World Scrabble Championship 1997
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World Scrabble Championship 1997
Won by Joel Sherman from 80 players
20th November 1997 - 24th November 1997
Held in Washington, D.C.
Sponsored by Hasbro
Contents |
[edit] Format
The World Scrabble Championship 1997 was held in the Stouffer Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, and was the second to be held in the United States. Eighty players played a Swiss tournament of twenty-one games each, with each player playing seven games on each of the first three days. The two top players from this tournament then played a best-of-five game final to decide who would be World Scrabble Champion 1997.
Prize money was provided by Milton-Bradley, owned by the tournament's sponsor Hasbro, to a total value of $50,100. The winner received $25,000, the runner-up $10,000 and the remainder of the top twenty players received prizes down to $150.
This was the first World Championship to have featured a live web site, a copy of which is now archived at the main [WSC web site].
[edit] Results
After the initial Swiss tournament, the top two players were Joel Sherman (16 wins, winning spread +829) and Matthew Graham (15 wins, winning spread +993). Notably, all the top four players were representing the USA. This was particularly surprising since the WSC uses the SOWPODS wordlist, which includes many words not present in the traditional American wordlist, TWL 98.
Graham took the first game of the finals 409-334 but lost a 387-363 squeaker in the second after missing BOWNED. In game three, Matt makes another error when he plays HERB instead of BERTH and Sherman takes another close one 419-405. In game four, Sherman gets off to a big lead and begins shutting down the board. Graham takes a chance on FLEXERS for 101 points, but after Joel successfully challenges it off and Matt goes on to draw a rack full of consonants, Joel Sherman gets crowned World Scrabble Champion, atoning for his loss in the final two years earlier.
[edit] Complete Results
| Position | Name | Country | Win-Loss | Spread | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sherman, Joel | United States | 19-6 | +829 | 25,000 |
| 2 | Graham, Matt | United States | 16-9 | +993 | 10,000 |
| 3 | Edley, Joe | United States | 15-6 | +915 | 5,000 |
| 4 | Felt, Robert | United States | 14-7 | +814 | 3,000 |
| 5 | Nyman, Mark | England | 14-7 | +741 | 2,000 |
| 6 | Boyd, Kendall | New Zealand | 14-7 | +401 | 1,000 |
| 7 | Byers, Russell | England | 14-7 | +396 | 800 |
| 8 | Bhandarkar, Akshay | Bahrain | 14-7 | +353 | 600 |
| 9 | Logan, Adam | Canada | 13-8 | +1064 | 400 |
| 10 | Cappelletto, Brian | United States | 13-8 | +946 | 300 |
| 11 | Boys, David | World Champion | 13-8 | +935 | 250 |
| 12 | Acton, David | England | 13-8 | +517 | 250 |
| 13 | Grant, Jeff | New Zealand | 13-8 | +478 | 250 |
| 14 | Saldanha, Allan | United Kingdom | 13-8 | +234 | 250 |
| 15 | Tiekert, Ron | United States | 13-8 | -27 | 250 |
| 16 | Okosagah, Sammy | Nigeria | 12-9 | +816 | 150 |
| 17 | Nderitu, Patrick Gitonga | Kenya | 12-9 | +750 | 150 |
| 18 | Warusawitharana, Missaka | Sri Lanka | 12-9 | +709 | 150 |
| 19 | Fernando, Naween Tharanga | Sri Lanka | 12-9 | +588 | 150 |
| 20 | Holgate, John | Australia | 12-9 | +556 | 150 |
