The bi-monthly magazine of the ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH SCRABBLE PLAYERS No 106 February 2006 Deadline for next issue 13th March Collins Update There is an important announcement regarding the status of the adoption of the Collins Dictionary on page 6 by the ABSP Dictionary Committee. The world is not enough! As promised last time, this issue contains a report of the World Scrabble Championship which took place in November in London. We didn't get a lot of photos sent to us though, but we have included one in a new feature entitled - The Big Picture! Fantasy Scrabble is back! Now before you get your hopes up, this is not choosing which players you would like to see posing Caldendar Girl-esque, but a competition to see if you can guess who is going to be good at playing Scrabble this year. Check out pages 22 and 23 for rules and details of how to enter. The end of an era There seems to be have been a lot obituaries feature in TLW recently and we have two more this issue I am sad to say. Catherine Schwarz, responsible for getting us the first Official Scrabble Words and Lists published by Chambers sadly died in December. We also bid farewell to Vernon Draper, a regular on the tournament scene until ill health took its toll. On a brighter note, two of our Scrabblers are celebrating births see page 38 to find out who! Catherine Schwartz adjudicates at the NSC in 2000 SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of j.W.Spear & Sons Ltd., Maidenhead SL6 4UB ISSUE CONTENTS Committee Corner 1 Ratings 16 2005 ABSP Awards 2 Fantasy Scrabble 22 Worlds & Masters Qualification .. 3 Edgeways 24 ABSP Titles Update 4 Across the Board 30 Obituary - Catherine Schwarz .... 5 Scrabble Baby Boom! 38 Collins Update 6 The Big Picture 39 Durham Remembered (well sort of!) 8 Forthcoming Events 40 Tournament Reports 9 Edgeways Answers ibc World Scrabble Championship 12 Calendar of Events obc Throughout this publication, comments by the Editor do not represent the views of the ABSP Committee. Any statements by the Committee are clearly marked as such. All other contributions to The Last Word represent only the views of the contributor. THE LAST WORD TEAM The Last Words Team welcomes contributions from readers to their respective areas, either as letters, articles or suggestions. Contact information: General Editors Games and Strategies: Words and Puzzles: Phil Appleby, David Sutton Ben Wilson Thorns Cottage, 46 West Chiltern, (odd- numbered issues) Mount Pleasant Lane, Woodcote, Lymington, Reading, Berks Wayne Kelly Hants SO41 8LS RG8 OSG (even-numbered issues) [email protected] David.) .Sutton® ukgaleway. net Editorial Contact: Forthcoming events: Elisabeth lardine Paul Cartman, 6 Wentworth Avenue 9 Chapel Terrace, Bourenmouth BH5 2ED Stafford ST16 3AH 01202 419 708 01785 211851 elisabeth.jardine©virgin.net paul.cartmanWbtinternet.com 14 Dale View Rd Nottingham NG3 7AJ tilefish 0115 841 5179 www.tilefish.co.uk all tfattn ScrutMUe tteecU, Up <ut to 6wvtv.tilefa&.o<%.c<&. itecvf It's renewal time so it could be that quite a few of our 2005 members are not reading this! But a big thank you to all those members who renewed promptly online or using the SAE provided with the last TLW. The winners of the goody bags for prompt renewal are listed below. Apologies for the lateness of the Christmas issue which was largely outside of our control. Nevertheless, at the recent January Committee meeting it was recognised that the previous issue had also been tardy and, although the learning curve of the new editorial team is some mitigation, the TLW schedule needs to be tightened up for 2006. Liz Jardine, as editor-in-chief, is now responsible for keeping TLW on time which means she has our permission to be ruthless with the deadline and cutting/editing material. Also at the meeting, the Committee discussed the status of the Collins Scrabble Dictionary and the recommendation by the Dictionary Committee to delay acceptance subject to a reprint was unanimously supported (see the update elsewhere this issue). The Dictionary Committee is in a subcommittee of WESPA (World English-language Scrabble Players Association) which was formerly launched with its constitution at the end of last year. Initial membership fee of WESPA for large organisations like ABSP is 300 US dollars which the Committee have agreed to but subject to each AGM endorsing continuation of membership. WESPA is the players' organisation that brings together Scrabble players/organisations across the globe and seeks to establish a standard international tournament scene, ratings, youth Scrabble. At this early stage membership is supporting a belief in the existence and direction of WESPA rather than returning quantifiable value, suffice to say that voting rights on key world Scrabble issues affecting