Weekly Tournament Round-Up: Manuden and Waterford

Aiden Crane, Division C winner at Manuden on his ABSP tournament debut

Debutants dazzled and experts excelled at Manuden and Waterford. Sixteen-year-old Aiden Crane swept Division C on his ABSP debut, Rik Kennedy and John Ashmore topped the two Manuden days, and Feargal Weatherhead edged a fifteen-round thriller in Ireland.

Debutants dazzled, Experts excelled, and the form book was once again ripped up during the latest stops on the ABSP’s 2026 tour: a weekend double-header in Manuden, Essex, and a two-day, fifteen-round jamboree in Waterford, Ireland.

Manuden Day 1

After an extended run of northern engagements for our country’s most enthusiastic Scrabblers, 64 players competed across two days—duplicates included—at James Burley’s latest Manuden events. Saturday was won by pre-tournament favourite and Expert Rik Kennedy: finding time to compete alongside his yearlong support of the ABSP’s nascent streaming efforts, he won six of his seven games, with a commanding +780 spread. Rik won two games by margins of over 200 points, and came very close to making it a hat-trick, taking his penultimate game by 194 points. It’s Rik’s second tournament triumph this year, having also returned home from Belfast victorious.

Rik observed that his most pleasing victory was against Barry Grossman (Exp). Rik managed to overcome a Barry bingo bombardment—four bonuses were laid down against him—and a 3-S, 3-power-tile deficit to squeeze home by 22 points—a commendable result in the unpropitious circumstances.

Players outside Manuden Village Community Centre

Rik was closely followed by Richard Spencer, who defied his ninth-seed pre-tournament status. He won five games to come second, and his tournament rating of 180 was his highest since October 2023. Nuala O’Rourke also made a mockery of her pre-tournament seeding—13th of 20—to finish on the podium, beating four Experts—including inflicting Rik’s only defeat—to finish third. Division B was won by Wanda de Poitiers (6 wins, +427 spread), while Chrystal Rose (5 wins, +768 spread) finished second, ahead of Noel Barnes (5 wins, +597 spread) in third.

The playing hall at Manuden

A dazzling debut; Synnott shines: Manuden Day 2

Sunday was stolen by debutant and sixteen-year-old Aiden Crane. Competing at his first ever rated tournament—inspired by watching the ABSP’s streams this year—he completed a formidable clean sweep in Division C, going home with seven wins, a +727 spread, and first place. He was accompanied by his father, Martin, also making his ABSP tournament debut, who won 2 games. Well done—they’ve said they’ll be back, and we can’t wait to welcome them back!

Division A was topped by two ABSP heavy-hitters. John Ashmore hit his commanding heights: 2024’s Grand Slam champion won six of his seven games and recorded a +789 spread to win his first event of 2026. After four runner-up finishes this year—at Nottingham, the Easter Matchplay Warm-Up, June’s Manuden instalment, and the BMSC Warm-Up—it was only a matter of time before John got over the line. He was closely followed by Grandmaster David Webb (5 wins, +444) in second. The division also saw another headline-making upset: Kevin Synnott, ranked nineteenth of the division’s 20 players, won five of his seven games, taking down both winner and runner-up, to come third.

Division B was closely fought: Anne Convery edged past Kevin Rayment on spread alone, while third place was also decided by spread. Gillian Street, Terry Corps, and Angele Andrews all won four of their seven games, but Gillian was the only one of the three to record a positive spread! This saw her join Anne and Kevin on the podium. Congratulations too to Stuart May and Jenny Corps, who came 2nd and 3rd respectively in Division C.

Weatherhead word-wizardry in Waterford

Over to Ireland and Waterford, where pre-tournament favourite and Expert Feargal Weatherhead lived up to his billing—but was run exceptionally close in doing so. He won 12 of his 15 games to win his third Irish tournament of 2026. His success was driven by five triple-digit victories, including one mammoth 328-point win: Feargal will be grateful for such spread-boosting efforts, as his +1126 point difference was decisive. Maksim Orlov also recorded 12 notches in the ‘W’ column, but his spread of +792 gave Feargal a significant cushion going into the final game. Feargal was joined on the podium by wife Pauline, who finished with 11 wins and a +428 spread.

Division B eerily mirrored Division A: its top two players also won 12 of their games, and were eventually separated by spread alone. Cian Riordan was the victor (12 wins, +854), and much more narrowly than Feargal: Jake Parks, in 2nd place, recorded just 151 fewer spread points than Cian—or roughly 10 per game!

Congratulations to all winners, and sincere thanks, as ever, to our tournament directors: James Burley and Jennie Frizelle.

Looking ahead

The Scrabble doesn’t stop! Next week’s round-up will recap two invitationals and another Scottish Scrabble special up in Cumbernauld.

Keep Scrabbling,
Jack Moran
ABSP Communications Officer
11 October 2026