THE WORLD OF COMPETITIVE SCRABBLE
March was a very quiet month for tournaments with news from just the one tournament coming in. However, where March was quiet, by comparison, we can take the opportunity to preview what is a very full WESPA calendar in April.
April promises a massive TWELVE rated tournaments occurring in ten countries on five continents which makes for a mouthwatering amount of Scrabble to take in!
But first, to March. Esther Perrins (pictured right) was victorious in Adelaide, as the Festival of Scrabble transpired in South Australia. At the conclusion, Esther had won 13 of her 16 games, 2 games ahead of runner-up (and 2014 national Champion) Daniel Piechnick. Her win keeps her at 54th in the WESPA rankings, and only 10 ratings points outside the Top 50.
As we have mentioned, we are devoting the remainder of this article to a preview of the massive month ahead.
By the time you read this, Hong Kong and Japan will have already played out their inaugural East Asian championship. According to the HKSPA, posting from its website “facilitating exchange between Scrabble players in east Asia has always been the vision of both associations” and it is fantastic to see this being borne out with this inaugural event!
Hong Kong will also be holding its national Championship in April, so the Scrabble will continue to play out in this growing Scrabble nation.
Readers to our website will have noted our recent profile on Germany, as a preview to the German Championship which occurs a week later. Record attendances are scheduled for this event and are a testament to the team on the European continent. Indeed, we look forward to many pictures coming from this event.
Meanwhile, as players battle it out in Germany, many of the younger brigade will battle it out alongside an Open Division at ASCI 2017 in Malaysia. We have seen from previous ASCI events, and the massive turnout for the WESPA rated MCCO65 tournament earlier in 2017, that younger players in the region continue to turn out for popular events.
Easter, as a time of year, has proven a popular time for tournaments and three major tournaments take place throughout the world at this time. Trevor Halsall will be out to defend his crown at the 2017 Australian Championships, this time in Perth, Western Australia (Australian states rotate as hosts, with 2018 being the turn of the ACT to host).
ECASA is the premier African event at this time of year with the Urban Rose Hotel Roof Top Hall in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania playing host this year. Players from Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, as well as the host nation, will be competing in this prestigious tournament.
Kenyan Muema Muumbi will head up the Match Officials for this tournament.
Kenya themselves are taking a team of 30 players to take part. Uganda are sending 15 players, South Africa are sending the one representative, Zambia 20 and the hosts will have nine players.
Tanzania has hosted ECASA twice before: in 2003, when Patrick Litunya won and in 2008, when David Kangethe was victorious. You can view past champions of ECASA here.
England sees its Bristol Easter Championship return. Last year, Rafal Dominiczak was successful - who will take out the title this year? We look forward to finding out.
Even after all this, and a two week hiatus in proceedings, we still have three tournaments left to see out the month!
Malta will have hosted two of its triple treat of tournaments with their extremely popular MISO now in its 10th year!
India rounds out the month with the Goa Open.
Where will Scrabble take you in April? Indeed, where will it take you in 2017?
Full details for our tournament calendar can be found HERE.
Until next month, happy Scrabbling.