World Scrabble Championship 1997

World Scrabble Championship 1997
Won by Joel Sherman from 80 players
20 November 1997 — 24 November 1997
Held in Washington, D.C.
Sponsored by Hasbro


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The World Scrabble Championship 1997 was the fourth World Scrabble Championship. The winner was Joel Sherman of the United States.[1]

Format

The World Scrabble Championship 1997 was held in the Stouffer Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C., 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 the Milton Bradley Company, 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.

Results

After the initial Swiss tournament, the top two players were Joel Sherman (16 wins, winning spread +829) and Matt Graham (15 wins, winning spread +993). Notably, all the top four players were representing the United States. 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, Graham made another error when he played HERB instead of BERTH and Sherman took another close game, 419-405.

In game four, Sherman got off to a big lead and began shutting down the board. Graham took a chance on FLEXERS for 101 points, but Sherman successfully challenged it off. Graham drew a rack full of consonants. Sherman won the game and was crowned World Scrabble Champion, after losing in the final two years earlier.

Complete results

Position Name Country Win-Loss Spread Prize (USD)[1]
1 Sherman, JoelUnited States16-5+82925,000
2 Graham, MattUnited States15-6+99310,000
3 Edley, JoeUnited States15-6+9155,000
4 Felt, RobertUnited States14-7+8143,000
5 Nyman, MarkEngland14-7+7412,000
6 Boyd, KendallNew Zealand14-7+4011,000
7 Byers, RussellEngland14-7+396800
8 Bhandarkar, AkshayBahrain14-7+353600
9 Logan, AdamCanada13-8+1064400
10 Cappelletto, BrianUnited States13-8+946300
11 Boys, DavidWorld Champion13-8+935250
12 Acton, DavidEngland13-8+517250
13 Grant, JeffNew Zealand13-8+478250
14 Saldanha, AllanUnited Kingdom13-8+234250
15 Tiekert, RonUnited States13-8-27250
16 Okosagah, SammyNigeria12-9+816150
17 Nderitu, Patrick GitongaKenya12-9+750150
18 Warusawitharana, MissakaSri Lanka12-9+709150
19 Fernando, Naween TharangaSri Lanka12-9+588150
20 Holgate, JohnAustralia12-9+556150
21 Downer, PennyUnited Kingdom12-9+408
22 Fisher, AndrewUnited Kingdom12-9+382
23 Thobani, ShafiqueKenya12-9+85
24 Cleary, Paul StephenAustralia12-9+82
25 Ndungu, Stanley NjorogeKenya12-9+16
26 Williams, GarethWales12-9-179
27 Spate, CliveUnited Kingdom11½-9½+344
28 Awowade, FemiEngland11-10+711
29 Onyeonwu, IfeanyiNigeria11-10+613
30 Yawo, Anaga TakyiGhana11-10+545
31 Perrins, EstherAustralia11-10+377
32 Pui, Cheng WuiMalaysia11-10+305
33 Sukhumrattanaporn, CharnwitThailand11-10+94
34 Gruzd, StevenSouth Africa11-10+63
35 Addo, JoshuaGhana11-10+48
36 Wapnick, JoelCanada11-10+27
37 Carter, GeraldThailand11-10-439
38 Daniel, Robin PollockCanada11-10-503
39 Hahn, AlbertCanada11-10-719
40 Sigley, MichaelNew Zealand10½-10½+516
41 Webb, MarkEngland10½-10½+127
42 Klaphajone, JakkritThailand10-11+606
43 Blom, RogerAustralia10-11+520
44 Hersom, RandyUnited States10-11+511
45 Mead, JeremiahUnited States10-11+507
46 Schonbrun, LesterUnited States10-11+379
47 Geary, JimUnited States10-11+218
48 Khan, Rashid AteeqPakistan10-11-333
49 Luebkemann, JohnUnited States10-11-400
50 Elbourne, PeterMalta10-11-435
51 Grayson, JohnWales10-11-447
52 Khoshnaw, KarlKurdistan-Iraq10-11-582
53 Jonah, J.J.Israel10-11-645
54 Chinnaiyah, SureshSri Lanka9½-11½+124
55 Mensah, Edem KafuiGhana9½-11½-296
56 Butler, LynneNew Zealand9½-11½-745
57 Lao, ArmandoPhilippines9-12+246
58 Lipton, BobUnited States9-12+12
59 Quek, Sim HoSingapore9-12-284
60 Raychbart, PalomaIsrael9-12-351
61 Lobo, YvonneBahrain9-12-413
62 Saldanha, NorbertUnited Arab Emirates9-12-551
63 Saliba, MarioMalta9-12-586
64 Davids, GeraldSouth Africa9-12-643
65 Tan, Kiat Hing AustinSingapore9-12-769
66 Nanavati, JimCanada9-12-964
67 Ul-Haq, AssadQatar8-13+306
68 Abdullah, Raja FuadinMalaysia8-13+137
69 Salih, Sala Fadl MohamedSaudi Arabia8-13-47
70 Pray, Linda HazelOman8-13-234
71 Chune, AlbertTrinidad and Tobago8-13-828
72 Nakai, KenJapan8-13-865
73 Clenaghan, NualaIreland8-13-872
74 Meghan, EileenÉire8-13-891
75 Springer, RobertFrance8-13-1097
76 Mamadou, WoneKuwait7-14-755
77 Paolella, LiberoCanada7-14-862
78 Sandu, Dan LaurentiuRomania5-16-1528
79 Gibbons, RandallGuyana4-17-913
80 Nanayakkara, HarischandraSeychelles3-18-2141

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.wscgames.com/1997/prizes.html

External links

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