An Oxfordshire man has won the first UK Open Scrabble Championship for five years. Harshan Lamabadusuriya, a 45 year-old paediatrician from Abingdon, took the title and the £500 prize in the 27-game championship with two rounds to spare, finishing with a record of 21 wins and just 6 defeats.
The 3-day main event, taking place in Reading, Berkshire is the centrepiece of an 8-day Scrabble extravaganza from 3rd to 10th January, which has attracted nearly 100 players over the course of the event, with some travelling from the USA, Ireland and Hong Kong to attend. Those who have stayed for all 8 days of competition, playing four different events in that time, will have played 67 games of Scrabble each by the time the event concludes on Friday 10th January 2025.
This has been the first major tournament in the UK to officially use the new CSW24 word list. For the first time, words such as COVID, RONA, FAM, UNMUTE and ZOOMERS, as well as SEALION, can be played legitimately in the game as valid words.
Speaking about the large event, Tournament Organiser and director James Burley, 37, said "It is great to be able to bring people together to play the game they love. This game has created a community, lifelong friendships and even marriages. It is very important to continue to bring people together over shared passions such as these."
Amongst words played to win the tournament, Harshan extended the word BA to make the 9 letter word BACKSTORY. He also scored 645 points in one game against American Scrabble player Bob Linn. In round 21, he played Bob Lynn, from the UK, with the American Linn emerging victorious.
In a moving acceptance speech to fellow players, Harshan championed the Scrabble community by saying "The diversity in this room in terms of age, occupation, country, ethnicity, continents is unbelievable. The one thing that we have in common is the love of this wonderful game. The one thing that's better than the game is the community. It's an incredible community."
Other high scoring moves included CHICKENS played across two triple word score spaces, by Amy Byrne from Edinburgh, for 122 points and CABBAGES, played by Fiona Titcombe from Hampshire, scoring 167.
The highest game score was from author Barry Grossman, with 683 points in his round 13 game. Barry's publications include books teaching others how to improve their own Scrabble Game.
The second division was won by Paul Cousins from Bristol, who finished with 20 wins out of 27.
Amongst the players in the UK Open was Ellie Mackin, a blind player who uses Braille tiles in her games. Ellie finished 14th in the event having started 28th. She received a prize for the highest performance above her start rating.
The event was hosted for the first time by the Holiday Inn, Reading South. Sales and Marketing Manager David Berry said "It was a great honour and pleasure to host players over the world at this fantastic tournament. We look forward to welcoming them again next year."
Quotes from participants:
Rick Blakeway, Birmingham: "It was an excellent tournament, superbly organised. I would definitely come again."
Ian Coventry, 49, Cheshire: "A welcome antidote to the post-Christmas lethargy."
Anonymous: "Fantastic venue which is really accessible for all and an excellent tournament."
Victoria Kingham, Hastings: "This was a very exciting tournament, and it was lovely to see outsiders taking an interest in the game."
Penny Downer, Isle of Wight: It was great to meet up with old friends throughout the country. My opponents were charming!"
Amy Byrne, Edinburgh "It was a very enjoyable and well organised tournament." James Burley