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Back to 2001 WSC

2001 World SCRABBLE® Championship: Team U.S.A.

The qualification process for Team U.S.A. was published in Issue 152 of the NSA newsletter in December 1999 and revised in Issue 153 in February 2000:

The next World SCRABBLE® Championship (WSC) will likely take place in the latter half of 2001. The U.S. WSC 2001 qualifying procedure shall be as follows: 14 players from the U.S. will qualify for the next WSC. Three will be determined solely on the basis of a qualifying tournament in May or June of 2001. The other eleven will be chosen on the basis of their PEAK RATING (PR) during the Qualifying Period (QP) of January 1, 2000 through April 30, 2001. The 11 players who earned the top eleven PR in that period will automatically qualify for the next World SCRABBLE® Championship. A qualifying PR may be earned only after players have played 70 tournament games during the QP.

In addition, any PR that has been earned in part from bonus points in one event shall have those bonus points subtracted from that PR. For example, if a player jumps from 1850 to 1980 in one tournament, and 50 of those 130 points were bonus points, then the player's new Peak Rating for that tournament is only 1930. however, in subsequent tournaments, bonus points will be ignored. Thus, after his next tournament, if the same player went up to 1990, then 1990 is his new PR. Bonus Points are earned whenever a player raises his/her rating more than 5pt. per round. In a 12-round tourney, if a player raises himself 80pt., then 80 - (12 x 5) = 20 extra bonus points are earned, raising his rating to 100pt. more than when he began.

Furthermore, qualifying players must play at least 25 tournament games within the last 5 months of the QP OR 15 tournament games within the last 3 months of the QP. Note also that mid-tourney ratings at "long" tourneys will not count as a PR.

Anyone starting but not completing any tournament will not have his/her rating achieved during that tournament count as a peak, nor will any of the games played in said tournament count towards any portion of the activity requirement. No exceptions.

The QT will be held in May or June, 2001. [The QT will be held on June 8-10 in Bedford, TX.] The word source will be SOWPODS (both American and British word sources). Only those players who have played at least 70 tournament games during the QP will qualify for the QT.

The following American players have qualified to play at the WSC:

If any of the above fourteen players are unable to play at the WSC, Chris Cree (4th at the QT) will replace them as alternate player.

Here are the final results from the QT as reported by TD Mary Rhoades:

    PLACE    RATING          NAME               WINS        SPREAD
      1       1906     BOB LIPTON               13.0        1321
      2       1882     STEVE POLATNICK          10.0         747
      3       1992     JOHN LUEBKEMANN           8.0          50
      4       1884     CHRIS CREE                8.0          26
      5       1834     SAM KANTIMATHI            7.0        -146
      6       1988     LISA ODOM                 7.0        -390
      7       1859     MIKE BARON                7.0        -492
      8       1834     STU GOLDMAN               6.0         -24
      9       1815     MARTY GABRIEL             5.0        -690
     10       1767     CAROL KAPLAN              4.0        -402

HIGH GAME OF 575 WAS PLAYED BY BOB LIPTON              IN ROUND 2 
HIGH LOSS OF 454 WAS PLAYED BY CAROL KAPLAN            IN ROUND 7 

1 LUEBKEMANN JOHN/50: L10 W9 W8 W7 L6 L5 W4 W3 W2 L4 L5 L6 W3 W4 L5 
2 ODOM LISA/-390: W9 L7 L5 L3 W10 W8 W6 W4 L1 W7 W9 L3 L5 L6 L4 
3 LIPTON BOB/1321: W8 W6 W4 W2 W9 W7 W5 L1 W10 W5 W4 W2 L1 W5 W10 
4 CREE CHRIS/26: W7 W5 L3 W10 W8 W6 L1 L2 L9 W1 L3 L5 W8 L1 W2 
5 POLATNICK STEVE/747: W6 L4 W2 W9 W7 W1 L3 W10 L8 L3 W1 W4 W2 L3 W1 
6 BARON MIKE/-492: L5 L3 W10 L8 W1 L4 L2 W9 L7 W9 W10 W1 L7 W2 L7 
7 KANTIMATHI SAM/-146: L4 W2 L9 L1 L5 L3 W10 W8 W6 L2 L8 L10 W6 W9 W6 
8 GOLDMAN STU/-24: L3 L10 L1 W6 L4 L2 L9 L7 W5 W10 W7 L9 L4 W10 W9 
9 GABRIEL MARTY/-690: L2 L1 W7 L5 L3 W10 W8 L6 W4 L6 L2 W8 L10 L7 L8 
10 KAPLAN CAROL/-402: W1 W8 L6 L4 L2 L9 L7 L5 L3 L8 L6 W7 W9 L8 L3

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