A nice battle between some excellent players saw Canadian Adam Logan edge ahead of David Eldar to take first place. Both of these are world champions.
Ronnie Bennett was third.
1st Adam Logan2nd David Eldar3rd Ronnie Bennett
The event was WESPA rated, and subsequently some new titles were earned, Joanne Craig became an International Master. and Ronnie Bennet and John Holgate became Masters.
See WESPA titles
The Plate section had Victoria Woods from South Australia fight her way to the top ahead of Ryder Lo who had led most of the way.
1st Victoria Wood2nd Ryder Lo
See results
Australian Women's Championship
This event took place in Canberra a few days prior to the Australian Championship.
1st Joanne Craig2nd Carmel Dodd3rd Dianne Brumby
See results
South Australia Championship
TheSouth Australia Championship was held over two days. 39 players competed.
1st Malcolm McAnulty2nd Max Mason3rd Karen Richards
Prizes were awarded down to fifth place:
1 12 +396 Malcolm McAnulty
2 11 +857 Max Mason
3 11 +675 Karen Richards
4 11 +289 Daniel Piechnick
5 11 +218 Tony Miller
plus High Game: Daniel Piechnick 587
and High word: Tony Miller TROPINES 158
WESPA has instituted a system of titles similar to the system used in chess. These titles progress through levels by doing well several times in WESPA rated tournaments of sufficient prestige (based on length of tournament, size of field, calibre of players). Titles once earned are held forever unless revoked.
Australia is in the top 5 countries for such titles. We have Three grandmasters:
David Eldar, Chris May, Andrew Fisher
10 international masters
Jakob Teitelbaum, Peter Kougi, Edward Okulicz, Cameron Farlow, Naween Fernando, Russell Honeybun, Anand Bharadwaj, Esther Perrins, Daniel Piechnick, Trevor Halsall
15 masters
Ronnie Bennett, Richard Jeremy, Mythili Rudra, Victor Tung, Max Mason, David Vanzyl, Bob Jackman, John Spaan, John Holgate, Adam Kretschmer, Rod Talbot, Nick Ivanovski, Ryan Sutton, Trevor Tao, Tony Hunt
There are are several two day WESPA rated events in Australia which are opportunities to proceed to International Master or Master titles, including most State Championships. Three day events which might lead to Grandmaster titles are the Australian Championship and the New South Wales Championship.
WESPA rated events are flagged on our calendar
Progression to titles is derived from events since 2007 and the titles are embedded in the rating.dat file for WESPA. The top five countries at mid January are:
NGA 44
GM 1
Wellington Jighere
IM 17
Jimoh Abdulmumin, Eta Karo, Doko Oluwatimilehin, Dennis Ikekeregor, Samson Okosagah, Enoch Nwali, Ayorinde Saidu, Okiemute Tega, Ezinore George, Godwin Victor, Olatunde Oduwole, Nsikak Etim, John Aiyedun, Prince Omosefe, Emmanuel Umujose, Oshevire Avwenagha, Moses Peter
M 26
Rex Ogbakpa, David Ojih, Quickpen Ben, Igali Precious, Cyril Umebiye, Noble Onoshevwe, Raymond Gbaraba, Tuoyo Mayuku, Adebola Samuel, Anthony Ikolo, Olaiya Kabir, Chinedu Thorpe, Etuwa Larry, Anthony Odok, Opeyemi Oloro, Adeyemi Adeosun, Emmanuel Ofidi, Segun Durojaiye, Olaribigbe Hakeem, Jacob Ryan, Osikhena Ojior, Ewruje James, Salau Samson, Sunday Oshodi, Adekoyejo Adegbesan, Bright Idahosa
IM 17
Will Anderson, Joshua Castellano, Sam Rosin, David Koenig, Ben Schoenbrun, Conrad Bassett-Bouch, Matthew O'Connor, Evans Clinchy, Jason Keller, Nathan Benedict, Rasheed Balogun, Chris Lipe, Erickson Smith, Rob Robinsky, Geoff Thevenot, John O'Laughlin, Peter Armstrong
M 18
Alec Sjoholm, Kevin Fraley, Brian Bowman, Stefan Rau, Winter, Matthew Bernardina, Bradley Whitmarsh, Jason Katz-Brown, David Whitley, Marty Gabriel, Sam Kantimathi, Puneet Sharma, Robert Linn, Becky Dyer, James Kramer, Tim Weiss, Mohammad Sulaiman, Stefan Kac
ENG 30
GM 4
Brett Smitheram, Harshan Lamabadusuri, Mark Nyman, Lewis Mackay
IM 9
Phil Robertshaw, Craig Beevers, Jack Moran, Mikki Nicholson, Jason Carney, David Webb, Elie Dangoor, John Ashmore, Wayne Kelly
M 17
