5th Causeway Scrabble Challenge

Dear fellow Scrabblers,

I am pleased to announce that the 5th Causeway Scrabble Challenge will be held at Zon Regency Hotel (formerly known as Eden Garden Hotel) in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from 8th to 10th December 2006.

I am also pleased to announce that we will have 6 countries in the Premier Division this year. Top 5 players from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines, Australia and India will be competing on a team event basis to see which country will emerge champion. The individual top prize for Premier Division is USD2,500.

As usual, we will also have an Open Division for those who did not make it to Premier Division. They will be competing in a 20-game tournament with the individual top prize of RM2,500. (Exchange rate is USD1 to RM3.65 )

Below are the details of the tournament:

Tournament: 5th Causeway Scrabble Challenge

Venue:         Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Bahru

Date:           8 - 10 Dec 2006

Premier Division:

Teams:         Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines, Australia and India

Qualification: Top 5 players from each country based on ratings of each country as of 30 November 2006 or earlier as determined by Scrabble Association of each country. The next player on the rating list will be invited if any of top 5 players could not make it.

Format:         25 games (Team round-robin only, i.e. each country plays the other countries once)

Time per game: 25 minutes each

Dictionary: SOWPODS 2003

Challenge Rule: 5 points penalty per word challenged

Schedule:

Day 1, Friday 8th December 2006 (7 games)

1430-1815 Game 1-4
1815-1900 Dinner
1900-2230 Game 5-7

Day 2, Saturday 9th December 2006 (12 games)

0730-0830 Breakfast
0830-1230 Game 8-11
1230-1315 Lunch
1315-1830 Game 12-16
1830-1930 Dinner
1930-2230 Game 17-19

Day 3, Sunday 10th December 2006 (6 games)

0730-0830 Breakfast
0830-1230 Game 20-23
1230-1330 Lunch
1330-1530 Game 24-25
1530-1600 Prize Presentation

Prize Money:

1st: USD2,500

2nd:USD1,000

3rd: USD700

4th: USD600

5th: USD500

6th: USD400

7th: USD300

8th: USD200

9th: USD150

10th:USD150

Registration: USD100

Open Division:

Format: 12 Swiss No-Repeat and 8 King of the Hill

Dictionary: SOWPODS 2003

Challenge Rule: 5 points penalty per word challenged

Time per game: 25 minutes each

Schedule:

Day 1, Friday 8th December 2006 (3 games)

1800-1900 Dinner
1900-2200 Games 1-3

Day 2, Saturday 9th December 2006 (11 games)

0730-0830 Breakfast
0830-1230 Game 4-7

1230-1330 Lunch

1330-1830 Game 8-12

1830-1930 Dinner
1930-2130 Game 13-14

Day 3, Sunday 10th December 2006 (6 games)

0730 - 0830 Breakfast
0830 - 1230 Game 15-18
1230 - 1330 Lunch
1330 - 1530 Game 19-20
1530 - 1600 Prize Giving

Prize Money:

1st: RM2,500

2nd: RM1,000

3rd: RM700

4th: RM600

5th: RM500

6th: RM400

7th: RM300

8th: RM200

9th: RM150

10th: RM150

Registration: RM100

RM80 for students

I will be sending out another e-mail with accommodation package details at Zon Regency Hotel in due course.

Please send your registration to me either at alchemist9189@gmail.com or you can call me anytime at my mobile no: +65 9189 9189.

Michael Tang

Organising Chairman

Dear fellow Scrabblers,

I am pleased to inform you of the following special package at the Zon Regency Hotel, formerly known as Eden Garden hotel, for the Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2006 from 8 till 10 Dec 2006.

Double Occupancy: RM350 (US$95)

Single Occupancy: RM450 (US$123)

Please note that the above package include the following:

- 2 nights of accomodation on 8th and 9th Dec

- 6 meals, i.e. Dinner on 8th, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner on 9th, Breakfast and Lunch on 10th

Please e-mail to me your choice of package ASAP as I need to make prior bookings with the hotel. Please note that you need to settle payment with me in cash and I can accept any equivalent currency to your convenience. For those players who wish to stay beyond the tournament period, please contact me directly and I will get the special package for you too.

