World's greatest Scrabble player wins iconic $10,000 Bangkok title

[webfact]

World's greatest Scrabble player wins iconic $10,000 Bangkok title

 

Champion Nigel Richards (NZ) and runner-up Jesse Day (USA) show the winning board

 

Nigel Richards of New Zealand - the universally accepted greatest Scrabble player of all time - won the 34th Brand's International King's Cup at a packed Central Westgate shopping center on the outskirts of Bangkok yesterday. 

 

Nigel, who lives in Kuala Lumpur, defeated Jesse Day of the USA over a three game final on stage in the shopping center. 

 

Earlier the pair - who also contested the Scrabble world championship final in London in November last year - had finished one and two in the 29 game preliminaries over four days. 

 

The giant board on display for shoppers at the Central Westgate shopping center

 

Nigel, the reigning world champion, and 13 time winner of Thailand's premier crossword gaming event took home $10,000 US and the prized trophy. 

 

Highlight was game one of the final in which he scored 685 points to Jesse's 374 effectively ending the final.

 

Nigel and Jesse prepare to do battle

 

Nigel scored 176 points for the "triple-triple" word TABBISES that ran between two triple score squares. It is the plural of TABBIS a silk fabric.

 

He also played LOWNDING (calming), RETOTALS and PLUMERIA (a flowering shrub) that were all 50 point bonus words. 

 

Jesse hit back in game two as hundreds of curious Thai shoppers and international players looked on. He played ENCINAL (relating to an evergreen oak tree), ATTEMPTS and AIRSIDE (the side where the planes are at an airport).

 

Nigel managed BOTFLIES (flies that lay their eggs on horses) and SHOWINGS in game 2 but sealed the deal in game 3 with MANTEELS (cloaks or capes) and RETENES (hydrocarbons). 

 

Helen Gipson of Scotland won the seniors' title with Thaivisa's "Rooster" columnist in third place. 

 

Top placed Thai in the main event was Dr Jakkrit Klaphajone who comes from Chiang Mai who was third. 

 

Special mention should be made of 15 year old Thai teen Tarin Phairor who finished fourth on his King's Cup debut. 

 

Tarin is coached in Nakorn Ratchasima by Scrabble pro and Crossword Game academy entrepreneur Akkarapol Kwansak.

 

Scrabble is a big deal in Thailand with high level corporate sponsorship and patronage from the Thai Royal Family. 

 

The Bangkok competition is considered by many to be the most iconic and best Scrabble tournament to be held anywhere in the world each year. 

 

A young potential Thai Scrabble player eyes Nigel's King's Cup trophy

 

Thousands of school children from all over Thailand competed in English language Scrabble, Sudoku, Word-Up (an English language questions game), A-Math (an equations game like Scrabble but with numbers), Four Stars (the game that you need to get four in a line popular in bars) and Thai language Scrabble. 

 

A $5,000 US first prize went to the professional winner of the Sudoku event Tiit Vunk from Estonia. 

 

All the main prizes were sponsored by the Thai Royal Family with some small children in kindergarten carrying off large trophies and cash prizes with the help of their proud parents. 

 

All prizes are charged with 5% tax with competitors treated as sportsmen and women. 

 

For those interested in high level Scrabble play the game can be "played through" on the following link:

http://event.poslfit.com/games//kingscup2019/F1/000.html   

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-07-08

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[Solinvictus]

Scrabble! I should play more myself!

[Phuketshrew]

18 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thai language Scrabble. 

 

Interesting. How does that work then?

[james.d]

Well done Rooster.

[Justgrazing]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

with Thaivisa's "Rooster" columnist in third place

Hip hip hurray .. Well done Rooster .. 

[johng]

How many times was the new word "Farang"   used ?

[wgdanson]

2 hours ago, Solinvictus said:

Scrabble! I should play more myself!

Join International Scrabble Club at isc.ro.

[Jane Dough]

2 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

Interesting. How does that work then?

It has spaces above the letters for the vowels and tone marks. Some vowels are just spoken however. After two words are played the first word comes off and is discarded. The game continues with just one word to play off on the board at any one time.It is a clever game with a very well attended national championships in The Mall, Korat each September. I taught it at my school but I am not very good at all despite knowing the regular Thai language quite well. It is called Kham Khom and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of learning the Thai language (or teaching it!) in a fun way. 

