UK NATIONAL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2000
London
19-20 August 2000
 Brett Smitheram (England), the 21 year old Exeter University student from Truro in Cornwall put in a star performance at the National Scrabble Championships, held on 19/20 August as part of the Mind Sports Olympiad. Brett qualified by winning 9 of his initial 10 games, his opponent in the final was the very experienced Gareth Williams (Wales), a 47 year old lecturer from Cardiff.
David Webb, the highest rated player present, was unlucky to miss out having won his first 8 games straight and led up to round 10, a substantial loss in game 10 to the 1997 Champion - Andrew Fisher was enough to put him out of contention.
In the first game of the 'best of 3' final Brett started as he meant to go on by playing TARRIED but Gareth replied immediately with UNHEALED and the game was close until Brett's 4th move - ETAERIOS (aggregated fruits) which gave him a 30 point lead. Thereafter he played BARGESTS (doglike goblins portending death) on move 7 to eventually run out a healthy winner 438-337.
The pressure was therefore on Gareth in Game 2. He took a small lead with his 3rd move NARTJIES ( African oranges) but Brett immediately countered with SNIFTERS. The players swopped bonuses again on their 7th moves with Brett playing TAUPIES (clumsy girls - Scot. dialect) and Gareth - obviously still pondering on snifters - matching him with STENGAHS (whisky and sodas). Brett's third bonus of DEVIOUS gave him the last 5 letters in the bag - LLOPR, and the obscure PROLL ( variant of prowl) was enough to take him to a narrow 437-402 victory and his first NSC crown.
NSC Gold medalist
Brett Smitheram |
NSC Silver medalist
Gareth Williams
|
With this win Brett books an early place at the 2001 WSC, which will be held in the USA some time late 2001, and takes over from David at the top of the UK ratings. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the first three in the Combined and division A and to the top three juniors - 1st Lewis Mackay (14), 2nd Austin Shin (10) and 3rd Aaron Dixson (15).
Great to see the dozen or so visitors from outside the UK at the event, they certainly gave it an international air.
Click here for the final game 2 playthrough and board.
Results:
| Combined - National Scrabble Championship |
|
Gold
|
Brett Smitheram
|
11 |
|
Silver
|
Gareth Williams
|
9
|
|
Bronze
|
Andrew Perry
|
10
|
As stated above after 10 games, the top two players - then Gareth Williams and Brett Smitheram played off - best of 3 games - for the position of National Scrabble Champion, Brett winning 2-0, thus Brett and Gareth only played 12 games, the rest of the field played 13.
Top Ten:
| # |
Player |
Wins |
| 4. |
David Webb |
10 |
| 5. |
Andrew Fisher |
10 |
| 6. |
Allan Saldanha |
9 |
| 7. |
Di Dennis |
9 |
| 8. |
Harshan Lamabadusuriya (Sri L) |
8 |
| 9. |
John Grayson |
8 |
| 10. |
David Acton |
8 |
Selected others:
| # |
Player |
Wins |
| 18. |
Evan Simpson (reigning champion) |
8 |
| 23. |
Chrys Placca (Ghana) |
7 |
| 25. |
Isaac Addo (Ghana) |
7 |
| 26 |
Solomon Attachey (Ghana) |
7 |
| 27. |
Mark Nyman (World Champion 1993, World runner-up 1999) |
7 |
| 28. |
Sam Kantimathi (US) |
7 |
| 32. |
Wemwa Odinga (Kenya) |
6 |
| 38. |
Ibrahim Khan (Ghana) |
6 |
| 42. |
Michael Quao (Ghana) |
6 |
| 49. |
Tengku Asri (Malaysia) |
5 |
| 50. |
Gerry Carter (Thailand) (reigning S.E. Asia Champion) |
5 |
| 54. |
Sarah Law (Singapore) |
5 |
| 60. |
Mike Ofori (Ghana) |
4 |
(62 players)
| OSW - Division A |
|
Gold
|
Alec Webb
|
11 |
|
Silver
|
David Shenkin
|
9
|
|
Bronze
|
David White
|
9
|
(24 players)
| OSW - Division B |
|
Gold
|
Martin Leverton
|
10 |
|
Silver
|
Kevin Synnott
|
9
|
|
Bronze
|
Joan Caws
|
9
|
(24 players)
| OSW - Division C |
|
Gold
|
June Clark
|
10 |
|
Silver
|
Teresa Hill
|
9
|
|
Bronze
|
Martin Cairns
|
9
|
(30 players)
Winners List
In 1989, the format was altered to a mix of high score and matchplay. This time, there was four games in the final and the winner was the player who would remain undefeated and scored the most points. In 1990, the final became a straight knockout of six games (four for those who didn't make the semi-finals). This format stayed until 1993. In 1994, the final became a three-day event, held at the Park Inn Hotel in West London. Nine games were played over two days, and the leading four players at this point played the semi-finals and final on the third day. There was no National Championship in 1995.
| Year |
Winner |
| 1971 |
Stephen Haskell |
| 1972 |
Olive Behan |
| 1973 |
Anne Bradford |
| 1974 |
Richard Sharp |
| 1975 |
Olive Behan |
| 1976 |
Alan Richter |
| 1977 |
Mike Goldman |
| 1978 |
Philip Nelkon |
| 1979 |
Christine Jones |
| 1980 |
Joyce Cansfield |
| 1981 |
Philip Nelkon |
| 1982 |
Russell Byers |
| 1983 |
Colin Gumbrel |
| 1984 |
Mike Willis |
| 1985 |
Esther Byers |
| Year |
Winner |
| 1986 |
Viraf Mehta |
| 1987 |
Nigel Ingham |
| 1988 |
Margaret Rogers |
| 1989 |
Russell Byers |
| 1990 |
Philip Nelkon |
| 1991 |
Phil Appleby |
| 1992 |
Philip Nelkon |
| 1993 |
Allan Saldanha |
| 1994 |
Mike Willis |
| 1995 |
- |
| 1996 |
Andrew Fisher |
| 1997 |
Andrew Cook |
| 1998 |
Mark Nyman |
| 1999 |
Evan Simpson |
| 2000 |
Brett Smitheram |
|
