The World Scrabble Championship is the most prestigious title in competitive English-language Scrabble. It has been held every second year since 1991. The current World Scrabble Champion is Nigel Richards. He won the title at the 2011 event held in Warsaw, Poland.
Sponsorship formerly alternated between Hasbro and Mattel, respectively the owners of the Scrabble trademark in North America and the rest of the world. However, Hasbro declined to sponsor WSC 2005, and instead Mattel has organised and sponsored all championships since 2005.
The number of players competing in the tournament has risen steadily over time, from 48 in 1991 to 108 in 2009. A set number of places is allocated to each competing country and it is then up to individual countries' national associations to determine which of their players will represent them. This is typically done by means of a national ratings system or qualifier tournaments or some combination of the two. A good performance by a national team according to specific criteria will earn further permanent places for that country.
The dictionary used is colloquially known as SOWPODS, which is the word authority used in the majority of English-language Scrabble-playing countries.
Read more about World Scrabble Championship: Individual Championships, National Representative Totals Throughout The Years, Individual Competitor Results Throughout The Years
Famous quotes containing the word world:
“Stevenson had noble ideas—as did the young Franklin for that matter. But Stevenson felt that the way to implement them was to present himself as a thoughtful idealist and wait for the world to flock to him. He considered it below him, or wrong, to scramble out among the people and ask them what they wanted. Roosevelt grappled voters to him. Stevenson shied off from them. Some thought him too pure to desire power, though he showed ambition when it mattered.”
—Garry Wills, U.S. historian. Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders, ch. 9, Simon & Schuster (1994)