[ad_1]
This Sunday, a group of competitors assembled at the Karnataka Badminton Association. None of them had rackets or shuttles, but were Scrabble enthusiasts and members of the Karnataka State Scrabble Association (KSSA), warming up for an international tournament to be held in Bengaluru’s Whitefield from January 25 to 28.
The KSSA India Open, sponsored by tech company Mu Sigma, will have four divisions according to the skill ratings of the players – ie; A, B, C and D tiers.
According to KSSA president Suchindra Potnis, close to 200 local players have signed up already, with another 25 sign-ups from international players. Among these is Scrabble world champion Nigel Richards, who notably won the French World Scrabble Championship without being able to speak French.
At the warm-up, players ranged across skill ranges, from a six-year-old newcomer, to Lennie and Rex D’Souza, the pioneers of competitive Scrabble in Bengaluru, who organised the first major Scrabble tourney in 1988.
According to Suchindra, the upcoming tournament will have a total prize money of Rs 11 lakh spread across the four divisions.
To eliminate the element of chance in Scrabble, each player will play a total of 32 games, without any eliminations. Tie-breakers among these will be decided via the “spread”, or respective margins of victory and defeat.
Those interested may register themselves on indianscrabble.com before the closing date of January 15.
[ad_2]
Source link
