A 24-year-old Irish woman is through to the Monopoly World Championships.

Natalie Fitzsimons

Natalie Fitzsimons

Natalie Fitzsimons beat 11 other finalists from across the UK and Ireland to win the Adult title at The View From the Shard, London last night (19.07.15), and will now compete for the world title in Macau, China, in September, to win $20,580, the amount of money included in a set of Monopoly.

Natalie - a software developer in Northern Ireland by day - had entered with and beat her husband in the heats, and won a tense hour and a half-long final of the board game against three other opponents, using a strong combination of train stations and yellow properties.

She said: ''I'm ecstatic to have won, and so surprised! I didn't think I'd even beat my husband in the heats, let alone win the whole thing! This was the first time I've ever played Monopoly in a competitive environment and it was certainly pretty tense at times!''