Revision as of 23:12, 8 February 2023

The 2023 WESPA Championship (WESPAC) marks the first time since 2001 that the world championship will be contested in North America. It begins with the Last Chance Qualifying Tournament on Friday July 21 and continues with the invitational Main Event from Saturday July 22 through Wednesday July 26. For those not competing in the invitational, there will be both Collins and NWL events concurrent with WESPAC.

Register Book Hotel General Info See Who's Coming

This webpage is subject to change and will be updated regularly as the plans are finalized.

Eligibility

WESPA Championship (WESPAC)

The WESPA Championship is an invitational event with quotas for WESPA countries and places reserved for past champions. In addition, players who finish in the top 20% at the Last Chance Qualifier tournament on Friday (July 21) will be awarded slots at the championship.

Players competing in WESPAC will be granted complimentary memberships to NASPA for the event.

Country Allocations

Each country is allocated a number of places based on its past performance at World Scrabble Championships. Each country's national association establishes rules for qualifying for those places, typically based on national tournament ratings or performance at qualifying tournaments or flagship events.

WESPA member associations should contact the Championship Committee with the names of the players who will be representing their association or a link to the qualifying process if the players have not yet been named.

Dropouts and Alternates

Any player already named who drops out before registration at the event site should, if possible, be replaced by a representative from their own country.

A registered player who does not turn up at registration, or drops out during the tournament, will not be replaced unless it makes the numbers odd; in that case, the official standby from the host country will stand in.

Past Champions

Past World / WESPAC champions automatically qualify for the WESPA Championship - independent of any country's quota. Planning to attend are:

• Adam Logan (Canada)
• Joel Wapnick (Canada)
• Wellington Jighere (Nigeria)

In addition, the WESPA Youth Cup winners from 2021 and 2022 automatically qualify for the WESPA Championship.

Last Chance Qualifier Tournament

The Last Chance Qualifier Tournament will be held on Friday (July 21) - the day before the WESPA Championship begins. It is open to all players not already qualified for WESPAC.

This 8-game tournament will consist of one division. Players will be paired using tsh - with Gibsonization (determined by number of games plus spread - 1000 points per round).

Players who finish in the top 20% at the Last Chance Qualifier tournament will be awarded slots at the championship.

In addition, the highest placing youth player (born after July 15, 2005) will qualify for WESPAC.

Players who had registered for WESPAC but do not qualify via the Last Chance Qualifier will be moved to the Challenge events that will run in parallel with WESPAC.

Players who had registered for the Challenge events but qualify via the Last Chance Qualifier will be moved to WESPAC.

WESPA Challenges

The NASPA Double Down will offer a series of tournaments - the WESPA Challenges - in parallel with WESPAC:

• WESPA Hearts Challenge - Friday (July 21) - 8 games
• WESPA Diamonds Challenge - Saturday (July 22) to Monday (July 24) - 24 games
• WESPA Clubs Challenge - Tuesday (July 25) - 8 games
• WESPA Spades Challenge - Wednesday (July 26) - 8 games

Both lexicons - NASPA Word List (NWL) and Collins (CSW) - will be offered.

Players competing in the NWL divisions must be NASPA members.

Players competing in the Collins divisions of the Challenge events will be granted complimentary memberships to NASPA for the event.

Check-In

To play in the first round on Saturday morning, you must check in between 2:00 PM and 5:00 P.M. on Thursday (July 20) or Friday (July 21).

You may ask a friend to check in for you by proxy if you cannot check in in person.

• If possible, please specify the name of the proxy when you register.
• Otherwise, email us at nsc@scrabbleplayers.org to notify us in advance of proxy arrangements.
• If you check in by proxy, but do not show up to play, then neither you nor your proxy will be permitted to check in by proxy at future events.

If you do not check in before the desk closes at 5:00 PM on Friday., you may join the championship in progress as soon as it is convenient for the pairings staff to add you back in; this may not take place before Sunday morning.

No refund will be issued to latecomers.

When you check in, you will be given an announcement sheet. This is to reduce the number of announcements that have to be made on Saturday morning, so that the event can get underway quickly. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with the announcements and tournament schedule.

Schedule

WESPAC Format

Players will be paired using tsh, with Gibsonization (determined by number of games plus spread - 1000 points per round) in one open Collins division.

Players will be seeded by current WESPA rating. If a player does not have a WESPA rating, NASPA or other comparable national rating will be used to determine seeding.

After Round 32, the top two players (as determined by record and spread) will enter a best of seven playoff to determine champion and runner-up.

The remaining players will be given the option to play in the WESPA Spades Challenge, which will be occurring in parallel with the playoffs, at no additional charge on Wednesday (July 26).

WESPA rules will be used for WESPAC.

WESPA Challenges Format

The WESPA Challenge events will offer competition in both Collins (CSW) and NASPA Word List (NWL):

• CSW players will be seeded by current WESPA rating. If a player does not have a WESPA rating, NASPA or other comparable national rating will be used to determine seeding.
• NWL players will be seeded by current NASPA rating. If a player does not have a NASPA rating, WESPA or other comparable national rating will be used to determine seeding.

Hearts Challenge (Friday, July 21)

There will be one open division for each lexicon.

Chew pairings will be in effect (with no fixed initial schedule), with Gibsonization (determined by number of game plus spread - 1000 points per round).

Diamonds Challenge (Saturday, July 22, through Monday, July 24)

There will be 2 divisions with unlimited playups for each lexicon:

• Division 1 - If your rating is 1500 or higher, you must play in Division 1.
• Division 2 - If your rating is below 1500, you can play in Division 1 or 2

If there are fewer than 20 players registered in either division for a lexicon, the divisions will be combined into a single division.

Players will be paired using tsh, with Gibsonization (determined by number of games plus spread - 1000 points per round).

Clubs and Spades Challenges

There will be 2 divisions with unlimited playups for each lexicon:

• Division 1 - If your rating is 1500 or higher, you must play in Division 1.
• Division 2 - If your rating is below 1500, you can play in Division 1 or 2

If there are fewer than 10 players registered in either division for a lexicon, the divisions will be combined into a single division.

Chew pairings will be in effect (with no fixed initial schedule), with Gibsonization (determined by number of game plus spread - 1000 points per round).