Nigel Richards, a professional Scrabble player from New Zealand, has achieved yet another remarkable milestone by winning the Spanish World Scrabble Championship in Granada, Spain.
Renowned for his dominance in English-language Scrabble with five world titles to his name, Richards lost just one out of 24 games on his path to victory.
Remarkably, Richards prepared for the Spanish tournament by memorizing the Spanish Scrabble word list, a task he began only a year ago. Liz Fagerlund, a New Zealand Scrabble official and Richards’ friend, told the Associated Press, “He can’t understand why other people can’t just do the same thing. He can look at a block of words together, and once they go into his brain as a picture, he can recall them effortlessly."
Defending champion Benjamín Olaizola of Argentina secured second place. Alejandro Terenzani, the contest organizer, called Richards’ win unprecedented. “It was impossible to react negatively; you can only be amazed,” he said.
This isn’t Richards’ first cross-linguistic triumph. He won the French Scrabble World Championship in 2015 and 2018 without speaking French and has previously held the world, US, and British titles simultaneously. The Spanish game posed unique challenges, including different tile values and an extensive list of long words, but Richards adapted with ease.
Richards’ success is attributed to his mathematical and strategic approach to Scrabble rather than linguistic expertise. Despite not excelling in English during school or attending university, his mastery of patterns and strategy gives him a competitive edge.
Despite his legendary status in the Scrabble world, where his games are widely studied, Richards is known for his shyness and avoids media attention. At the Spanish championship, he posed for photos and interacted with fans in English but declined interviews. “He doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about,” Fagerlund said.
Currently residing in Malaysia, Richards continues to inspire with his extraordinary accomplishments, cementing his place as one of the greatest Scrabble players in history.
