Thais attempt to take down world’s best Scrabble player in iconic Bangkok tournament this week

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Thais attempt to take down world’s best Scrabble player in iconic Bangkok tournament this week

 

File photo: World's best player Nigel Richards (NZ) playing Thai number one Pichai Limprasert in last year's final

 

BANGKOK: -- The cream of Thailand’s English language wordsmiths will be attempting to wrench back a major Scrabble title in Bangkok this week.

 

The 32nd annual Brands’ International Crossword Game championship – formerly known as the King’s Cup – will be held at the Central Westgate shopping center in Bang Yai from Thursday until Sunday.

 

The event is arguably the most iconic Scrabble tournament to be held anywhere in the world.

 

It is Scrabble in the English language using the extensive Collins wordlist that is used in international competition for what is the world’s most popular word game.

 

Thirteen time winner of the top prize and the reigning champion is the greatest player to have ever played the game – Nigel Richards of New Zealand who has lived in Kuala Lumpur for many years.

 

Three time world champion Nigel has proved to be a thorn in the side of the Thai players who would like a local champion to take back the 10,000 US dollar top prize.

 

Thailand has high hopes once again – formerly two Thai men have won the world championships – but it is many years since a local was successful in Bangkok with Nigel using the city as his personal ATM!

 

Born in New Zealand Nigel’s exploits in the crossword gaming world are legendary. A cyclist, he thinks nothing of riding 100 kilometers to tournaments and back.

 

Famously reclusive he has no online presence and shuns interviews meaning that a mystique and aura has built up around him.

 

His world knowledge is higher than any other player by far. He is said to know words up to 15 letters in length – far longer than is normally required to play excellent Scrabble. His vocabulary is well in excess of a quarter of a million words.

 

A normal well educated native speaker may have a vocabulary of between 20,000 and 30,000 words.

 

On top of his enormous word knowledge is a tactical ability that is virtually second to none. He is able to employ strategies and thought processes well in excess of most “grand masters” of the game. He invariably does the best thing possible with the seven tiles in front of him.

 

And it is not just English in which he excels. Two years ago he won the French Scrabble Championships after studying the entire dictionary in only a matter of two months.

 

All this with no ability to speak French whatsoever – the French speakers were amazed and Nigel’s fame began to spread outside the sometimes quirky world of English Scrabble and its culture often associated with geeks.

 

The Bangkok event that began in 1986 has developed to become a “must visit” tournament for the thousands of competitive players of the game around the world.

 

The high prize money is one draw but the kudos that goes to the winner in Bangkok ranks the tournament alongside that of a world championship – an event held only every two years unlike Bangkok that is every year.

 

The game enjoys high level of corporate sponsorship and its opening ceremony is graciously presided over by a member of the Thai Royal Family each year.

 

Education ministry officials are also in attendance as everyone wants to be associated with the learning of English. Brands is one of Thailand’s leading companies making chicken extract and other beverages.

 

The event is run by the Thailand Crossword Game Association and apart from the international division has many student divisions that attract between 7,000 and 10,000 Thai children to compete each year.

 

This makes it recognized as the biggest Scrabble tournament to be held anywhere in the world every year.

 

Apart from Nigel the international section will see competitors from other parts of Asia such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Pakistan as well as competitors from the UK and Europe, Africa, North America and Australia.

 

Master player Austin Shin from Milton Keynes, in the UK, will be visiting for the first time in 14 years. He said on Facebook that he is looking forward to coming to Bangkok again after such a long absence.

 

Local players from Bangkok such as Thai number one Pichai Limprasert, former world champion Panupol Sajjayakorn and computer programmer and world top ten player Komol Panyasophonlert will once again lead the local challenge.

 

Local resident and Thai number 11 ranked player Gerry Carter, who has lived in Thailand for more than 30 years said:

 

“Anyone who can win this tournament deserves to be mentioned in terms of the best players to have played Scrabble. Nigel is the best, but Scrabble has an element of luck so he doesn’t always win.

 

“I just hope I can get lucky enough to give him a run for his money!

 

“This will be my 26th attempt to win – I was third five years ago and I count that as my best performance in a long career in the game,” said the resident of Ratchayothin, Bangkok, who will be representing Thailand.

 

Tourism and Sports Minister Khun Kobkarn Wattanvarangul is expected to preside over the prize giving ceremony on Sunday.

 

Members of the public are welcome to observe the action that begins this Thursday. The first two days are reserved for the international players who continue at the weekend when the shopping center, one of Bangkok’s newest, will be deluged by thousands of Thai schoolchildren.

 

In addition to Scrabble, international participants will be playing Sudoku and there are many other games to enjoy such as Thai language Scrabble – called Kham Khom – and the mathematical equations game invented in Thailand by Amnuay Ploysaenngam.

 

Amnuay was the first president of the Thai association and was responsible for the popularity of Scrabble (known here as Crossword Game) in Thailand.

 

This year’s event will be tinged with sadness after Amnuay passed away in February.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-07-04

[Purdey]

Amazing how the Thais can do this competition without being able to speak English. They just learn by memorizing the dictionary and this must make the ministry of education so proud.

[lujanit]

18 hours ago, Plonk said:

Amazing how the Thais can do this competition without being able to speak English. They just learn by memorizing the dictionary and this must make the ministry of education so proud.

Where does it say that the Thais competing just learn english by memorizing the dictionary?

 

Memorizing the dictionary would be far more difficult for a Thai who doesn't speak english because they would have to know the alphabet as well.  Nigel Richards of New Zealand is obviously a very smart person however he did have the advantage that French uses the same alphabet as English.

 

There are plenty of Thais who speak, read and write excellent English however you won't find them in the rice paddies. Most of these people are university educated and quite a few have studied overseas. I am not talking about the rudimentary english supposedly taught at school.  I met such an 'English' teacher several years ago in the north and she could not have a simple conversation with me.

 

One good friend took up scrabble during her uni years where she was studying english and continues to play online against several opponents at one time (and win most of the time).  Her written english, which is the hardest to master is better than many native speakers.

 

There was a Book Fair at Impact late last year and the english section was twenty times larger than the thai section.  It was packed with plenty of Thais buying multiple books.  Why would they be buying all these books if they could't read them?