US NATIONAL SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2000
Providence
5-10 August 2000
After 31 rounds of thrilling Scrabble Joe Edley came out on top of Division 1 in the US NSC and captured the coveted title for the third time. Joe became the first player to ever win the title three times (before winning this time he was the only two-time champ!). He won his first title in 1980 in Santa Monica, CA, and his second at the 1992 Atlanta NSC. His record in Providence was 22-9 +1454.
A close final game saw him edge out David Wiegand by 20 points. His crowning words in the Final were REHANGED and CAPESKIN which both scored 92 points. David had URODELES and OXEYE to the triple. The crowd applauded heartily as the game ended, but the standings were not finalised.
There was a wait to hear the results of the Brian Cappelletto vs. Randy Hersom game. If Brian had won that game by 176 points, he would have taken first place. Cappelletto pulled out the win 440-377 but the margin was not enough.
It was no consolation however to the defeated Wiegand because the 1998 Champion, Brian Cappelletto, in fact crept into second place with that result, leaving the losing Division 1 Board 1 player in third. Such is the nature of the divisional play in Scrabble tournaments.
World Champion Joel Wapnick got off to a good start but faltered after the early rounds. He managed a creditable 11th place overall. The 1997 US Champion, Joel Sherman made it to 14th place. The two Joels did battle in Round 10 with Sherman coming out on top 430-412.
Division 1
- Edley, Joe
- Cappelletto, Brian
- Wiegand, David
- Logan, Adam
- Hersom, Randy
- Mead, Jere
- Tiekert, Ron
- Kramer, Jim
- Okosagah, Sammy
- Felt, Robert
- Wapnick, Joel
- Wright, Trey
- Kaitz, Merrill
- Sherman, Joel
- Alexander, Steven
Division 2 winner: David Johnson
Division 3 winner: David Pearl
Click here for the final game playthrough and board.
Winners List
| Year |
Dates |
Location |
Class |
Players |
Winner |
| 1978 |
May 19-21 |
New York City |
invitational |
64 |
David Prinz |
| 1980 |
Nov 14-16 |
Santa Monica |
invitational |
32 |
Joe Edley |
| 1983 |
August 10-12 |
Chicago |
qualifiers |
32 |
Joel Wapnick |
| 1985 |
July 28-31 |
Boston |
open |
302 |
Ron Tiekert |
| 1987 |
July 5-7 |
Las Vegas |
open |
300+ |
Rita Norr |
| 1988 |
July 31-August 5 |
Reno |
open |
323 |
Robert Watson |
| 1989 |
July 29-August 3 |
New York City |
open |
221 |
Peter Morris |
| 1990 |
August 5-9 |
Washington |
open |
300+ |
Robert Felt |
| 1992 |
August 9-13 |
Atlanta |
open |
320 |
Joe Edley |
| 1994 |
August 14-18 |
Los Angeles |
open |
294 |
David Gibson |
| 1996 |
July |
Dallas |
open |
400 |
Adam Logan |
| 1998 |
August 8-13 |
Chicago |
open |
535 |
Brian Cappelletto |
| 2000 |
August 6-10 |
Providence |
open |
628 |
Joe Edley |
