30th Mind Sports Olympiad begins this Saturday, 22 August, at Mercure London Earls Court — and we’d love to see you there!

Whether you’re chasing a world title, aiming for your first MSO medal, discovering a new game, or simply coming to watch some of the world’s best players in action, there’s something for everyone.

♟️ Chess
🎲 Catan
🎯 Backgammon
🧩 Puzzles & Sudoku
📝 Scrabble
🃏 Poker
…and a huge range of abstract games and other mind sports across nine days of competition.

👉 View the full schedule and register:
https://mindsportsolympiad.com/2026-schedule-and-registration/

🌍 Backgammon World Championships

From 24–30 August, the World Backgammon Federation Team and Individual World Championships will take place at the Mind Sports Olympiad, bringing leading players and national teams from around the world to London.

With the Team World Championship running across several days and hundreds of players taking part, this is set to be the biggest backgammon event ever held in the UK.

The centrepiece will be the Individual World Championship, with a huge international field competing for one of backgammon’s biggest titles.

Alongside the World Championships, MSO will host a full week of backgammon competitions and variants — from Nardy to Plakoto — making 2026 a very special year for the game.

And if you’re not competing, you can still come along and watch world-class backgammon up close!

♟️ A formidable chess weekend

The chess tournaments at this year’s MSO are shaping up to be among our strongest ever.

There are already nearly 160 registrations for the FIDE Rapid, with more than 30 GMs and IMs signed up. Alongside the Rapid, there are almost 100 entries across Saturday’s and Sunday’s Blitz tournaments.

It’s set to be a formidable weekend of chess, with a strong international field battling it out at the MSO.

👉 Follow MSO 2026 on Chess.com:
https://www.chess.com/events/info/2026-mind-sports-olympiad-london

🎥 Live Challenge & Live streaming

This year, we’re running a Live Challenge with a physical prize:

🏆 Beat GNU Backgammon (GNUbg) with a PR < 5
🏆 Beat PS-Greedy-Two-Move at Monster Chess

👉 Take the Live Challenge:
https://playstrategy.org/page/live-challenge

Can’t make it to London? You’ll still be able to follow the action from home.

All MSO livestreams will be broadcast on the official Mind Sports Olympiad YouTube channel, bringing the competition, commentary and highlights directly to viewers online.

The games and matches featured on the streams will also be available as studies on the PlayStrategy Mind Sports Olympiad account, so you can revisit the action, analyse games and explore the positions for yourself.

And for chess fans, the FIDE chess action will also be streamed on Chess.com and several other channels including PlayStrategy, giving viewers even more ways to follow the competition.

Keep an eye on the MSO channels throughout the week for the latest streams, games and highlights.

If you’re coming to the MSO, come and say hi to the PlayStrategy dev team!

See you at the Olympiad! 🧠🏆