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News

Victorian Championship

DELDAR wins
Winner: David Eldar on 14 wins
EHUI second
Euclid Hui came second on 12 wins
ASAI third
Ayorinde Saidu third on 11 wins
This was the 40th anniversary of the Victorian Championship.
42 players took part , including some from overseas and interstate. It was a threepeat for David Eldar (yes it is a Scrabble word), and in a highly contested race, Euclid Hui from Hong Kong came second, and Ayorinde Saidu from Nigeria came third. Awards were
  • 1st - David Eldar
  • 2nd - Euclid Hui
  • 3rd - Ayorinde Saidu
  • 4th - Edward Okulicz
  • 5th - Andrew Fisher
  • Rating Prize - Band to 1150: Jayanthi Viswanathan
  • Rating Prize - Band 1151-1400: Jenny Brysha
  • Rating Prize - Band above 1401: Fadlan Satria
  • Rating Prize - Best Interstate Player: Paul Richards
  • High Word: David Eldar, STAMPEDO, 185
  • High Game: Edward Okulicz, 659

See Full results

2025 Western Australia Championship

David Vanzyl wins
David Vanzyl wins the WA Championship
Ian Ting second
Second Ian Ting
Anne Zion third
Third Anne Zion
Read the report by Geoff Shepheard and Ian Ting.

The Western Australia Championship was held in Perth on the June long weekend. David Vanzyl won 17 out of 18 games to emerge as the clear winner.

Some of the unusual words played included:

  • ARABINS - essence of gum arabic
  • SHIVAREE - discordant mock serenade to newlyweds, made with pans, kettles, etc.
  • CLIVERS - cleavers (plant with small white flowers and sticky fruits)
  • DESYATIN - Russian unit of area
  • SHERWANI - long coat closed up to the neck, worn by men in India
  • PENOCHE - a type of fudge

See Full results

Nationals 2025

DELDAR wins
Read Max Mason's report on the tournament.

In Adelaide, David Eldar wins the Australian Championship back to back after 2024, as also does Olga Visser.

The top three in each section are:

Championship

  1. David Eldar
  2. Adam Kretschmer
  3. Trevor Halsall
See placings

Plate

  1. Olga Visser
  2. Margaret Neal
  3. Frank Csarics
See placings

Bob Jackman OAM

Joanne Craig and Bob at the CSIM

Bob Jackman has been prominent in organising, promoting and innovating in Scrabble for many years. He has also played in many tournaments in Australia and overseas. In this year;s Australia Day Honours, he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for service to competitive Scrabble.

The nomination was put forward by Joanne Craig with help from John Holgate and Howard Warner. Joanne Craig spoke at CSIM about how he deserved the award because of his many years as President of ASPA NSW and his work in establishing and supporting clubs. He set up a national OzScrabble mailing list, and had acted as rating officer for Australia and also internationally. He started events such as the City of Sydney International Masters and the Trans Tasman.

Bob has represented Australia in international events, including the World Scrabble Championship. He came runner up in the Pan Pacific Scrabble Championship in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

2025 CSIM

The City of Sydney Masters has been a major event for decades. This year it was hotly contested, with the top spot always in contention right to the end. Josh Watt who has only been playing since 2023, won convincingly.
Josh's final game with Ryan Sutton clinched the title

Prizes were presented down to fifth place. 
1 14  +785 Josh Watt
2 13  +999 Cameron Farlow
3 12 +1313 Andrew Fisher
4 12  +590 Joanne Craig
5 12  +496 Ryan Sutton
Several new records for 2025 were made.
Large game margin 384
Oscar Ivanovski 591 against Anne Hough 207
High drawn game
Greg Pinchbeck 409 against Oscar Ivanovski 409
High combined score 1023
Nick Ivanovski 531 against Asanka Dissanayake 492
High losing score 504
Fadlan Satria 504 against Jane Taylor 514
High play, not bonus: 101
ZATIS byJosh Watt
ZATIS scores 101
ZATIS is 34 × 2, ZE is 31, AS is 2
Long word 11 letters:
REELECTIONS by Bob Jackman
REELECTIONS
RE(E)ELECT + IONS
Many bingos 5
ADDIBLE, OCTANES, UNFROZE, MALAISE, KETAMINE : Noel Barrett
DRONGOS, HELIUMS, BARITES, CATELOGS, ALUNITES : Nick Ivanovski
Long winning streak 9
(6+3) Cameron Farlow at Logan Clovers and CITY OF SYDNEY MASTERS
See 2025 Records
Barry Harridge provided a webshow of full round by round results.
This tournament has been rated by WESPA using the new WESPA rating system. This system has higher ratings generally, and considers the volatilty of each player as measured by their rating deviation. See WESPA rating of CSIM.

