The WESPAC scrabble world championship is held every two years. This year, it was in the magical place of Goa in India. The land of cows in the road and yummy vindaloo, garlic naan, fish curries, etcetera.

 

This tournament is a highlight of many word wizards around the world, getting the chance to play for the title and crown of the best scrabbler on the planet. It is also an opportunity to make new friends and reconnect with old friends. Either in front of a scrabble board or afterward sharing scrabble war stories.

 

Besides the main event, there are many other side tournaments, like the last-chance qualifier, warm-up, open (where anybody can play) and the final frenzy. Jeyad Page, a lawyer from Cape Town, played the last-chance qualifier and was luckily enough to end high enough to get a ticket to play in the main event. Most players, like me and Howard Rayner (a businessman from Johannesburg) had to qualify for our spots according to our countries criteria.

 

The main event was four very grueling days of 32 games from dawn to dust. The competition is of a very high level, as you are competing against the best of the best. Nearly all players that have won at least a couple of tournaments in their home country or have participated in international events like the WESPAC scrabble championship. I really enjoyed my games. Some games world knowledge saved me. Some games came down to careful endgame analysis or creative play or hoping the tile fairy would give you a couple of good tiles. The highest word I played was PIGTAILS for 158.

 

We fought valiantly, but ultimately, I won 16 out of 32 with a margin of +0. The best ranking for South Africa. I came 72nd out of 140 players. Jeyad Page won 14.5 and came 98th. Howard Rayner won 14 and came 111th.  Full results can be viewed here: http://indianscrabble.com/games/wespacgoa/wespac/html/A-standings-032.html?fbclid=IwAR0f-2l6w6LiPAL1Rg0yxLJDrRV4kx5tbsp_Cl9uTKphEXhJNvKQOnrN4QQ

 

After four days, Nigel Richards from New Zealand and Jesse Day from USA were the best. They had to do a final shoot-out for the title and crown. They played best of 7 games. After 6 games, it was tied. Each won 3 games. So it came down to sudden death. Nigel Richards won the 7th and last game and was thus crowned the 2019 Scrabble World Champion. He is no stranger to scrabble and has won the world championship before. They say he has a photographic memory, but knowing all the words isn't enough in this game of luck. You also have to have strategy, board-vision and staying cool, calm and collected to make the best move each time.  You can read more about Nigel Richards here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards_(Scrabble_player)