Othello news
The World Championships of 2025
21 December 2025Written by Kim Freiburghaus
The 46th edition of the world championship has ended in Ankara, Turkiye, and we have a defending champion on the throne, Seiya Kurita from Japan. Congratulations to him!
This year Turkiye was playing host to the world championship, very much supporting their up-and-coming Othello community. The chosen venue had a luxurious touch in the form of the Ankara Hotel, which also made for easy accommodation for most of the players. This year a total of 93 players took part, including 25 female players and 20 juniors.
In the open category, Japan’s presence is usually quite strong, and this year they were dominating. After the Swiss, their team had secured four out of the five top spots, with Zhouzi Du from China breaking their ranks with a fourth-place finish. He, however, lost to the Asian champion Takashi Yamakawa in the playoff game between the two, making the semifinals an all-Japanese matter.
In the semifinals, we had matchups between the 2022 champion Kento Urano and the defending champion Seiya Kurita in one of the games, and multiple-time champion Yusuke Takanashi against Yamakawa in the other. Both Kurita and Takanashi won their respective semifinals 2–0. This meant a repeat of the final from last year. To further put into perspective the stature of our finalists, it can also be mentioned that they were ranked at the time of the tournament as number one (Takanashi) and two (Kurita) in the world, which made this final match truly a rarity!
The first game ended 49–15 in Kurita’s favor. This was a game with very few mistakes on Kurita’s part, which made for a secure first win. The next game was very close and saw some very high-level play on both ends, with some fantastic problem-solving in the midgame. Ultimately, Kurita managed to edge out Takanashi by a 33–31 win, making him our 2025 champion! In the match for third place, Yamakawa won against Urano, completing the podium.
In the female category, Katie Pihlajapuro from Finland was the top scorer after the Swiss with nine wins. She is no stranger to the podium, having won the female title twice before, and in 2022 she did so by making it to the semifinals in the open category, finishing fourth. With 7.5 points, Miu Hisamatsu from Japan made second place. This was her very first WOC. Third and fourth places were claimed by two players from Thailand, Charinee Mitmean and Nalinporn Saprasert, both at seven points. This was Mitmean’s third WOC, and she has a third-place finish in the female category back in 2017 as her best result. Saprasert had played in the WOC once before, and this year’s edition was her best yet.
In one of the semifinals, Pihlajapuro beat Saprasert, and in the other, Hisamatsu was victorious over Mitmean. In the final, Hisamatsu got off to a good lead, which increased throughout the midgame. She had a good centralized position at this stage, making for easier play. Although she made some mistakes in the endgame, she was still able to hold on with a 34–30 victory, making Miu Hisamatsu our female champion! The bronze was claimed by Mitmean, defeating her compatriot.
The junior division saw Xuanrui Chen from China as the top scorer after the Swiss on eight points, making his WOC debut a grand one. Calvin Koh Ding Sheng from Singapore was second on seven points. He has played twice before and made the podium in the junior division both times, finishing second. The third-place finisher was disqualified, and Tommaso Foschi from Italy was thus our final player to reach the semifinals at 6.5 points. This was his first WOC.
Chen and Foschi played each other for a spot in the final against Koh Ding Sheng. Chen came out on top in this game. In the final, the game was very close, with few mistakes up until the last 22 moves. At that point, both sides made mistakes; however, Koh Ding Sheng made the smaller ones, giving him the win with a 35–29 score!
As you might already have come to know, the team competition was won by Team Japan, with them taking four out of the five top spots. They finished on 31 points. Their team performance over the years has been stunning, as they have won the competition every year since 2005! Team China was second on 27, and finishing third was the team from the Netherlands on 25.5. Team Switzerland was very much in the running for the top spots, and as late as after the eighth round, they were in the lead with one point over Team Japan, but facing very tough competition over the final rounds saw them finish fourth on 25 points.