World Memory Championship Winners: Every World Memory Champion, 1991–2025

The current World Memory Champions are Naranzul Otgon-Ulaan of Mongolia, who won the World Memory Sports Council's 2025 championship, and Vishvaa Rajakumar of India, who won the International Association of Memory's. The most successful champion of all time is Dominic O'Brien, with 8 titles. This page lists every winner since the first championship in London in 1991, checked against the organisers' own results.

The Current World Memory Champions (2025)

Two champions are crowned each year because two organisations each run a world championship. You can read why below. The next two are both in December 2026: the WMSC's in Ho Chi Minh City (11–13 December 2026) and the IAM's in Kuta, Bali (17–19 December 2026). Both are on the memory championships calendar, and this page will add the new champions as soon as the results are published.

World Memory Championship Winners: Quick Facts

• First championship: London, 1991, won by Dominic O'Brien. None was held in 1992.
• Most titles: Dominic O'Brien, 8 (1991, 1993, 1995–97, 1999–2001).
• First woman champion: Munkhshur Narmandakh of Mongolia, in 2017.
• Most titles by country: England (15), then Mongolia (6) and Germany (5).

Every World Memory Champion, 1991 to 2015

For its first 24 editions there was one World Memory Championship. These are its champions, newest first. Most early championships were held in London; from 2003 the event also went to Malaysia, Bahrain and China.

Why There Are Two World Memory Championships

The championship was founded by Tony Buzan, the author known for Mind Maps, and the chess grandmaster Raymond Keene. It is run by the World Memory Sports Council (WMSC). In 2016, after a dispute between some competitors and the WMSC, a second body was launched: the International Association of Memory (IAM).

The 2016 championship in Singapore was run by the WMSC and was the first world championship the IAM did not recognise. From 2017, each body has held its own world championship with its own champion. Many athletes compete in both. Both use the same ten championship events, though the formats and the points can differ in details, so scores from the two are not directly comparable.

WMSC World Memory Champions, 2016 to 2025

The WMSC continues the original numbering: 2016 was the 25th World Memory Championship and 2025 the 34th. From 2020 to 2022 it was held online, with competitors at venues in their own countries; the WMSC records results from those years as online world records.

IAM World Memory Champions, 2017 to 2025

The IAM held its first world championship in Jakarta in December 2017. It held none from 2020 to 2022, during the pandemic, and returned in Mumbai in 2023.

Who Has Won the Most World Memory Championships?

Titles from both organisations are counted together. Everyone with more than one world title:

Only two champions have won a world title from both the WMSC and the IAM: Alex Mullen (WMSC 2016, IAM 2017, after also winning in 2015) and Tenuun Tamir (WMSC 2022, IAM 2023).

World Memory Champions by Country

The list shows three eras. Until 2010, every World Memory Champion came from England or Germany. Then Chinese champions arrived, starting with Wang Feng in 2010. Since 2017, Mongolia has won more world titles than any other country, often with teenage champions.

Milestones and Memorable Championships

• 1991, London: the first World Memory Championship. Dominic O'Brien wins the first of his eight titles.
• 2010, Guangzhou: Wang Feng becomes the first World Memory Champion from Asia, and wins again in 2011.
• 2015, Chengdu: Alex Mullen becomes the first champion from the United States. The WMSC reported that the difference between first and second was just one second, in the final Speed Cards attempt against Marwin Wallonius of Sweden.
• 2016, Singapore: Mullen defends his title with 8,647 points, at the first championship the WMSC ran alone.
• 2017, Jakarta and Shenzhen: Mullen wins the IAM's first world championship with 9,061 points. Munkhshur Narmandakh, second to him there, wins the WMSC title in Shenzhen about a week later, and becomes the first female overall World Memory Champion.
• 2018, Hong Kong: Wei Qinru of China wins at the age of 14.
• 2019, Wuhan: a record field of 520 competitors from 40 countries. Ryu Song I of North Korea wins, and sets a Guinness World Record of 4,620 digits memorized in one hour.
• 2020 to 2022, online: with travel impossible, the WMSC runs the championship from venues in each country. More than 300 competitors from 16 countries and regions take part in 2020, won by Emma Alam of Pakistan; 403 contestants take part in the 2022 finals.
• 2023, Sanya: back to one venue. Huang Jinyao of China wins with 7,361 points. Tenuun Tamir, the IAM champion in Mumbai two weeks earlier, finishes third.
• 2024, Istanbul: the WMSC championship is won by three teenage girls from Mongolia, with Enkhjargal Uuriintsolmon, 14, as champion. Gunther Karsten, the 2007 champion, wins the senior title at 63.
• 2025, Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City: Vishvaa Rajakumar of India wins the IAM title in November, then finishes third at the WMSC championship a month later, behind Naranzul Otgon-Ulaan, who wins with 8,225 points after finishing second in 2024.

The Greatest World Memory Champions

• Dominic O'Brien (England): eight titles between 1991 and 2001, the record, and later a senior world champion.
• Andi Bell and Ben Pridmore (England): three titles each, Bell in 1998, 2002 and 2003, Pridmore in 2004, 2008 and 2009.
• Alex Mullen (United States): three in a row from 2015 to 2017, the last of them the IAM's first world championship. He has written about how he trains.
• Johannes Mallow (Germany): champion in 2012 and the IAM champion in 2018, six years apart.
• Munkhshur Narmandakh and Tenuun Tamir (Mongolia): two titles each, leaders of Mongolia's rise since 2017.

How the World Memory Champion Is Decided

A world championship has ten events over three days, from Speed Cards to the hour-long Hour Numbers and Hour Cards. Each result is turned into championship points, and the points from all ten are added up. The competitor with the highest total is the World Memory Champion. The full format is in what memory championships are, and you can work out your own total with the championship points calculator. The best result ever in each event is on the world records page.

Could You Become a Memory Champion?

Every champion on this list started as a beginner. They trained with the same techniques you can learn today: the memory palace, a number system and a card system, practised in the official formats.

• Read how memory athletes train.
• Practise any of the ten championship events, then try a mock championship.
• Find a national or world championship to enter on the memory championships calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Core Takeaways

1. The 2025 World Memory Champions are Naranzul Otgon-Ulaan (WMSC) and Vishvaa Rajakumar (IAM).
2. Dominic O'Brien has the most titles: 8.
3. There have been two world championships a year since 2017, run by the WMSC and the IAM.
4. England dominated the first two decades; Mongolia has led since 2017.
5. The 2026 championships are in December, and this list is updated when the results are out.

Related Guides

• What Memory Championships Are — the ten events, scoring and rankings.
• Memory Championship World Records — the top result in each event.
• How Memory Athletes Train — the systems and routine behind these results.
• How to Prepare for Your First Memory Competition — a checklist for the day.

Sources

Checked on 3 November 2026. Full results for 1993–2015 and for the IAM championships: the IAM results database. WMSC championships: 2015, 2016 (the champion's own account), 2017, 2018, 2019 (CGTN), 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 (Asia Pacific Memory Sports Council), 2024 and 2025. IAM venues: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Venues before 2016, 1991, 2001 and the 2016 split: Wikipedia. The 2026 dates: WMSC and IAM. Names are written as each organiser writes them.