| 21 | Downer, Penny | United Kingdom | 12-9 | +408 | |
| 22 | Fisher, Andrew | Australia | 12-9 | +382 | |
| 23 | Thobani, Shafique | Kenya | 12-9 | +85 | |
| 24 | Cleary, Paul Stephen | Australia | 12-9 | +82 | |
| 25 | Ndungu, Stanley Njoroge | Kenya | 12-9 | +16 | |
| 26 | Williams, Gareth | Wales | 12-9 | -179 | |
| 27 | Spate, Clive | United Kingdom | 11½-9½ | +344 | |
| 28 | Awowade, Femi | England | 11-10 | +711 | |
| 29 | Onyeonwu, Ifeanyi | Nigeria | 11-10 | +613 | |
| 30 | Yawo, Anaga Takyi | Ghana | 11-10 | +545 | |
| 31 | Perrins, Esther | Australia | 11-10 | +377 | |
| 32 | Pui, Cheng Wui | Malaysia | 11-10 | +305 | |
| 33 | Sukhumrattanaporn, Charnwit | Thailand | 11-10 | +94 | |
| 34 | Gruzd, Steven | South Africa | 11-10 | +63 | |
| 35 | Addo, Joshua | Ghana | 11-10 | +48 | |
| 36 | Wapnick, Joel | Canada | 11-10 | +27 | |
| 37 | Carter, Gerald | Thailand | 11-10 | -439 | |
| 38 | Daniel, Robin Pollock | Canada | 11-10 | -503 | |
| 39 | Hahn, Albert | Canada | 11-10 | -719 | |
| 40 | Sigley, Michael | New Zealand | 10½-10½ | +516 | |
| 41 | Webb, Mark | England | 10½-10½ | +127 | |
| 42 | Klaphajone, Jakkrit | Thailand | 10-11 | +606 | |
| 43 | Blom, Roger | Australia | 10-11 | +520 | |
| 44 | Hersom, Randy | United States | 10-11 | +511 | |
| 45 | Mead, Jeremiah | United States | 10-11 | +507 | |
| 46 | Schonbrun, Lester | United States | 10-11 | +379 | |
| 47 | Geary, Jim | United States | 10-11 | +218 | |
| 48 | Khan, Rashid Ateeq | Pakistan | 10-11 | -333 | |
| 49 | Luebkemann, John | United States | 10-11 | -400 | |
| 50 | Elbourne, Peter | Malta | 10-11 | -435 | |
| 51 | Grayson, John | Wales | 10-11 | -447 | |
| 52 | Khoshnaw, Karl | Kurdistan-Iraq | 10-11 | -582 | |
| 53 | Jonah, J.J. | Israel | 10-11 | -645 | |
| 54 | Chinnaiyah, Suresh | Sri Lanka | 9½-11½ | +124 | |
| 55 | Mensah, Edem Kafui | Ghana | 9½-11½ | -296 | |
| 56 | Butler, Lynne | New Zealand | 9½-11½ | -745 | |
| 57 | Lao, Armando | Philippines | 9-12 | +246 | |
| 58 | Lipton, Bob | United States | 9-12 | +12 | |
| 59 | Quek, Sim Ho | Singapore | 9-12 | -284 | |
| 60 | Raychbart, Paloma | Israel | 9-12 | -351 | |
| 61 | Lobo, Yvonne | Bahrain | 9-12 | -413 | |
| 62 | Saldanha, Norbert | United Arab Emirates | 9-12 | -551 | |
| 63 | Saliba, Mario | Malta | 9-12 | -586 | |
| 64 | Davids, Gerald | South Africa | 9-12 | -643 | |
| 65 | Tan, Kiat Hing Austin | Singapore | 9-12 | -769 | |
| 66 | Nanavati, Jim | Canada | 9-12 | -964 | |
| 67 | Ul-Haq, Assad | Qatar | 8-13 | +306 | |
| 68 | Abdullah, Raja Fuadin | Malaysia | 8-13 | +137 | |
| 69 | Salih, Sala Fadl Mohamed | Saudi Arabia | 8-13 | -47 | |
| 70 | Pray, Linda Hazel | Oman | 8-13 | -234 | |
| 71 | Chune, Albert | Trinidad and Tobago | 8-13 | -828 | |
| 72 | Nakai, Ken | Japan | 8-13 | -865 | |
| 73 | Clenaghan, Nuala | Ireland | 8-13 | -872 | |
| 74 | Meghan, Eileen | Éire | 8-13 | -891 | |
| 75 | Springer, Robert | France | 8-13 | -1097 | |
| 76 | Mamadou, Wone | Kuwait | 7-14 | -755 | |
| 77 | Paolella, Libero | Canada | 7-14 | -862 | |
| 78 | Sandu, Dan Laurentiu | Romania | 5-16 | -1528 | |
| 79 | Gibbons, Randall | Guyana | 4-17 | -913 | |
| 80 | Nanayakkara, Harischandra | Seychelles | 3-18 | -2141 |
- FINALS:
- Game 1: Graham 409 - Sherman 334
- Game 2: Sherman 387 - Graham 363
- Game 3: Sherman 419 - Graham 405
- Game 4: Sherman 410 - Graham 324
