Collins taking off on TWL turf

In the past few years, we have seen a steady rise in the number of Collins Scrabble Words (CSW) tournaments or grades in North America. It began with World Scrabble Championship (WSC) qualifying tournaments in the US and Canada; was given a huge boost by Chris Cree's biannual World Players' Championship (WPC) in Dallas and Travis Chaney's ground-breaking West Coast World Championship Wordlist Challenge (WCWCWC); and has culminated in an explosion of WESPA-rated events through 2010.

These included:

• Kingston, Ontario in January (Toronto vs Montreal)
• Phoenix, Arizona in February
• Portland, Oregon in May (2 one-day tournaments)
• Akron, Ohio in July
• Toronto, Ontario in July
• the 2nd WPC, Dallas, Texas in August 13-16
• Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in October.
• Seattle, Washington in November

Coming up early next year are:

• Phoenix, Arizona in February 2011
• the 3rd edition of WCWCWC, Ashland, Oregon in March 2011

A key stimulus for this gradual introduction of the global word source in North America was the decision by the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) in January 2010 to create a separate rating system for CSW games.

Says Canadian international and WESPA executive member Tony Leah: "The expansion in the number of events in many different cities, and the fact that there is a NASPA ratings system for them, has encouraged new people to give CSW a try. And most people who try it enjoy it. Travis Chaney's WCWCWC 2 had 29 players, up from six at his first effort. The prospects for further growth are positive."