Once dismissed as "the Anna Kournikova of chess" for marketing her glamour, Alexandra Kosteniuk is now the Women's World Champion. (previously) [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Apr 29, 2009 - 103 comments

The World Ice Art Championships are being held in Fairbanks, Alaska this week. If you can't be there to see this year's sculptures, you can view last year's winners in both the single block and the multi-block divisions. You can also see many stunning entries from previous years.
posted by cubby on Mar 12, 2007 - 15 comments

Takayasu Tanaka: 2005 Yo-Yo Champion. (.mov)
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Nov 3, 2005 - 25 comments

2005 World Beard and Moustache Championships.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Nov 1, 2005 - 29 comments

"Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play."
The overriding ideal behind Ultimate frisbee is Spirit of the Game where sportsmanship is valued above all else. Next week is the World Ultimate & Guts Championships in Turku, Finland where 23 countries compete, so now is a great time to (re-)learn to play. Besides being lots of fun for everyone, it might even improve your career prospects.
posted by quiet on Jul 24, 2004 - 13 comments

The World Scrabble Championship is taking place this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 98 players from 38 countries are competing in the seventh biennial WSC. The format: everyone plays 24 games over three days, then the top two finishers play a best-of-five match for the championship. Past winners include three Americans, two Canadians and an Englishman, but this year's final pits two Thai players: Pakorn Nemitrmansuk vs Panupol Sujjaykorn.
posted by Daze on Oct 23, 2003 - 15 comments

All Set For Euro 2004: Wheeee! You just about have enough time to figure out how it's going to work. Here in Portugal it might as well be tomorrow, for all the excitement and nerves!
posted by MiguelCardoso on Mar 11, 2003 - 24 comments

The 2003 International Snow Sculpture championships occured last week, with once again a Canadian team taking top honors. Unfortunately due to unseasonably warm weather this year's competition doesn't seem to be as impressive as the 2002 event. Of course, none of them come close to the undisputed master of snow art, Calvin.
posted by Stan Chin on Feb 11, 2003 - 8 comments

Rock paper scissors: The world championship: This year, for the first time, the annual Rock Paper Scissors international championship is open to the general public (as opposed to just professional RPS players. I had no idea there even were professional RPS players). Some interesting facts on RPS, including the answer to the age-old question: Does Rock crush Scissors or is Scissors dulled by Rock?
posted by Badmichelle on Nov 14, 2002 - 26 comments

It looks like that the British network einstein.tv and the FIDE may open negotiations this month for a reunified world chess championship. The championship was split in 1993 when Garry Kasparov left the FIDE to start his own failed league. Kasparov claims the world championship left with him, while the FIDE claims he abdicated by refusing to play nice with others. Kasparov lost the championship last year to Kramnik. Einstein.TV is milking the publicity while the FIDE says we are meeting but no comment. Wood pushers like me are probably better off leaving the politics to the people who can't stand each other and sticking to the internet chessclub, the free chess servers or simply email chess.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Apr 30, 2002 - 2 comments

There's lots of controversy about Nebraska playing for the national championship in tonight's Rose Bowl because they didn’t win their division or conference and got crushed 63–26 by Colorado in their last game of the season. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha on Jan 3, 2002 - 29 comments

Oscar goes For Five
He will attempt to join Hall of Famers Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns as the only boxers in history to win world championships in five weight divisions when he challenges WBC super welterweight champion Javier Castillejo on Saturday, June 23. I find the middle weight divisions more credible and fun than the heavyweight division.
posted by riley370 on Jun 18, 2001 - 7 comments