BMSC 2018
The committee would like to send their congratulations to BMSC division winners Lewis Mackay, Gerard Fox and Geoff Cooper as well as all other prize winners at what was a great weekend at a venue which may become a new permanent home for the tournament.
Victory for Lewis was probably especially sweet after he missed out on the title last year by just 6 spread points. It is his 2nd victory at the BMSC and his 8th Scrabble Major, which ties him in 4th place on the all-time list. Mark Nyman leads the way with 23 major titles. The battle for the BMSC 2018 came down to a straight shoot-out between Lewis and Phil Robertshaw, playing his first rated scrabble in nearly a year. Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Austin Shin & Chris Vicary rounded out the top 5. Division B winner Gerard Fox finished on 20 wins, the most of any competitor.
Overall, the ABSP have received excellent feedback about the venue. Features such as comfortable, spacious bedrooms, covered walkways, roomy playing conditions and an extensive choice of food proving most popular. A number of minor issues were also identified which will help us to shape any future planning, but overall it was a definite step up in quality from previous years at Sutton Bonnington. Many players were also suggesting it was even better than Yarnfield… We are developing a great relationship with the venue, so it’s likely there will only be further improvements if we return next year.
Thanks also go to Wayne Kelly, James Burley and Ash Coldrick for their hard work in running the event, as well as Mauro and Jessica Pratesi who organised the streaming and annotation, and all commentators. The title clincher is available to watch HERE with further videos to be added to the channel in due course.
Committee Changes
The ABSP would like to inform all members of some changes to the committee which have taken place after the recent AGM pack was sent out. Mike Whiteoak, in his role as chair announced these to those present at the AGM, and new committee members were elected alongside those remaining for the coming year.
Colin Nicol will replace Rick Blakeway in the role of Clubs Co-ordinator, and Chris Harrison will take on a new role of Communications & Complaints Officer. This will incorporate some elements of the role vacated by Bob Violett, but also more liaison with members and responsibility for announcements. In addition, Elie Dangoor has left the committee for personal reasons, so we offer our thanks again to Elie, Rick, Bob and also Peter Ashurst and Rachel Bingham, all of whom have now completed their service.
Therefore, the full current committee is now as follows:
Mike Whiteoak – Chair/Tournament Co-Ordinator/Ratings Officer
Laura Finley – Secretary
Wayne Kelly – Treasurer/ABSP Events Organiser/Deputy Ratings Officer/Titles Registrar
Anand Buddhdev – Technical Officer
James Burley – Youth Officer
Chris Harrison – Communications & Complaints Officer
Colin Nicol – Clubs Co-Ordinator
Nuala O’Rourke – Membership Secretary
Natalie Zolty – Publicity Officer/Onboard Advisor
UK National Tablet Scrabble Championships 2018
Austin Shin is pleased to announce the inaugural UK National Tablet Scrabble Championships 2018! This will be held in the Naim Dangoor Centre, Westminster Academy in West London (the same venue as the UK NSC 2018), over the weekend of September 1-2.
Tablet Scrabble is a variant of the game where the game is played on mobile devices, such as tablets, laptops or mobile phones on an application. Using this, the games are played at a faster pace with no need for checking scores and words are automatically validated. Therefore, there will be 28 games played in total - 14 on each day, under a 15 minute per player timer, Players can play on either or both days and we have "money rounds" included where winners of pre-determined round numbers will instantly win £5, which can be accumulated throughout the tournament! We also have a cool trophy handed out to the eventual winner!
So please check out the flyer HERE and if you are interested and can make it on that weekend, then come and join us! ! For more information about Tablet Scrabble, join our Facebook group Scrabble International HERE
Thanks, Austin Shin
NSC Announcement
The ABSP is pleased to announce that the NSC Finals will take place, as previously hinted,
at the Sir Naim Dangoor Centre, Westminster Academy in West London, on October 6/7 2018.
The cost will cover use of room, officials, prize fund and refreshments only - accommodation
and meals are to be arranged by the players. The cost is likely to be around £70/£80 and has
again been generously sponsored by Elie Dangoor, who has contributed £2000 towards the event.
Alongside, this the ABSP will be running the Plate event again, open to anyone who has not qualified
for the Main Finals. Note - you cannot enter the plate if you have qualified for the NSC proper.
Both events will be 16 games, with start times around 10.30 on the Saturday and 9.15 on the Sunday.
There will be no games in the evening on Saturday and departure will be around 6.30 on Sunday.
Details of qualifying events and qualification criteria can be found here
ABSP Discussion Group
We have a new Facebook discussion group solely for ABSP members to enable more interactive and responsive communication within the community around ABSP matters.
There are already over 100 members. Please come and join in at https://www.facebook.com/groups/absp.forum/
NSC 2017 Winner
Austin Shin is the 2017 ABSP National Scrabble Champion!
Press Release.
ABSP Online Scrabble league
Do you enjoy playing friendly Facebook Scrabble games against other members?
Would you prefer to pit your wits in a more structured competition?
Well now you can.... ABSP Online is a new league exclusively for ABSP members.
The league will run fortnightly on a Tuesday, starting on Tuesday July 11th. Games will be played on the Facebook Scrabble app and you'll have two weeks to complete all your games.
Initial divisions will be based on ABSP rating and thereafter by promotions and demotions at the end of each round. This is initially a trial and as things progress, we may add other types of competition.
(Note – online games are, of course, not ABSP rated!)
To find out more and register to play, join the facebook group (you will need a Facebook account and the EA facebook scrabble game).https://www.facebook.com/groups/absponline/
You will also need to be registered on myscrabbleapp.com
Registration is free for ABSP members - we will add you when you join the facebook group.
If not currently a member, you can join the ABSP at http://www.absp.org.uk/absp/joinus.shtml
Give it a try, let's see how many ABSP Scrabblers we can fit into a virtual room.
Spread the word!
Wayne
FREE One Day Tournament Offer
A keen Scrabble player but never played in an ABSP tournament before? Now any first-time player can enter their first one day event FREE. Look at our tournament calendar to find an event near you.
WE LOVE SCRABBLE
Every ABSP member in the UK would have now received a special omnibus edition of OnBoard (a collection of the best of previous features and content from recent years) called 'WE LOVE SCRABBLE'. We are pleased to be able to make a pdf version of this omnibus edition available to download:
Free WE LOVE SCRABBLE download
The Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP) was formed in 1987 as a not-for-profit association to promote interest in the playing of Scrabble. We co-ordinate tournaments and the provision of a rating system for players in the UK, as well as providing information and support to members, tournament organisers and tournament directors.
Media Contact Point
NSC 2017 Winner