Friday November 7, 2008
Master of lexicons
Scrabble
Nigel Richards shows his form by dominating the US Open and English Open.
DESPITE his unprecedented defeat in Bangkok to wunderkind Ong Suanne from Penang, New Zealander and Kuala Lumpur resident Nigel Richards rose from the ashes and tasted sweet victory in two of the largest English-speaking countries in the world – the United States and England.
While it may be commonplace for a reigning world champion to triumph in major international tournaments, winning the US Open and the English Open back-to-back is no piece of cake.
Both victories have sealed Richards’ reputation as a walking dictionary.
Nigel Richards American and British Scrabble players peruse different dictionaries.
The Americans refer to the Merriam-Webster’s Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) and the Tournament and Club Word List (TWL) for word checking, while the Brits refer to the Collin’s Scrabble Dictionary (CSD), which is widely used in most Scrabble-playing nations.
And this is where the headache starts.
TWL, being a subset to the internationally used CSD, remains as the official word list in American, Canadian and Thai tournaments (with the exception of the King’s Cup in Bangkok).
Players who want to participate in their local tournaments will have to unlearn a big chunk from their CSD vocabulary that are deemed illegal in TWL, such as ZO, AHS and EHED in order to avoid being challenged off the board.
In addition, since TWL is a much smaller lexicon, the Americans, Canadians and Thais can easily enforce the draconian double challenge where players who unsuccessfully challenge a word will miss a turn instead of facing a five-point penalty.
No CSD Scrabble-playing nation has ever participated in the US Open (previously known as the National Scrabble Open before 2006) due to the onus of having TWL phonies in their CSD vocabulary, being fearful of the double word challenge and hefty preparations to adjust to the limitations of the American dictionary.
Armed with a photographic memory and years of experience, Richards has honed his lexical skills to a whole new level, to challenge the Americans, Canadians and Thais in the US Scrabble Open.
This year, the US Open was held in Orlando, Florida, between July 25 and 29, and offered a grand prize of US$25,000 (RM87,000).
Richards faced a fleet of giants from the United States, Canada and Thailand, in the likes of Brian Cappelletto, Joel Wapnick, Joel Sherman, Jason Katz Brown, Dave Wiegand, David Gibson, Robin Pollock Daniel, Panupol Sujjayakorn and Pakorn Nemitrmansuk.
He also had to grapple with the limitations of a small lexicon where strategic and proactive plays were significantly more important than scoring and garnering huge spreads, in order to claim the lion’s share.
In round 13, Richards climbed to second spot to challenge Cappelletto for first place.
The titans clashed in round 15, exchanging blows with LINEMEN, DAUBIEST and FINERIES by Cappelletto and TOTALISE, REWORDS and CLADIST by Richards.
Nonetheless, the endgame was in Cappelletto’s favour and he defeated Richards by a mere 10 points to keep his first place position.
Richards got his second shot against Cappelletto in round 20. Cappelletto again showed his aggression with ROADEOS, BLOWZY and LATHERER, but Richards calmly neutralised Cappelletto’s attacks by scoring consistently to win by a slim 29 points.
Nigel trounced Cappelletto in round 26 with ANTIMERE, LEVYING and TRITONES. Cappelletto attempted to go even with Richards in round 27 with CYTOSINE, SULPHITIC, PETIOLAR and TRUDGER, but Richard’s starting move of CRAZIER had given him enough leverage to retaliate against Cappelletto’s aggressive plays, winning the game by 46 points.
All eyes were on Cappelletto and Richards as they battled in the final 28th round.
Cappelletto drew first blood with SERRYING and SARCINA, but Nigel evened his score with INNERVE, hooking the E behind SARCINA to form SARCINAE. Cappelletto continued to dominate until he made a fatal mistake by choosing not to block Nigel’s bingo opener.
Richards played PENATES through the triple and surged ahead.
Cappelletto evened up the scores with BATHER for 41 points, but the tiles he drew from the bag were vowels that dashed his hopes of winning the game.
Richards won by 11 points in a sensational endgame finish.
Cappelletto and most Americans were upset as the mantle of the US Open champion had slipped into the hands of a non-American Scrabble player and a frequent OSPD/CSD user.
A week later, Nigel flew across the Atlantic Ocean to Coventry, England, for the English Open. Richards made full use of the long flight from the United States to England to replenish the CSD vocabulary that he had erased from his mind for the US Open.
British stalwarts Craig Beevers and Mikki Nicholson gave Richards a run for his money, but the latter pressed on and defeated Beevers in the final 18th game to become the new English Open champion.
UP NEXT
>The Malacca Open Scrabble Challenge 2008 will be held from Nov 22-23. For registration and details, contact Martin Teo (017-2111 624 / 016-2585 997) or Gan Yi En (012-3909 626 / g_y_e_325@hotmail.com)
>The 7th Causeway Scrabble Challenge will take place from Dec 3-7 at the Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Baru. For details, contact Michael Tang (+65-9189 9189).
>The Tokai World Youth Scrabble Championship 2008 will be held from Dec 9 -11 at CityBayview Georgetown Hotel, Penang, while the Island Scrabble Challenge will also be held at the same venue from Dec 9-11. For registration and details, contact Dr Adele Tan (adele.ong@gmail.com)
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