Nigel Richards (Scrabble)

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Nigel Richards is a Scrabble player who represents New Zealand in international competition. He is the reigning World Champion and a five-time U.S. National Champion, the only player to have held both titles concurrently. He is an eleven-time champion of the Singapore Open Scrabble Championship,[1] and a ten-time winner of the King's Cup in Bangkok, the biggest Scrabble competition in the world.[2]

Richards started playing competitive Scrabble at New Zealand's Christchurch Scrabble Club before moving to Malaysia in 2000. Since beginning his competitive career in 1997, he has won about 75% of his tournament games, collecting an estimated USD 200,000 in prize money.[3] Richards now lives in Kuala Lumpur and plays for Malaysia.

Richards won the 2008 USA National Scrabble Championship and earned USD 25,000 by winning his last three games against the runner-up, 1998 champion Brian Cappelletto, for a record of 22 wins and 6 losses, with a cumulative spread of +1340 points.[4]

Richards was the runner-up in the 2009 USA National Scrabble Championship in Dayton, Ohio,[5] losing to Dave Wiegand but still winning 25 of the 31 matches.

Richards won the 2010 USA National Scrabble Championship in Dallas, Texas,[6] again winning 25 games. His performance in this tournament was so dominant that he clinched the title before the last day of competition began.

Richards won the 2011 USA National Scrabble Championship in Dallas, Texas,[7] winning 22 games, including his final two, to hold off a number of challengers.

Richards won the 2012 WGPO Word Cup[8] in Bloomington, Minnesota, winning 24 of 31 games, four more than the second-place player.

Richards won the 2012 USA National Scrabble Championship,[9] in Orlando, Florida winning 22 of 31 games. To win the title, Richards had to defeat past champion David Gibson by at least 170 points in the final game; he won it by 177 points. With this victory, Richards became the only person to have won the event four times, as well as the only player to have won it in three consecutive years.

Richards is the current USA National Scrabble Champion,[10] winning 24 of 31 games at the 2013 National Scrabble Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, in July 2013. The outcome was not decided until the last game. Though he lost that game, Richards kept the score close enough to retain the title for a record fourth consecutive time (and record fifth overall).

Richards won the 2007 World Scrabble Championship[11] and earned USD 15,000 by winning a playoff, 3 games to 0, against Ganesh Asirvatham of Malaysia.[12] The two qualified for the playoff by leading a field of 104 international experts after 24 rounds of a tournament held 9–12 November in Mumbai, India. He repeated this success in the 2011 World Scrabble Championship[13] in Warsaw, Poland, winning a closely fought final against Australia's top player, Andrew Fisher. He is now World Champion for a third time, beating Komol Panyasophonlert in the final; as of 2013, the World Championship has been renamed the Scrabble Champions Tournament and will be held annually.

Records in Major Tournaments

References

  1. ↑ Singapore Scrabble Association Archives - Archives Overview (1997-2010)
  2. ↑ http://www.poslarchive.com/kingscup/2013/build/notes/31.html
  3. ↑ Player Profiles - Nigel Richards
  4. ↑ NSC 2008 Division 1 Standings
  5. ↑ NSC 2009 Division 1 Standings
  6. ↑ NSC 2010 Division 1 Standings
  7. ↑ NSC 2011 Division 1 Standings
  8. ↑ WGPO Word Cup 2012 Division 1 Standings
  9. ↑ NSC 2012 Division 1 Standings
  10. ↑ NSC 2013 Division 1 Standings
  11. ↑ WSC 2007: Nigel Richards
  12. ↑ WSC 2007: Finals
  13. ↑ WSC 2011 Finals

External links

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