 

Rooster

[Jane Dough]

2 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Join International Scrabble Club at isc.ro.

Indeed I played thousands of games on ISC when I was learning the game. 

 

Rooster

[Jane Dough]

8 minutes ago, johng said:

How many times was the new word "Farang"   used ?

I wasn't aware that it came up at all. I was very close to SRIRACHA at one point but didn't have an opportunity to play that either.

 

Rooster

[wgdanson]

1 minute ago, Jane Dough said:

Indeed I played thousands of games on ISC when I was learning the game. 

 

Rooster

I was brought up using the Oxford English Dictionary, playing Scrabble with my Mum for hours on end. The ISC site only uses SOWPODS which allows some very silly, unusual un-English words, so I get frustrated. 

[wgdanson]

5 minutes ago, Jane Dough said:

It has spaces above the letters for the vowels and tone marks. Some vowels are just spoken however. After two words are played the first word comes off and is discarded. The game continues with just one word to play off on the board at any one time.It is a clever game with a very well attended national championships in The Mall, Korat each September. I taught it at my school but I am not very good at all despite knowing the regular Thai language quite well. It is called Kham Khom and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of learning the Thai language (or teaching it!) in a fun way. 

 

Rooster

There is a similar Android app, in English, sponsored by Susie Dent. Two Words I think it's called.

[Jane Dough]

20 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Hip hip hurray .. Well done Rooster .. 

Thanks. I was hoping for much better but it was not to be - it was my 28th consecutive attempt to win and so far third is the best I have done. 

 

Nigel Richards is an inspiration to Scrabble players. There are plenty of stories about his exploits - even in French Scrabble online.

 

The Thais are brilliant in their organization and promotion of Scrabble and this is their showcase event. A sure sign that they can compete on the national stage in just about anything if they put their collective minds to it. Much of this is down to Amnuay P. the former president of the Thai club who passed away a few years ago. 

 

Rooster

 

 

[Jane Dough]

2 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

I was brought up using the Oxford English Dictionary, playing Scrabble with my Mum for hours on end. The ISC site only uses SOWPODS which allows some very silly, unusual un-English words, so I get frustrated. 

Yes indeed. You have to know your dictionary when competing in high level Scrabble. even then few competitors have mastered it....one exception being Nigel who outstrips all players in virtually every department.

 

Rooster

 

 

[wgdanson]

1 minute ago, Jane Dough said:

Yes indeed. You have to know your dictionary when competing in high level Scrabble. even then few competitors have mastered it....one exception being Nigel who outstrips all players in virtually every department.

 

Rooster

 

 

There was an 18 year old lad in the finals of Countdown last week, and he knew his dictionary very well, as did the bloke who beat him !

Sadly that was the last series I shall be watching, as Rachel is up the duff and I am jealous it wasn't me what done it. LOL

[PETERTHEEATER]

.........wins iconic $10,000 Bangkok title

 

Rubbish! What is 'iconic' about it. 

[Jane Dough]

4 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

.........wins iconic $10,000 Bangkok title

 

Rubbish! What is 'iconic' about it. 

The fact that 7,000 children take part (the UK is lucky to have one)

It takes place in the hustle and bustle of a shopping center

A member of the Thai royal family and government ministers attend

Kids as young as six get prizes alongside the GOAT adults

It is played in noise and very demanding conditions....

We think it is iconic because there is nothing like it on earth in crossword gaming circles.

Scrabble may not be the World Cup of F1 but it is played by thousands of tournament players around the world who would all love to come to Bangkok to play. 

 

Rooster

 

[Jimbo2014]

Nice one! - dont spend it all on one big night in Sukhumvit young lad

[Solinvictus]

On 7/8/2019 at 2:07 PM, wgdanson said:

Join International Scrabble Club at isc.ro.

Awesome thanks! I will be giving it a go soon!

[edgarfriendly]

surprise surprise!

 

no mention of the serial cheat who was kicked out for palming tiles...

 

he 'took too many by accident' and 'was going to own up' but got kicked out first.... AT THE END OF THE DAY!!!

 

quite when he planned owning up was not discussed, same guy was banned for a year not long ago for guess what....being a cheat!