Monthly Archives: January 2021

MUMBAI: Perhaps it’s the constant dance of such mystifying words in his ten-year-old head that keeps Delhi boy Madhav Kamath decidedly monosyllabic these days.
Representing Polish coins and ear seals respectively, “grosze” and “sea lions” are some of the obscure terms that the soft-spoken Madhav had to defend as valid words in an ongoing virtual tournament including the finals. might well see India and Pakistan engaging in an enriching war of words, if not a formal handshake.
Welcome to the World Youth Scrabble Championship, an annual international under-18 tournament that this year lacks the trademark-tournament Scrabble buzz of clicking tiles, stubborn poker faces and friendly coffee (luge). Hosted online for the first time due to the pandemic, the 2021 edition of the game sees 96 players from 16 countries outdo each other in virtual groups of six. As of now, all six Indians have qualified for the quarter-finals.
Among them are Devansh Malpani and Ayush Bhatia from Mumbai, tenth grade students who can neither see their opponents nor the invisible eye that watches them through the webcam as they play. Although the duo wrote their foreplay online under a similar aloof gaze, it sounds more unnerving, says Devansh. “During the exams, you can see the proctor,” he explains.
Five years ago, they both switched to Scrabble during their “hobby” period at school when their date with his absurd lexicon began. “It’s good to know the meaning of Scrabble words, but it’s not necessary,” Ayush says, referring to obscurities such as “Usquabae” and “Zyzzyva,” which also happens to be the name of the Scrabble. online database of Scrabble words.
While knowing terms like ‘onions’ may not be academically useful, Harvinderjit Bhatia – Honorary Treasurer of the Indian Scrabble Association (SAI) and ‘whipping boy’ to his two scrabble-headed sons – says an international victory gives players an advantage while applying for graduate studies abroad. This is probably why Bhatia’s Scrabble Coaching Academy saw the number of inquiries from schoolchildren on non-subways increase during the lockdown. “Online learning eliminates the boredom and cost of travel,” says Bhatia.
The rapid and recent rise of online chess in India has brought hope to Scrabble. SAI is not only trying to persuade the company that makes Scrabble to partner with Scrabble associations in various states to encourage focus promoting gambling, but also to get the Department of Sports to give it sport status. . Meanwhile, filled with live broadcasts and match commentary in English and Urdu, the mood for Pakistan’s World Youth Scrabble Championship is charged. And while Devansh and Ayush will fail to read opponents’ expressions for clues until 2022, as all offline world scrabble tournaments have been canceled so far, there are things they are happy to be under. – process at a remote computer. “Once, in an offline tournament, I lost because of a stupid mistake,” Devansh recalls. “I wrote down my score in the losers column instead of the winners column.”

It might be a New Year, but for most of us, staying home is our daily routine. Containment has made board games more popular. Chess is experiencing a resurgence, but I’m focusing on another intellectually stimulating game: Scrabble. It’s because I play monthly matches against Forest Park Scrabble scholar Tom Legge.

Tom discovered Scrabble at the age of 8. He started playing his mother, who let him win at first, until Tom started to beat her fair and square. He continued his career in Scrabble, playing frequently at Knox College, then joined Scrabble clubs and competed in tournaments. He met a whole host of eccentrics and Mensa members. Not that all serious Scrabble players are fools. Barrett Jones, who played center for Alabama, was a top player.

Most of these Scrabble tournaments were held in Chicago, but Tom also traveled to Michigan and Massachusetts to participate. Competitive Scrabble is like competitive chess. There is a clock that each player hits and they have 22 and a half minutes to complete a game. I used 22 and a half minutes to go around.

When not playing, Tom has studied a large number of Scrabble books and competes at a high level against his computer. He’s not the only one who loves the game. One third of American households have a game of Scrabble. There are over 4000 Scrabble clubs in 121 countries.

Tom later became manager of a Scrabble club on the North Side. He set up the commissions and ruled on disputes and disputes. In 2012 he moved to Forest Park and played Scrabble in the library, but that didn’t give him the competitive solution he was looking for.

Tom and I bumped into each other at Shanahan’s, who became our “friendly speaker” for Scrabble games. Most nights I was devastated by Tom’s play. He has already laid down four 7-letter words – known as “bingos” – in one part. I scored four lifetime bingos.

He scored over 600 points in a game. I’m lucky to have 300 points, but Tom swears I beat him twice one night. The secret to its success is its use of 2 letter words. There is a list of 107 such words that serious Scrabble players can memorize. He is also very adept at using the four letters “s” and two “blanks” to form plurals. Although he is a recognized “word freak”, Tom considers Scrabble primarily to be a mathematical game.

He targets high value boxes, while preventing his opponent from using them. Like the rest of us mere mortals, he puts letters away in his tray to form words, or to find prefixes and suffixes. He looks for comparatives and superlatives to extend the words. He recently played the “fiercest” against me for 70 points.

Scrabble may be a brain game, but there is an element of luck in the design of the letters. The “big four” are Z, Q, J and X. Using the Q was like getting stuck with the queen of spades in your hearts. This was before the discovery of U-less “q” words like qi, the “life force” in traditional Chinese medicine.

Sorry, if I get too “inside baseball” about Scrabble. But to paraphrase a certain baseball player, “Scrabble has been very, very good for me.” A Scrabble victory at the library landed me a job as an ESL tutor for five years. This led to a three-year full-time job teaching ESL students.

I look forward to the return of game nights at the library. Tom said he would be available to help form a competitive Scrabble club. The only question is who wants to play a guy who has already asked “whodunit?” “