2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 1 W I N N E Reven began. In 2011, he emerged from a five-way tie in the final round to winthe title on spread. In 2012, he shocked the <strong>SCRABBLE</strong> world by coming frombehind to steal the championship from David Gibson by 16 points, beating himby 177 in the final game.<strong>The</strong>n came this year. Again, he won by mere spread points, holding off KomolPanyasophonlert in the final game. A loss by 55 points or more would havedashed his title hopes, but Richards lost by just 21. Panyasophonlert finished24-7 +1868; Richards finished with the same record and a spread of +1934.<strong>The</strong> champion's name may not change often at Nationals, but his route tovictory is always different.This year's win was especially interesting, as there were a few in-game positions where Richards'unorthodox style of play reared its head -- perhaps winning him a few games.One such position came up in round 16 against Ben Schoenbrun. Down by 56 late in the game,Richards held GOITER plus a blank with six tiles left in the bag. Most players -- perhaps even topexperts -- would have played an obvious bingo such as GOITERs or GOuTIER or one of severalothers playable. Richards did something a little different."He has a bazillion bingos that he could play, but instead of playing any of them, he plays TRIGO fornine points," Schoenbrun mused. "I didn't know what to think of it. Looking back on the game, I'mthinking, how did he know to play TRIGO?"It was one of the more bizarre plays ever seen at Table 1, but sure enough, it worked. <strong>The</strong> followingturn, Richards bingoed out with THrEAPER into the R in TRIGO, scoring 82 and catchingSchoenbrun with the X on his final rack. He ended up winning by 49."I'm wondering how he knew to play that -- and if there's any hope for anyone to be as good as him,ever," Schoenbrun said. "I can understand what most players are doing, but with Nigel, that's not thecase. I just don't understand his logic."Another crazy situation arose the previous round in a close game between Richards and TripPayne. Payne pulled ahead late in the game and looked poised to win, and Richards, down by 53,made a funny-looking play of ZIN for 12 from a rack of CEJNRZ?. It was a trap -- ZIN was in front ofa triple-word line, and Richards was baiting Payne to make ZINE so he could respond with a big,juicy play hooking AZINE. When Payne didn't bite, Richards burned his blank to make JIBe for 37,forming ZINE and making the setup himself. It looked desperate, but it ended up winning him thegame in unlikely fashion."With the dreck I'd just drawn, I was unable to block without using my I," Payne said. "And I couldn'tuse my I, because then I'm Q-stuck and I lose, so either way I'm screwed."It was a gorgeous setup on his part. He took a chance that the right stuff was in the bag, and it was.He looked ahead, saw that this was his only chance, and it worked out. I think very, very few expertswould have seen it. That's why he's Nigel."Because Nigel keeps on being Nigel, no one knows when another American (or Canadian, or Thai,or anyone else) will win this championship again. For some, it might be considered discouraging. Onthe other hand, it's pretty exciting just to witness it.20
2 0 1 3 N S C D I V I S I O N 1 W I N N E R"It's hard to argue against him being the greatest <strong>SCRABBLE</strong> player of all time at this point," Paynesaid. "Seeing somebody like that at the height of what he's doing, that's amazing. It's like watchingMichael Jordan or somebody like that at the height of his career. It's amazing."That said, was I rooting for Kenji [Matsumoto]? Was I rooting for Komol? Yes, I was."Payne's not alone. <strong>The</strong>re are plenty of players itching for the chance to dethrone Richards. <strong>The</strong>good news is that the challenge of taking him down isn't likely to get any harder than it already is --Richards has basically reached <strong>SCRABBLE</strong> perfection, having maxed out his potential. <strong>The</strong>re areno words left to learn, no strategy left to master.<strong>The</strong> only thing left is for everyone else to catch up."I feel like the level of play must be rising somewhat to meet him," said Will Anderson, who finishedthird behind Richards this year. "That's the way it is in most games, right? Somebody's really good,and then he encourages people to do better."Hopefully that's happening. Certainly I feel like it challenges me to play better, knowing there'ssomeone out there who's just so good. It's a little disheartening, but in a way it feels good, becauseit shows you that <strong>SCRABBLE</strong> is a skill game. <strong>The</strong> best player is winning."He's been winning for a decade now, more or less. Richards has now played our Nationals ninetimes, and he's been near the top in every single one of them: second, third, seventh, first, second,first, first, first and first. We've never seen a run of dominance quite like this. We might never again."Maybe it's a setup play," joked Rafi Stern, who's finished eighth the last two years. "It's his setup fortaking over the world."At this point, it's hard to doubt him. 21