I would also like to take this opportunity to update all players for the team event. The following players have so far confirm their participation or qualified in their respective country:

I shall send another update once I have the complete list of players for the team events. I am also glad to inform you that this year Open Division attracts players from all the 6 countries above and I hope all interested players for the Open section will send me their registration ASAP together with their accomodation requirment.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in exactly 3 months time.

Dear Fellow Scrabblers,

I am pleased to confirm the line-up for both the Master and Open Section as follows:

2. Irinieu Gonsalves

1. Alastair Richards

24. Roger Parchamento

36. Aloysius Conzaga

Please note that for those players who are checking in on 8th Dec, please proceed to register on the 6th floor function room where the playing area is located. All those players who are checking in earlier can check in at the reception counter.

Please also note that all Open players are requested to register by 5pm on 8th Dec.

I look forward to seeing all of you in 2 weeks time.

Dear fellow Scrabblers,

Thank you so much for making Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2006 another huge success! I am sure all of you have many stories to share after playing so many games of scrabble over the last 3 days. I would strongly urge all of you to share your experience with the rest of Scrabblers around the world so that more overseas players can come and play at this annual event.

Below please find the results and coverage of the event.

Master Final Standings:

Open Final Standings:

Straits Times Coverage:

Word freaks
STIMES0020061209e2ca0001u
Lifestyle - Hot
Mak Mun San
556 Words
10 December 2006
Straits Times
English
(c) 2006 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

You don't need to be a Shakespeare to have fun and games at Scrabble, just a good memory and a trusty dictionary

IT'S a game known for needing great skill with words, the more obscure, the better: Scrabble. But if your spoken English is a bit broken, don't despair. You can still be a champ.

Just ask top Thai player Panupol Sujjayakorn, 21. The undergraduate can write reasonably well in English but struggles to form a coherent sentence when talking.

But this has not stopped him from being ranked seventh in the world at Scrabble, beating some native English speakers at their own game. The ranking is based on results from tournaments around the globe.

'Thai players may know less English than native speakers. But study must very hard,' he tells LifeStyle in halting English.

He is one of 30 players competing in the 5th Causeway Scrabble Challenge in Johor Baru. It started on Friday and ends today.

Teams of five from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and India are vying for the US$2,500 (S$3,850) first prize. Singapore are the defending champions.

In the Open division, 70 people are in the fray for the top prize money of RM2,500 (S$1,090).

Michael Tang, 39, who organised the event, says Scrabble players are 'word freaks who read dictionaries for fun'.

The Singapore permanent resident, who is the Asia-Pacific managing director of dubbing and subtitling company SDI Media, says he would rather study word lists on flights than watch movies or read a book.

Indeed, most Scrabble players will tell you the secret to excelling in the game is lots of time spent memorising word lists - and good analytical skills.

Singapore team member Hubert Wee, 19, says the latter is essential to spot a good move and 'create order from chaos'.

For the uninitiated, Scrabble is a game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board. In competitive games, there are only two players.

Top players have an arsenal of between 100,000 and 120,000 words. You don't need to know the meaning of the words - you just need to spell them accurately.

According to David Eldar, 17, who recently won the World Youth Scrabble Championship in Australia, competitive Scrabble players 'do not know (the meaning of) 90 per cent of the words' in their vocabulary.

When asked to give an example, the high school student offers 'dvandva' within seconds.

'I don't have a clue what it means,' he admits over the phone from his home in Melbourne. 'There's no reason to know the meaning of a word. It does not give you an advantage over your opponent.'

For the record, dvandva means a compound word in which neither element is subordinate to the other, such as bittersweet.

The world's top player, Ganesh Asirvatham from Malaysia, confesses that he loses to Thai players 'all the time' even though he has a better command of the language.

The 27-year-old, who teaches English at a private institution in Kuala Lumpur, explains: 'The Thai players are proof that anyone can excel at Scrabble if you are very strong strategy-wise.'

munsan@sph.com.sg

Last but not least, I would like to inform you that I have tentatively booked the dates for Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2007 from 6 to 9 Dec 2007. This date is subject to change as I am waiting to hear the announcement for the WSC 2007.

Merry X'mas and Happy New Year!