Commonwealth Scrabble Championship 2014
Inspired by the sporting Commonwealth Games, Scotland hosted the first Commonwealth Scrabble Team Championship from 7 to 10 August 2014 at the Beardmore Hotel in Clydebank near Glasgow. This followed on from successful Four Nations teams events involving England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales started in 2004, expanded to Six Nations with Malta and Israel from 2012.
Although 15 Commonwealth countries seemed interested when sounded out about the proposed event last year, the eventual entry was disappointing, with only three country teams of three, and seven others from part teams or individual entries. However those who did participate could look forward to 28 games of scrabble, WESPA and ABSP rated, in an excellent venue. The previous ten team events had seen five wins by England and four by Scotland, and these two teams again seemed evenly matched: England had David Webb, Wayne Kelly and Penny Downer while the Scots had Helen Gipson, Neil Scott and Ross Mackenzie. Canada were represented by Vince Castellano, Andrew Golding and Andy Twiddy.
In view of the reduced numbers and shortage of full teams, the format was changed from the proposed head-to-head team matches to an individual event with Chew pairings, but designed in a way to make team scores comparable. Amy Byrne directed, assisted by Simon Gillam, who also provided regular updates to Scrabble Snippetz and full standings which went on the London Scrabble League site (thanks to Mauro Pratesi) as the CentreStar site was not available.
The first 15 rounds were a full round robin, during which each team had 3 games between team-mates, contributing 3 wins out of 6 and zero net spread to the team standings. Team standings at this stage were England 35, Scotland 31 and Canada 21. Individual leaders were David Webb 13, Neil Scott and Ross Mackenzie 11.5, Wayne Kelly and Penny Downer 11.
Starting from Round 14 on Saturday morning, one game per round was broadcast live on Twitch TV by SAB Live http://www.twitch.tv/sablive. This system (successor to Scrabcast) uses four small cameras to show the board, racks and clocks. It can be viewed on mobile devices as well as PCs, has a chat room for live viewers, and recordings can be viewed after the event. Unfortunately the hotel's internet link was not fully up to the task, causing the system to go offline from time to time and breaking up the recordings, but otherwise the feedback was mostly positive.
For Rounds 16 to 22 on Saturday, players met others close in the individual standings. By good fortune, the pairings without manual intervention gave the six players from the two leading teams a complete round robin (plus two games against others), so the leading team standings were still comparable: England 46, Scotland 43 and Canada 28. Individual leaders were David Webb 19, Neil Scott and Ross Mackenzie 14.5, Helen Gipson and Wayne Kelly 14.
After an early morning wake-up by the fire alarm on Sunday, pairings for Rounds 23 to 28 ensured that team mates were kept apart, so that all games made a full contribution to the team competition. David secured the individual title with 3 rounds to spare, but was not Gibsonized, so he could continue to play a full part in the contest against the Scots. Going into the last round England's lead was 3 wins, but Scotland had a theoretical chance with their better spread. In an exciting climax, the two English players not facing Scottish team players suffered upset losses, leaving it to Wayne to secure the team title with a 5-point win against Neil in the game broadcast live.
Final team standings: England 55, Scotland 53 and Canada 38. Top individuals: David Webb 21, Ross Mackenzie 19.5, Wayne Kelly 18, Neil Scott 17.5, Vince Castellano and James Squires 17. All members of the three teams received medals, and the top three individuals received quaichs (as in the Commonwealth Games). The two players who performed best above their ratings, Ross and James, received prizes donated by MSI. Everyone received a scrabble alphabet mug.
The Beardmore Hotel, previously used for the Six Nations event in 2012, again provided excellent food and luxurious rooms. Our thanks to all those who took part in the event, and to those who provided sponsorship and donations allowing the total cost to players to be capped below the hotel's normal rate.
Full results are on the London Scrabble League website http://www.londonscrabble.com/14com/html/
Simon Gillam
Secretary
Scottish Scrabble Association