Happy New Words

Australian Scrabblers are now using an updated version of Collins Scrabble Words. You can check out our word advice here, including update kits, books, apps and printable lists.
The last tournament of 2024 (Decathon in Victoria) and the first tournament of 2025 (Janboree in NSW) cheerfully started using these new words. Look at these savvy plays.
AVI
AVI (slang) An avatar (profile picture) on a social media platform
BAW
BAW A ball usually found in a pair in a BAWBAG (Scots)
UWU
UWU The emoticon (uωu) for cuteness
MPox
MPOX Monkey pox, a viral illness
GLAMAZON
GLAMAZON A tall glamorous woman
VAQUITAS
VAQUITA A rather small porpoise from Spanish for little cow

Events

Selective events

These events are invitational, based on rating. 2025
Australian Masters
& State Challenge
WESPA Championship
Ghana (November)
World Youth

Townsville

Townsville

Townsville is proud to be hosting both the Australian Women's Scrabble Championship and the Queensland Scrabble Championship in 2025 and there is further fun on beautiful Magnetic Island in between.

All tournaments will use CSW24 and be WESPA rated.

Townsville experiences 24 sunny days and an average daily maximum temperature of 26° in August, making it an ideal time to visit.

There are direct flights to Townsville from Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, as well as overnight train trips from the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

The Townsville tournaments will be held in the CBD within walking distance from a range of accommodation and restaurant options.

There is much to see and do in Townsville and around. Make a holiday of it.

Julie Brice can give you further information and advice.

WYSC

The first World Youth Scrabble Championship was held in Australia in 1995, and our David Eldar won it. Since then the event has been held in many parts of the world.

Logo for WYSC 2025
WYSC website

Date and Location: This year is the 20th WYSC and will be held in Malaysia (at the Sri Kuala Lumpur International School - Primary at Subang Jaya, Selangor). It is a three day event (Aug 30 to Sep 1) with 24 games, but there will also be a Plate section of 15 rounds. Prizes are awarded for overall placings and placings within age groups.

The Aussie team: Our team of six will be selected considering the ratings of the players over a 12 month period. See the selection process. These six will have free entry, but others may also enter. Parents are encouraged to consider travel plans already. We are now marking the intentions as YES, NO or MAYBE to give some certainty to all.

Coaching: Karen Richards has been appointed as Youth Coach for Australia for this event. She has had much experience in this and can provide advice both at an individual level and also in coaching sessions.

2025 WESPA Championship

See wespac.ghanascrabble.com
The 2025 WESPA Championship will be held at The Rock City Resort The Palms by Eagles, Airport City, Accra (Formerly Holiday Inn) Approximately 1km from Accra International Airport, with the airport's Arrival terminal directly across the road Australia is entitled to send 14 players in addition to David Eldar who qualifies because he was World Champion. Selection is by ratings over a twelve month period ending May 31 2025. See full details

World Team Scrabble Championship

WTSC - NOTICE OF POSTPONEMENT
It is with profound regret that we announce that the World Team Scrabble Championship (WTSC) originally scheduled to be held in Accra, Ghana has been postponed until further notice. New dates and details of the championship will be communicated in due course. We have had to take the difficult decision to postpone the championship based on the general feedback received from national associations and Scrabble players globally. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by this announcement.
Kind regards Lukeman Owolabi For MGI.