2016 Othello (Reversi) World Championship Slated in Mito, Japan

The game of Othello enjoys fairly broad support in Japan and goods are retailed in any game shop. The City of Mito, Ibaraki, is scheduled to host the game's world championship next year, 2016, and the citizens are anxious to welcome the World's top players to the City of Mito which they claim is the "birthplace of Othello".

How the game originated and who "invented" it - few people seem to be aware, so here's a rundown on the game's history .

The game was first called Resersi and two men claimed to have started it: Lewis Waterman or John W. Mollett (each claiming the other a fraud) (Wikipedia). The game had endured the test of time and in the 1970's its modern version was "developed" in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan with the most regularly used rules in international tournaments today.

For those foreign enthusiasts it might be of interest to know that the game of Othello roots tactically in a spin-off of the Game of Go - "Renju" or commonly known as "Gomoku Narabe". When a certain Goro Hasegawa came up with an idea to create a game half rooted in Renju and somewhat similar to Reversi. He consulted a R. Bekker to help him develop and market such a game.

Now, Goro Hasegawa is a Mito citizen and party to inviting to Mito a world championship of the game he had developed. The City of Mito is equally eager to promote itself as the birthplace of Othello - hence 2016 World Othello Championship in Mito.

According to Japan Othello Federation, the game of Othello has 6,000 enthusiasts in Japan and as many as 600 million worldwide.

Incidentally, the first World Championship was held in Tokyo in 1952 and 30th in Mito in 2006. This year's championship is due in October in Cambridge, in which four players will participate from Japan.