World SCRABBLE Championship

The World SCRABBLE® Championship (WSC) is the world’s top international SCRABBLE championship tournament, and has been held since 1991.

It is currently sponsored solely by Mattel, Inc. The tournament rules and word list are set by the World English-Language Scrabble Players' Association (WESPA). The involvement of NASPA is limited to selecting the American and Canadian teams and to the participation of Copresident John Chew as event director.

For more information about the next event, see 2014 World SCRABBLE 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.

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

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

In 2013, Mattel licensed Mind Sports International (MSI) to hold the 2013 World SCRABBLE Championship in place of the WSC.

In 2014, MSI announced that it would be holding its Mind Sports International World Championship in London.

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.

2009 World SCRABBLE Championship

Date	November 26–29
Place	Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Winner	Pakorn Nemitrmansuk
Runner-Up	Nigel Richards
Winning Teams	India (singleton), Nigeria (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

2007 World SCRABBLE Championship

Date	November 9–12
Place	Taj President Hotel, Mumbai, India
Winner	Nigel Richards
Runner-Up	Ganesh Asirvatham
Winning Teams	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

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2003

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2001

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1999

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1997

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1995

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1993

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1991

• Information to follow