SCRABBLE - The Last Word Newsletter

S C R A B B L E C H A M P I O N S T O U R N A M E N Ttournament scene is evolving thanks to our partnership with key territory associations and leading eventmanagement consultancy, Mind Sports (International) Ltd. It is an extremely exciting time for all Scrabbleplayers," stated Grampp.Honoring players that have competed for the past two years for a place at the prestigious event, TheScrabble Champions Tournament will this year adopt the same entry procedure as the past World ScrabbleChampionships. The newly created Elite Tournament is by invitation only and will recognize the qualificationplaces pre-assigned to each participating country, with over 100 places going to the best, spanning fivecontinents.For up-and-coming players, an Open event has been created to sit within The Scrabble ChampionsTournament. This event welcomes new players to the tournament for the first time and encourages broaderparticipation.The Elite and Open events within The Scrabble Champions Tournament will be conducted in English, with aseries of language-specific side events set to take place as part of the annual Prague Mind Sports FestivalScrabble schedule, which takes place around The Scrabble Champions Tournament. This gives players fromnon-English speaking countries the opportunity to compete in their native languages and again encouragesnew players to test their skills, regardless of their knowledge of the English dictionary.For further information on The Scrabble Champions Tournament, the event schedule and structure, pleasevisit: www.praguemindsportsfestival.comTeamUSA: The first 11Dave Wiegand, from Portland, Oregon, has been playing tournamentSCRABBLE for the last 20 years. He has won 70 tournaments and is a two-timewinner of the National SCRABBLE Championship (2005 and 2009). Othermajor wins include Reno (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2008); Seattle (1997,2000, 2004, 2005, 2008 and CSW 2011); Portland (1997, 1998, 2000, 2001,2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011, and CSW 2012); the Silicon Valley Showdown(2000, 2003); the Western Canadian Championship (2006, 2007); Phoenix(2007); the Dallas Open (2007, 2010, 2011); the California Open (2008);Vancouver (2009); Can-Am (2011); Ashland (CSW, 2011); New Orleans (CSW, 2012); Malibu (CSW,2012); and Las Vegas (CSW, 2013). He has competed in 13 National SCRABBLE Championships,the 1995 SCRABBLE Superstars Showdown, and the 2003 All Stars Championship. He has playedfor TeamUSA at the World SCRABBLE Championship in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, and 2011,finishing 3rd in 2009 and 4th in 2011. His current CSW rating is 2031 (peak 2081), making him the6th ranked Collins player in the United States.Nathan Benedict, from Tucson, AZ, started playing tournament SCRABBLE in1998, moving to a 1700+ rating at the end of a year. Since then he has won 32tournaments, with major wins at Irvine (1998); Scottsdale (1998); Grand Canyon(2003); Los Gatos (2004); Albuquerque (2004, 2009); Tucson (2004); Las Vegas(2005); Portland (2006); Reno (2007, 2009); Chicago (2007); Phoenix (2008);Albuquerque (2009); Sacramento (CSW, 2010); Phoenix (CSW, 2011); and LasVegas (2012, CSW). He has played for TeamUSA at the last three WorldSCRABBLE Championships, finishing 12th of 108 in 2009. His current CSWrating is 2058 (peak 2075), making him the top-ranked Collins player in the United States. 57