Brian Po wins the 2026 UK Open

Tournament organiser and director James Burley presenting the UK Open 2026 winner's prize to Brian Po
Photo credit: Nicky Huitson

Brian Po clinched victory at the UK Open with one round to go with a stunning performance, marking his first UK major win and best career win to date.

Brian defeated tournament top seed and runner-up Harshan Lamabadusuriya 531-396 in the pivotal penultimate game, going on to finish the tournament with a 20-4 (+1924) record. Both players scored multiple bonuses in the game, although the key play may have been in the middle of the game when, leading by 149, Brian chose to sacrifice 20 points to play YEA(n) for just 12, crucially blocking an open triple-triple lane. This proved hugely consequential, as Harshan had the word GUNGIEST lined up on his rack ready to play for 140 points that would have brought the scores almost level, but he had to settle for GUNITES for about half that score.

Brian's bonuses in the game were (F)RITZInG for 94 points, STARLIT for 72, INFECTS for 93, and AMEBOiD for 96, whilst Harshan's bonuses were DECURION for 82 and GUNITES for 72.

You can watch this game again on the UK Open day 3 stream on ABSP Tournament Scrabble UK YouTube channel . The game build-up begins at 7:09:30 into the video.

Harshan finished in second place with a 17–7 (+1289) record, just ahead of Gary Oliver on spread (17-7, +871) who won their final round game, but could not make up the spread deficit. Mohamed Kamara was fourth (16-8, +693) with the final place prize going to David Webb (15-9, +1477). Donna Stanton, Chris Davies and Fidelis Olutu won the ratings prizes for division A.

In division B, Matthew Pinner took top spot (17-7, +959) one win ahead of runner-up Niamh Warde (16-8, +812). Third place went to Amy Byrne (15-9, +578), with the ratings prizes going to Breda O'Brien and Jake Berliner.

Division C was won by Michael Thomas (20-4, +1855) from Jake Haidar (19-5, +1672) and Rose Northmore (16-8, +1061). Alvin Moisey won the ratings prize. Jake's second place is particularly impressive, as he is only 12 years old!

The 3-day main event, taking place in Reading, Berkshire is the centrepiece of an 8-day Scrabble festival from 3rd to 10th January, building on the success of last year's event at the same venue. The event has attracted more than 100 players over the course of the week's three events, with players from around the world competing. Players staying for the whole week will contest 61 games over the 8 days across three tournaments: the Main Event, the Midweek Triple and the Final Fling.

Festivities conclude on Saturday 10th January 2026.

UK Open Main Event Final standings: Division A | Division B | Division C