World SCRABBLE Championship

The World SCRABBLE® Championship (WSC) was the world’s top international Scrabble championship tournament. Although it ceased to be held under this name in 2011, this page also lists its successor events, which continue to fill the same role within the global competitive Scrabble community.

The tournament rules and word list for current events are set by the World English-Language Scrabble Players' Association (WESPA). The direct involvement of NASPA is limited to selecting the American and Canadian teams.

For more information about the next event, see 2023 WESPA Championship.

History

The first WSC was organized by Philip Nelkon of Mattel in London in 1991 and won by Peter Morris, a Canadian residing in the United States, who defeated American Brian Cappelletto in a best-of-three finals.

Two years later in 1993, the National SCRABBLE Association under John D. Williams, Jr. organized the next event, sponsored by Hasbro and directed by Michael R. Wise in New York City. It was won by Mark Nyman of England.

From then until 2003, the WSC was organized and sponsored in biennial alternation by Hasbro and Mattel, during which period Americans and Canadians won two more titles each, and and Thailand one.

From 2005 to 2011, the event was organized and sponsored by Nelkon and Mattel.

In 2013 and 2014, Mattel licensed Mind Sports International (MSI) to hold an open 2013 World SCRABBLE Championship in place of the traditionally invitational WSC.

In 2015, Mattel withdrew support for the SCRABBLE Champions Tournament, and WESPA staged instead their first WESPA Championship, returning to the invitational format.

In 2016, MSI held the “MSI World Championships”.

In 2017, both MSI and Mattel staged events.

In 2018, TMA International (formerly known as DB Subscriptions Ltd), doing business as Mindsports Academy, staged the “Mattel World Scrabble Championships”.

2014 SCRABBLE Champions Tournament

Date	November 19–23
Place	ExCeL London Exhibition and Convention Centre, London, England
Winner	Craig Beevers (Eng)
Runner-Up	Chris Lipe (USA)
Winning Teams	Sri Lanka (singleton), Canada (multiplayer)
Winner’s Prize	£3,000
Prize Pool	£7,000
Players	108
National Teams	32
Format	24 rounds followed by best-of-3 quarterfinals, best-of-5 semifinals and best-of-5 finals
Sponsor	Mattel
Organizer	MSI
Director	John Chew

• This was the first event held in an even-numbered year.
• This was the first event to feature quarterfinals.

2013 SCRABBLE Champions Tournament

Date	December 4–8
Place	andel’s Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic
Winner	Nigel Richards (NZL)
Runner-Up	Komol Panyasophonlert (THA)
Winning Teams	Israel (singleton), Australia (multiplayer)
Winner’s Prize	$10,000
Prize Pool	$22,500
Players	110
National Teams	38
Format	31 rounds followed by best-of-5 semifinals and best-of-5 finals
Sponsor	Mattel
Organizer	MSI
Director	John Chew

• Nigel Richards became the first player to win the title for a third time.
• Nigel Richards became the first champion to successfully defend the title.
• This was the first event in this series organized by MSI.
• This was the first event in this series to be called the SCRABBLE Champions Tournament.
• This was the first event in this series to include a Last Chance Qualifier.
• This was the first event in this series to include official side events: Clabbers, Duplicate, Speed, three Opens, Czech, German, Norwegian and Polish.

2011 World SCRABBLE Championship

Date	October 11–16
Place	Hilton Hotel, Warsaw, Poland
Winner	Nigel Richards
Runner-Up	Andrew Fisher
Winning Team	Northern Ireland
Winner’s Prize	$20,000
Prize Pool	$50,000
Players	106
National Teams	39
Format	34 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals
Sponsor	Mattel
Organizer	Philip Nelkon
Director	Wilma Vialle

• Nigel Richards became the first two-time champion.
• In Round 7, Edward Martin and Chollapat Itthi-Aree discovered that a “G” tile was missing from their game. The incident was widely reported in the news media, but the tile was eventually found later on in the event under innocuous circumstances.
• First event to be held under WESPA rules (Version 2)

2009 World SCRABBLE Championship

Date	November 26–29
Place	Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Winner	Pakorn Nemitrmansuk
Runner-Up	Nigel Richards
Winning Teams (mean team member rank)	India (singleton), Thailand (multiplayer)
Winner’s Prize	$15,000
Prize Pool	$30,500
Players	108
National Teams	39
Format	24 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals
Sponsor	Mattel
Organizer	Philip Nelkon
Director	Wilma Vialle

• First event to be held under WESPA rules (Version 1)

2007 World SCRABBLE Championship

Date	November 9–12
Place	Taj President Hotel, Mumbai, India
Winner	Nigel Richards
Runner-Up	Ganesh Asirvatham
Winning Teams (mean team member rank)	U.A.E. (singleton), Malaysia (multiplayer)
Winner’s Prize	$15,000
Prize Pool	$30,500
Players	104
National Teams	38
Format	24 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals
Sponsor	Mattel
Organizer	Philip Nelkon
Director	Wilma Vialle

2005 World SCRABBLE Championship

Date	November 16–20
Place	Marriott Regent’s Park, London, England
Winner	Adam Logan
Runner-Up	Pakorn Nemitrmansuk
Winning Teams (mean team member rank)	Qatar (singleton), Australia (multiplayer)
Winner’s Prize	$15,000
Prize Pool	$30,500
Players	102
National Teams	39
Format	24 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals
Sponsor	Mattel
Organizer	Philip Nelkon
Director	Wilma Vialle

2003

• Information to follow

2001

• Information to follow

1999

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1997

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1995

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1993

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1991

• Information to follow