An athlete pours water into a conch representing wisdom at the opening ceremony of the First World Mind Sports Games in Beijing on October 3.

More than 3,000 competitors from 143 countries and regions are competing for 35 gold medals in chess, bridge, draughts (checkers), Go and Xiangqi (Chinese chess) during the games that run until October 18.

The theme of the games is "Civilization Varied, Wisdom Unbounded."