Every two years, Australia and New Zealand compete in the Trans-Tasman event. In 2024, the competition will be held in New Zealand, and the format for 2024 will have 12 Aussies and 12 Kiwis, playing over 24 rounds. The lexicon is CSW19. The tournament will be held on the three days from 15 Nov in Auckland. Liz Fagerlund (scrabbliz.net.nz) says
Venue - Mt Eden Village Centre - corner of Mt Eden Road and Ngauruhoe Street. It's a church as well as having rooms to hire.

It's a great location being near good cafes, restaurants (including immediately over the road) and shops.

I did start looking at possible accommodation too, but might have to leave that to those attending! However if players see something they think looks ok I'm happy to check it out. Buses go from the city to Mt Eden.

There may be some billets available too.

Selection process

This is an invitational event where players are selected by the Council of Australian Scrabble Players Association.

Qualification criteria

The qualification criteria are:
  1. A player must be a financial member of ASPA for the entire qualifying period.
  2. A player must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Temporary visa holders are not eligible.
  3. The method of ranking candidates is by the three peak statistic (the Q statistic) described below.
For 2024, the third period has been truncated to the end of the Australian Masters and State Challenge, to allow a bit more time to finalise so contenders can make travel plans.

The three peaks Q statistic

The primary criterion for ranking candidates is the Q statistic calculated like this:

  1. Subperiods are Oct to Jan , Feb to May and Jun 1st to Sep 8th 2024.
  2. The Qstat: The qualifying statistic is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 , which is a weighted average of peak ratings in the three subperiods.
  3. If you play no games rated by ASPA in a period, your peak in that period is equal to the rating before that period minus 200. This applies to one period only.
  4. You must have played at least 40 games rated by ASPA in the qualifying period before the last peak.

The secondary criterion is number of rated games within the qualification period. If two players have the same Q statistic, the one with the greater number of rated games in the qualification period is ranked higher.

The contenders

The table below shows the notional team as at 26.04.2024 plus 10 more who are almost in.

More details revealed as you move your mouse over the table.


Contender		 Q Stat
26.04.2024		 Games
need 40		 Peak (games)
Oct to Jan		 Peak (games)
Feb to May		 Peak (games)
Jun 1st to Sep 8th
David Eldar(VIC) 2126.5061 2113 (31)2140 (30)
Edward Okulicz(VIC) 1968.0026 1968 (26)
Cameron Farlow(QLD) 1942.0096 1958 (47)1926 (49)
Naween Fernando(VIC) 1938.0055 1952 (24)1924 (31)
Andrew Fisher(VIC) 1914.0038 1906 (7)1922 (31)
Peter Kougi(VIC) 1914.0010 1915 (7)1913 (3)
Trevor Halsall(VIC) 1874.007 1874 (7)
Esther Perrins(NSW) 1850.0026 1874 (18)1826 (8)
Victor Tung(NSW) 1780.5061 1783 (37)1778 (24)
John Holgate(NSW) 1771.5080 1791 (54)1752 (26)
Ryan Sutton(NSW) 1764.5093 1772 (62)1757 (31)
ALMOST IN
Adam Kretschmer(SA) 1756.5077 1755 (22)1758 (55)
Rod Talbot(NSW) 1756.0096 1769 (62)1743 (34)
Joanne Craig(NSW) 1741.5093 1741 (34)1742 (59)
Geoff Wright(VIC) 1739.0077 1784 (42)1694 (35)
Mythili Rudra(VIC) 1733.009 1741 (5)1725 (4)
Bob Jackman(NSW) 1705.00120 1710 (54)1700 (66)
Stephen Mooney Purse(TAS) 1704.009 1704 (9)
Carmel Dodd(SA) 1693.00153 1658 (73)1728 (80)
Daniel Piechnick(SA) 1689.00*22 1616 (0)1762 (22)
Nick Ivanovski(VIC) 1679.0047 1690 (14)1668 (33)

Daniel Piechnick (SA) (currently rated 1762) Peak 1 = 1816−200

Recently processed:
30.03.2024 National Plate (WA)
13.04.2024 Ross April (TAS)
13.04.2024 Saturday Sessions April (SA)
14.04.2024 APRIL EVENT (VIC)
14.04.2024 OBERON OPEN (NSW) New peak for Bob Jackman, Rod Talbot
16.04.2024 OITOO April (NSW)
21.04.2024 April Antickes (QLD)
21.04.2024 Joy Deans Memorial (WA)
21.04.2024 SA April (SA) New peak for Daniel Piechnick
21.04.2024 Townsville April (QLD)
26.04.2024 Lansvale (NSW)