Andrew Goodwin, Stewart Houten, Calum Edwards, Gary Oliver, Wale Fashina, Samuel Crispin, Craig Solomons, Natalie Zolty, Nick Deller, Terry Kirk, Chris Vicary, Jared Robinson, Joel Davey, Bob Violett, Graham Haigh, Colin Northmore, Femi Awowade
AUS 28
GM 3
David Eldar, Chris May, Andrew Fisher
IM 10
Jakob Teitelbaum, Edward Okulicz, Peter Kougi, Cameron Farlow, Naween Fernando, Anand Bharadwaj, Esther Perrins, Russell Honeybun, Trevor Halsall, Daniel Piechnick
M 15
Ronnie Bennett, Richard Jeremy, Mythili Rudra, Victor Tung, Max Mason, David Vanzyl, Bob Jackman, John Spaan, John Holgate, Adam Kretschmer, Rod Talbot, Nick Ivanovski, Ryan Sutton, Trevor Tao, Tony Hunt
WESPAC
WESPAC (essentially the World Scrabble Championship) was held in Ghana. Many players from around the world played over four days and then the top two (Adam Logan and Nigel Richards) fought it out as the best of seven. Adam Logan from Canada won, making him one of only three who have won the title more than once (the other two being Nigel Richards and David Eldar). Australia was represented by Russell Honeybun, Karen Richards, Paul Richards and Kashi Thiris.
Australia has sent a team every time the WSC (or equivalent) since the first WSC in London in 1991.
Paul Cleary, Glenys Lawrie, Alistair Kane, John Holgate, Barry Harridge
Andrew Fisher also played, but he represented England then.
Many players, and especially Australians have enjoyed past Causeway Challenge events organised superbly by Michael Tang. Each event was bigger and better and in 2026 it will be not in Malaysia but in Bangkok (where players have also enjoyed exciting tournaments). Michael aims to have 500 players in five divisions playing 36 rounds over 4 days. There will be 70 000 USD in prizes given out (top 10 in each of the five divisions).
Many Australian players have already registered. Michael expects quite a few more to register. Find out more at the event website
2026 Australasian Open
An announcement from Scrabble New Zealand.
Join us in lovely Mt. Eden, Auckland for the debut of a brand new international open tournament!
We guarantee that the winner's purse will top 1000NZD.
Venue:
Mt Eden Village Centre 449 Mount Eden Road, Mount Eden, Auckland
Dates and Times:
20-21 June, 2026: Report at 8:40am for a 9am start both days.
We expect to wrap up, including the prize ceremony, by 5:30pm on Sunday at the latest.
Format:
15 games - 8 Saturday, 7 Sunday. One grade. Swiss pairing system with KOTH for the last 2 rounds.
Rules:
Scrabble New Zealand Constitution and Rules of Play Lexicon: CSW24
Rating:
This tournament will be rated by Scrabble New Zealand and WESPA
Early Registration:
Players that pay their entry fee before 20 April 2026 will be eligible to win back $60 in a
lottery draw. Capacity is limited, so register early to guarantee your spot!
Entry:
Payment of NZ $115 entry fee is payable by 13 June 2026
International Players pay your NZ $115 entry fee here via Wise: https://wise.com/pay/me/christophert3852
Download Wise to create an account if you don't have one: https://wise.com/invite/dic/christophert3852
Cash on the Day may be accepted as a last resort - please enquire if you are having difficulty with payment.
Registration:
Notify Tournament Convenor Chris Tallman, SNZ Secretary: chrishtallman@gmail.com with your entry details:
Full Name of Entrant and whether you are bringing a board and/or a clock. For international entrants, please also indicate your Home Scrabble Organisation and Current WESPA rating
2026 Trans Tasman
The Trans Tasman is a biennial event where an Australian team plays a New Zealand team. In 2026 12 Australians will play 12 New Zealand players over 24 games and this will be hosted in Australia,
in Queensland.
For the first time there will be a Youth Trans Tasman alongside the adult event. Nine young Australians will play three New Zealand players over three days. There will be 22 rounds in all which is a double round robin of all 12 players, where the games of Australia vs New Zealand will count for team tallies.