players are proportional to the size of the member's organisation. We expect to present the case for membership of WESPA in the TLW covering the AGM and discuss it at the AGM itself. "What about the handbook?" we here you ask. The new format loose-leaf handbook is now ready to print and will be posted, together with a binder for those who didn't get one at last year's BMSC, during February. Finally, congratulations to all those players with outstanding achievements in 2005 whether it be gaining Expert or Grandmaster status, being among the most improved players, or being at the top of the most-games-played leader board. Amy Byrne Goody Bag Winners! Darryl Francis was first out of the hat and so also receives "a special bonus"! Marjorie Garrett Angela Evans Graham Wakefield Jean Rappitt Austin Shin Priscilla Munday Peter Gall Margaret Irons Joanne Hiley Margaret Coleman Pat Wheeler Dorothy Edwards Denise Saxton Christabel Jackson Lewis Mackay Etta Alexander Bob Lynn Leonora Hutton Janice Bease 2005 ABSP AWARDS This information supplied courtesy of John Crayson, ABSP ratings officer Highest Rated Player 2005 Harshan Lamabadusuriya(Exp) is the highest rated player (201) at the end of 2005 with at least 30 rated games in 2005. Adam Logan's rating is higher, but he played only 26 games in 2005, 4 short of the minimum needed. Harshan will receive the trophy at a mutually convenient time. Most improved player 2005 The following fulfilled the criteria on being ABSP members, an end-2004 Rating based on a total of at least 30 games, and 30 games in 2005. The Committee has vetted the awardees and removed any player who is a fluctuator as opposed to an improver. Congratulations to Jason Goddard who, with a superb rise of +36, receives the ABSP Most Improved Player shield. All those who achieved an improvement of 20 or more rating points will get free 2006 membership. A is end-2005 rating: B is improvement: C is membership number: D is total games at 31/12/2004 (min 30): E is games played in 2005 (min 30) A B C D E 128 +36 1305 Jason Goddard 31 104 151 +29 1279 Ben Wilson 37 83 162 +25 1057 Mike Whiteoak 100+ 154 134 +25 1273 Peter Winnick 39 99 133 +23 1136 Ted Lewis 100+ 177 85 +23 1253 Philip Turner 80 83 112 +20 1304 Linda Moir 61 91 These three players also improved by at least 20 points, but did not meet the criteria: 132 +24 1198 Maurice McParland ... too few (16) games end 2004 154 +24 1369 Ben Tarlow ... too few (16) games end 2004 108 +21 Bronagh Kenny.. nonmember The Terry Hollington Award This award is made ad hoc at the discretion of the Committee and is awarded to any relative newcomer to tournament Scrabble who as has contributed significantly to the ABSP in any way worthy of recognition, in memory of Terry Hollington, who established the ABSP rating system and encouraged new players. At the January Committee meeting there was unanimous support for making the award to David Sutton who has not only made his mark as a respected player but also untiringly provides word-based articles online , in TLW, and now the ABSP website, and has also offered to help with the Collins Initiation Booklet. David - a big thank-you on behalf of the Committee and the ABSP membership. Allan Simmons, Chairman Most games played in 2005 (all shown are ABSP members) 259 Maureen Rayson ; 256 David Shenkin ; 245 )anet Phillips ; 235 Amy Byrne ; 231 Peter Thomas ; 227 Ruby Flood ; 226 Wayne Kelly ; 223 Nuala O'Rourke ; 220 Viv Beckmann WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS & MASTERS QUALIFICATION ABSP MASTERS QUALIFICATION The ABSP Masters is an invitational tournament for the 16 highest rated ABSP members as of March 31st. It generally follows a round-robin format. Should all 16 players not be available/willing to play, the invitation is extended to players next in line on the March 31st ratings. To qualify a player must have played at least 30 rated games during the 12 months up to and including March 31 st of the qualifying year, and be a member of the ABSP at the time of qualification. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION The World Scrabble Championships (WSO have been held every other year since 1991 and have been organised by Hasbro or Mattel on an alternating basis hitherto. The number of English places allocated as at 2005 is ten, with two of those places being assigned to the winners of the previous two Mattel National Scrabble Championships. (Scotland and Wales have their own allocated places and methods of qualification for those places.) Beyond 2005, Mattel have given their two places to the ABSP who have agreed to allocate them as follows: The winner of the BMSC in the year of the WSC The highest rated player on the Rating List at the end of the year preceding the WSC who has not already qualified and who has played sufficient games.