He declared the blank – ‘S as in Singapore’. Pakorn Nemitrmansuk from Thailand was 2009 World Scrabble Champion. He was overcome with emotion in the playing room and then later as he walked through to where all the spectators had been watching. Flashes everywhere, endless cheers and applause. It was amazing. It was not over though. After a lovely day spent in Jurong Bird Park, Zoo, and Night Safari across in Singapore, we had the Causeway Challenge to play in. Just five days and forty-five games of Scrabble to go. I got off to an indifferent start and felt more and more drained as the games ticked by. I was on the verge of another top ten finish and some prize money, but it was always just out of reach. There was still the team aspect of it though. I was part of the second UK side. We’d managed to secure the top spot and received a rather nice gold medal each. We all got up on stage and raised a massive marble and glass trophy aloft. I narrowly avoided putting my back out and dropping the thing. Unfortunately it didn’t quite fit in my hand luggage and we all left it to Lewis to take home.
After nearly two weeks away I returned home, sneaking my gold medal out now and then on the flight back. I hadn’t been at the Olympics but it still felt pretty important to me, along with the top ten finish in the Worlds. I felt like I’d given a good account of myself in my first real foray on the international stage. In the years that followed I was increasingly involved with the ABSP and WESPA (the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association), the British and World bodies for Scrabble respectively, being part of committee discussion as well as designing and updating websites. I kept up with the playing side too, making the World Scrabble Championships again in 2011. This time it was held in Warsaw, Poland. It was generally around freezing the whole time. I can’t say it was high up on my list of places to visit but it was pleasant enough and quite cheap.
My first game was a bit of a shocker. I was over 200 points behind and still trailing by well over 100 when in desperation I opened up a nine-timer (a move that links two triple word scores) – the only way I could score enough to win. I placed a T in the fifth position and then watched my opponent put down what I thought was TRUDGE and turned the board around, only to see he’d actually transposed two tiles and made (T)RUGDE*. A somewhat costly mistake as I was sitting with ADEINOR. Off went his word and down went DERA(T)ION for 140 points. I still can’t quite believe I won that game.
Over the three days I stayed up and around the business end of the table. There were thirty-four rounds in total, with the top two going through to the obligatory best-of-five final. I was lying at third at the start of day four, when I played Nigel Richards and drew tiles from heaven to win comfortably and go first overall. I then had a chance to put a bit of daylight between myself and the rest of the pack when I faced Andrew Fisher next up. Things were looking good when I was 150 points up, before Andrew hit me with a blank bonus. I was kind of expecting it because he’d been balancing for a few turns. But I was still in control, until he followed it up with MOSSIES (mossie, noun, the common sparrow) and (L)UTEFISK (noun, Scandinavian fish dish) to combine for a run of nearly 300 points in three moves.
I was still in with a shot at the end of that game, but couldn’t find the vowels in the bag that I needed. After that things fell away from me. With three rounds to go, I needed to win all of the remaining matches to make the final. Finishing in the top ten wasn’t even in my mind. My opponent started off with four consecutive bonuses and that was that. I just wanted to get out of there. I threw away any chance of winning in the last two games and ended up out of the prize money, down in eleventh place.
The final was between Nigel Richards and Andrew Fisher the next day. I still enjoyed watching it, particularly as it went down to a decider. Bonus words such as ZENAIDAS, ACEROLA, GONDELAY, DAROGHAS, TOLARJEV, and OMNIFIED were played. Richards ultimately went on to win 3–2 and became the first player to win multiple World Championships. The ceremony was met with much less emotion and exuberance than Pakorn’s win, in keeping with Nigel’s Zen-like persona. Everyone, though, appreciated that it was a great achievement, recognizing that Richards was the best player on the planet by a distance.
ZENAIDAS, zenaida, noun, a wild dove
ACEROLA, noun, a West Indian shrub
GONDELAY, noun, gondolier
DAROGHAS, darogha, noun, (in India) manager
TOLARJEV, tolar, noun, monetary unit of Slovenia
OMNIFIED, omnify, verb, to make universal
As more time passed, I got involved with running and organizing tournaments. It was a different experience, being behind a computer, typing results in, and generating fixtures whilst almost everyone else was busy playing. I’ve always found it interesting following tournament standings online, so being there and getting the results personally is kind of fun. Being a tournament director or referee, on the other hand, is extremely tedious. There are very few rulings to make. Scrabblers are a pretty well behaved bunch other than the odd grumble (although given the way the media dredged up controversy over the missing G tile at the 2011 World Championships you may think otherwise).
The global Scrabble scene had grown with a lot more events taking place. MSI (Mind Sports International) had taken on the role of organizing and running the World Championships for 2013. The format had changed a little bit, with the top four going through to the knockout stage instead of just the top two playing a final. With an Open tournament taking place alongside the invitation-only World Championships, there were an awful lot of Scrabblers about in Prague, Czech Republic. It was probably the best overall event I’ve ever been to. Lots going on, a charged yet friendly atmosphere, and comfortable surroundings.
I bobbed up and down the standings without ever being in the first four places. It was strange really, I should have been the best prepared I’d ever been. I had games I felt in control of towards the end that could have given me a great shot at making the finals, but I didn’t feel up to it. I was struggling with mental tiredness and it was affecting my word knowledge. Which meant I was stressing myself out trying to work out whether a word I’d found was valid or not, and it felt like my intuition had gone, like I was almost word-blind, and I just didn’t fancy being under the spotlight in that frame of mind. It was a relief once I was out of the running. I drew the bag to finish fifth and then relaxed and enjoyed the semis and final.
It again went down to the fifth game in the best-of-five final to decide the title. One unlikely move followed another. ADEGMPU went perfectly with a Z for GA(Z)UMPED. Then BEJEWEL. Then an outrageous play of AUR(O)REAN (adjective, relating to the dawn), with six overlaps (played words that overlap with other words) for ninety-eight points. Ultimately Nigel Richards ran away with the game and was crowned World Champion for a third time, beating Thailand’s Komol Panyasoponlert 3–2.
So what happened in 2014? I did almost no word studying all year. I moved away to Guisborough with my partner Karen and three soppy mutts. I had played in one tournament since the 2013 World Championships, when the 2014 event took place in the ExCeL, London, organized by MSI. Being a complete cheapskate I booked coaches for £9 or so each way and stayed in a £12-a-night hostel.
Each morning I awoke miles from the venue, with an ever-growing pile of rucksack, carrier bags, and clothes near a window. I was still in cheapskate mode, and on the first day made it into a two hour walk to the ExCeL Arena by going the wrong way several times. Fortunately the tournament was running a lot later than I was and I had time to freshen up and compose myself.
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