Variant World Championships

As Magnus Carlsen is crowned once again World Champion of standard chess, the most historic versiοn of the game, steeped in long tradition, it is interesting to survey some of the more recent variants which thrive on lichess and other chess websites and also have their own nascent World Championship traditions.

Crazyhouse World Championship (CWC)

Organising team: JannLee, FischyVishy,littleplotkin, okei, googa, LegionDestroyer, MarlonC
Format: 10 games of 3+2 Elimination -> Double Elimination -> Candidates -> 60-game Final with reigning Champion
Website: https://lichess.org/team/crazyhouse-world-championship
Roster of Champions: JannLee (2017), opperwezen (2018), Jasugi99 (2020), catask (2021)
History & Resources:
https://zhchess.blogspot.com/p/crazyhouse-world-championship.html
Coverage: https://tinyurl.com/CWCVideos2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42Sm9iszrGM
Streamers: JannLee, therealgnejs, Kleerkast, Mugwort, two64brocc, okei
Prize fund: $2000
Calendar: https://teamup.com/ks3ozaeaopfk1v98bf?view=agenda
Other notable events: ZH League, ZH Nations Arena

Atomic World Championship (AWC)

Organising team: Chronatog, ijh, ProgramFox, tipau
Format: 10 games of 3+2 Double Elimination
Website: https://lichess.org/team/atomic-wc
Roster of Champions: Grassgraaier (1998), siggemannen (2005), tipau (2016), Arka50 (2017, 2018, 2020), onubense (2019), fast-tsunami (2021), sutcunuri (2022)
History & Resources: https://chronatog.com/atomic-chess
Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmDN3AAJR_U
Streamers: tipau, ijh, Natso
Calendar: https://teamup.com/ksb2tjecrtimyshqng
Other notable events: Atomar World Championship, Atomic Chess League

Antichess World Championship (ACWC)

Organising team: Shiaxou, ODMWND
Current Format: 10 games of 2+5: Swiss -> 2 groups Round Robin -> Semifinals -> 12 game Final + 3rd place playoff
Website: https://lichess.org/team/antichess-wc
Roster of Champions: Tim Remmel (2001), Arimakat (2018, 2019), PepsiNGaming (2020), ChangeOpening (2021, 2022)
History & Resources: http://perpetualcheck.com/antichess/lichess.php
https://losingchess.wordpress.com/the-first-unofficial-world-championship/
http://www.pion.ch/Losing/index.html
https://www.antichess.org
https://liantichess.herokuapp.com
Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56DswteC8AQ
Streamers: Natso, TheUnknownGuyReborn, Yourself, cFlour, RTPonting
Calendar: https://teamup.com/ksefryc2umfdsszpa9

Three-Check World Championship (TCWC)

Organising team: two64brocc, TCF_Namelecc, PepsiNGaming
Format: 10 games of 3+2 Double Elimination -> 20 game 3+2 Final with reigning Champion
Website: https://lichess.org/team/3-world-championship
Roster of Champions: VariantsOnly (2020, 2021, 2022)
History & Resources: https://www.chess.com/member/tenthousanddays
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNFZx4vIHtJvOjOq6Ka6HkfmA_gk7qJdy
Coverage: https://youtu.be/4QsM32iwIkk
Streamers: Chess_Poems, WhiteDancingRockstar

Horde World Championship (HWC)

Organising team: Sinamon73, Stubenfisch
Format: 10 games of 2+2 Double Elimination -> Final with reigning Champion
Website: https://lichess.org/team/horde-world-championship
Roster of Champions: svenos (2019), mindhunter0101 (2020), Sinamon73 (2021), mindhunter0101 (2022)
History & Resources: https://hordechessblog.com/
Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QECH_qsE_XM
Other notable events: Bullet Horde Championship (BHC), Hyper Horde Championship (HHC)

Racing Kings World Championship (RKWC)

Organising team: Natso, RoyalManiac
Format: 10 games of 3+2 Double Elimination -> 20 game Final
Website: https://lichess.org/team/racing-kings-wc
Roster of Champions: RoyalManiac (2019, 2020), CyberShredder (2021), IMakeManyMistakes (2022)
History: https://sites.google.com/view/racingkingswc/
Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwh9aMrTP0Y
Streamers: RoyalManiac, mmo_mikhail, Natso
Other notable events: Racing Kings 1440

House Multi-Variant Championship (HMVC)

Organising team: Sinamon73, lecw, RoyalManiac
Format: 12 games of 3+2 Double Elimination (6 games of a variant on lichess.org chosen from the other’s list, each player’s score multiplied by the length of their list) -> Final 4 Round Robin.
Website: https://lichess.org/forum/team-the-house-discord-server/hmvc-2021-pairings-and-results
Roster of Champions: penguingim1 (2020), catask (2021)
History & Resources: House Variant Discord