The ABSP
The Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP) was formed in 1987 as a not-for-profit association to promote interest in the playing of Scrabble. It co-ordinates tournaments and the provision of a rating system for players in the UK, as well as providing information and support to members, tournament organisers and tournament directors.
Media Contact Point
| February Tournaments | |
|---|---|
| Feb 4th | Edinburgh, 7 games |
| Feb 10-12th | Israeli Open, 22 games |
| Feb 11th | Southgate, 7 games |
| Feb 18-19th | Corby, 16 games |
| Feb 25th | Leicester, 7 games |
| March Tournaments | |
| Mar 3rd | New Malden, 7 games |
| Mar 10th | Peterborough (5pp), 7 games |
| Mar 11th | Swindon, 7 games |
| Mar 11-14th | Pitlochry, 23 games |
| Mar 24-25th | Coventry Double, 22 games |
| Mar 27-29th | Coventry Triple, 27 games |
| Mar 31st | Aylesbury, 7 games |
| April Tournaments | |
| Apr 6th-7th | Cadbury Cup - Bristol, 8 games |
| Apr 7th-9th | Bristol Easter championship, 21 games |
| Apr 14th | Peterborough Free challenge, 7 games |
| Apr 15th | Southampton, 6 games |
| Apr 21st | Newcastle, 7 games |
| Apr 27th-30th | Isle of Wight, 16 games |
| Apr 29th | BEST - Round 1, ~7 games |
| Full Calendar | |
*** SCRABBLE MATTERS ***
www.scrabblematters.com is an exciting new website which intends to give a quirky view of the Scrabble world and provoke constructive debate on the future of the game.
The first 'issue' came out in December and included articles from Scrabble luminaries ranging from Presidents to Chairmen to Club players to Celebrities - Jo Brand wrote the very first piece - to most important of all, my wife!
Other issues will include features from more top players and Anand - the World Youth Champion - there's also the very first piece of official writing from my son Max.
If you have something you want to get out of your Scrabble system and are interested in contributing a short (300 words) light-hearted article, please write to me at nnymans@aol.com
I look forward to hearing from you - let your imaginations fly!!
Mark Nyman
*** MIKE O'ROURKE'S MNEMONIC BOOK - UPDATED FOR CSW 2012 ***
Just a short note to say that Mike O'Rourke's Mnemonic Book has now been fully updated in line with CSW 2012 and can be found under the 'Publications' section here
*** NEW YEAR'S HONOURS ***
There are two new Grand Masters this year - Phil Robertshaw and Austin Shin, who finally achieves GM status after a couple of close misses. There are 4 new experts - Evan Cohen, Kevin McMahon, Rik Kennedy and Ed Rossiter, who had a performance well above his previous rating.
Nigel Richards claims the ABSP Highest Rated Player Award, and Carmen Toscano is the Most Improved Player moving up 20 ratings points in the year.
The website will be updated with this information within a week or so, and the new titles spreadsheet will also be available.
Many thanks to John Grayson for the information and hard work throughout the year.
Wayne Kelly
ABSP Titles Registrar
*** NEW YEAR, NEW RULES, NEW WORDS ***
Members are reminded that, from January, all ABSP-rated events are
played to WESPA rules v2 (which can be found HERE.) and the latest edition of
Collins Official Scrabble Words. If you haven't renewed yet for 2012,
your current membership will lapse on 1 January, and you will no
longer be entitled to any of the benefits of membership (OnBoard
magazine (issues of which can be found HERE.), tournament discounts
(list of forthcoming tournaments can be found HERE.) and qualifying for prestigious international
events being just three such benefits). Renew for just 15 pounds for
2012, or renew until the end of 2013 for 20 pounds if you don't mind
receiving OnBoard by email rather than by post (Join us! HERE.).
ABSP/NASPA reciprocal arrangement
ABSP members will now be able enter tournaments in North America without, as previously, having to be a member of NASPA. Under the agreement NASPA members are treated as if they are members of the ABSP when entering tournaments in the UK. NASPA membership and rating information is available on the NASPA website 'membership tools' page. Please note that, at this stage this is only a bilateral agreement between ABSP and NASPA. Associations will be looking to broaden the arrangements but no deals with other WESPA member associations have currently been agreed.
Youth Scrabble News
The sixth WYSC was held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia in December 2011. Seven young players represented the UK: Tim Butcher, Jack Durant, Oliver Garner, Joe Knapper, Shrinidhi Prakash, Jessica Pratesi and Natasha Pratesi. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely! The full results from WYSC 2011 are available at the Youth Scrabble website .
The seventh WYSC will be held in December 2012 in Birmingham, UK. Qualifying is still taking place for this! - see Youth Scrabble.
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David Sutton's Words Main Page You can find well over three hundred categories and over ten thousand words in this comprehensive collection. This month's feature is taken from the confectionery section. | |
| alcorza | a kind of sweet; icing |
| blackball | in New Zealand, a hard-boiled sweet with black-and-white stripes. |
| brickle | a kind of brittle candy; (adj.) brittle, easily broken: no comparative. |
| cachou | a violet-scented sweet. [Malay kacu]. |
| caramel caromel | a dark brown substance produced by heating sugar; (verb) to coat with caramel: CARAMELLED, CARAMELLING. |
Data Protection Act: In joining the ABSP I accept that personal information relating to Scrabble, including my rating and my photograph, may appear on the ABSP website and in ABSP publications. I accept that the ABSP will not be responsible for use or misuse of personal information.
SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property
rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A. by Hasbro Inc., in Canada
by Hasbro Canada Inc. and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear
& Sons Ltd. of Maidenhead SL6 4UB, England, a subsidiary of Mattel
Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro or Hasbro Canada.
ABSP © 2012