The Junior Mental Calculation World Championship returned to Bielefeld on the 1st–2nd October, as organized since 2008 by Caroline Merkel [official JMCWC website]. Around 50 competitors from Algeria, Germany, India, South Africa, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia attended—some for their first time, while others have attended for many years.
There were many high scores this year—and although this is a “junior” competition, the top participants have won medals in international competitions open to adults, including at the MSO 2020–22 and the MCWC 2022.
Under-12s age category
The youngest age category—”Junior 1″—was won by Kaloyan Geshev, who also won this year’s MSO in London, and was awarded 3rd most versatile calculator at this year’s Mental Calculation World Cup. For comparison, the top score in 2019 was 1644 points, and the 2022 paper was not much easier than in 2019.
- 1st: 🇧🇬 Kaloyan Geshev (2217)
- 2nd; 🇷🇸 Andrej Zivanovic (2123)
- 3rd: 🇩🇿 Moncif Seddiki (1612)
Under-15s age category
The “Junior 2” category was particularly close! The 3 medal-winners were separated by only a few points, and their papers had to be checked several times to ensure correct scores.
- 1st: 🇮🇳 Garvita Raj (2153 points)
- 2nd: 🇮🇳 Aaryan Gupta (2144 points)
- 3rd: 🇿🇦 Stiaan Scheepers (2110 points)
Under-20s age category
The “Senior” category was dominated by the team of 5 from India, who had most of the top scores.
- 1st: 🇮🇳 Abhilakshya Arora (2413)
- 2nd: 🇱🇧Mohammad El-Mir (2342)
- 3rd: 🇮🇳 Mudrika Garg (2276)
Congratulations to all participants who attended the event – including first-timers, veterans, medal-winners and everyone who made these days a positive and enjoyable experience.
I plan to update this page soon with photos of the winners—please contact me if you have any clear photos of the prize winners, and I’ll explain how to send them.
Format of the Championship
The main contest is a 2-hour paper that includes a variety of mental math categories, such as:
- Addition
- Square roots
- Calendar date calculation
Here are some resources that may help students (and their teachers) to prepare for the championship.
The day before the competition, there were workshops for all the participants, provided by mental calculation experts:
- Daniel Timms (me—author of this website)
- George Lane (creator of the Pegasus mental calculation trainer, and 5-time gold medallist at the MSO)
- Elke Kuge
- Willem Bouman
- Martin Drees
The weekend was also very social, where both the children and their accompanying adults could meet others from around the world, for dinners, workshops and even a trip to a cake factory!
Sponsorship was generously provided by the Andreas Mohn Foundation.
Hectoc Competition:
The Spring family organized a speed Hectoc competition, where participants had to produce the number 100 from a string of six digits (1–9) using the standard Hectoc rules. For example:
123456: 100 = 1 + (2 + 3 + 4) × (5 + 6)
224459: 100 = –2 + (2 × 44) + 5 + 9
Each participant’s score is the number of Hectocs solved correctly in 10 minutes.
Under-15s age category:
- 1st: 🇧🇬 Kaloyan Geshev (22)
- 2nd; 🇮🇳 Vandan Nyati (19)
- 3rd: 🇮🇳 Aaryan Gupta (18)
Adults category:
- 1st: 🇧🇬 Georgi Georgiev (42)
- 2nd; 🇩🇪 Joshua Spring (38)
- 3rd: 🇩🇪 Elke Kuge (35)
Get Involved Next Year
Would you be interested in competing in this event, or do you know a young person talented in Mathematics or mental calculation? Here are some ways you can get started:
- This page has information about the 2022 paper (which was similar to the previous years’ papers)
- Try some of the medium-difficulty techniques, such as multiplication, fractions and exact cube roots of 6-digit numbers. With practice, your speed can improve dramatically!
- Contact Caroline Merkel (she organizes this event) for any communication about registering.
- Contact me (or other trainers) for any questions about training mental calculation.
- Look out for updates about future competitions.
It would be great to see even more countries joining next time!