Association of British Scrabble Players

National Scrabble Championships 2003

The Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP) have been asked by Mattel to determine two players to take part in a grand head-to-head match that they will organise to crown a National Scrabble Champion for 2003. The following is the format that we have agreed for this year given the relatively short notice to set this up and the already full Tournament Calendar. The ABSP has set up an NSC subcommittee to run this event.

If you've never played in a Scrabble tournament before then you are very welcome to take part in this year's National Championships. You might like to look at the Advice for New Players article, and if there's still anything you would like to know then email the ABSP webmasters.

FORMAT IN BRIEF:

All those wishing to take part to enter by end of February

Qualification will be through your performance at two tournaments happening between March and August inclusive

Qualifiers will take part in a play-off event to determine four semi-finalists sometime in September or October

Mattel's Grand Final will be in London (probably November) - Semi-finals in the morning and Final in the afternoon. It is intended that the Final will be relayed to an audience and that there will be other attractions at the event.

HOW TO ENTER:

Nominate your two qualifying events, chosen from the Tournament Calendar. You can nominate up to two rated tournaments scheduled between March 1st 2003 and August 31st 2003 that you wish to try and qualify through (excluding rated league matches, invitation-only events, and holiday events). In addition to those nominated events every NSC entrant has the opportunity to qualify through the Scottish Championships and the British Matchplay Scrabble Championships (BMSC) so you do not nominate these. See additional notes below.

REGISTRATION: by February 28th 2003

Complete the entry form and send it with a Ł2 registration fee and SAE to:

Chris Hawkins (NSC), 39 Peterborough Road, Eye, PETERBOROUGH PE6 7YA

SELECTION OF QUALIFIERS:

From each event (except Scottish Championships and BMSC) the qualifiers will be those NSC entrants who (having nominated the event on their form) are either:

1) the NSC entrant with the highest rated performance at that tournament ("What does this mean?")
2) the NSC entrant with the most wins (with points margin as a tie-breaker)

Note that although the highest rated performance at that tournament would almost certainly come from Division A, the most wins category could be obtained by a player from any division.

In addition the following will also qualify:

1) Scottish Championships - the top two NSC entrants
2) BMSC - the top two NSC entrants from each of the Open and B Divisions

If an NSC entrant gains qualification but has already qualified then the place will be allocated to the next NSC entrant in line based on the associated criteria above.

THE PLAY-OFF STAGE:

The final format of the next stage to determine the four semi-finalists from all the qualifiers will depend on numbers. This could be a single one-day event somewhere in the midlands, or a series of four smaller regional events. The format is likely to be round-robin and held in September or October. Entrants will be advised of the detail once it is finalised. The playoff stage will be ABSP rated games.

THE GRAND FINAL:

Mattel will be organising this event somewhere in London, probably in November. The format will be to play the best-of-three semi-finals in the morning and a best-of-five grand final in the afternoon with live viewing of the latter. All games will be ABSP rated.

PRIZES:

ABSP trophies for the four semi-finalists and possibly prizes for other positions in the playoff. These are yet to be determined and are dependent on number of entrants and the scale of a Mattel contribution.

Mattel will be organising the ultimate prizes which are yet to be finalised, suffice to say there will certainly be a worthy trophy, other goodies and a cash element of at least Ł500 to the winner.

The ABSP will be allocating some other prizes for entrants who fail to qualify from the initial stage at their qualification events (including Scottish Championships & BMSC). These will be as follows:

Best peformance above rating
Hardluck prize for failing to qualify by the smallest spread margin
Highest game score
Other prizes may be possible depending on number of entrants

If you have any queries then email the ABSP webmasters.

Good luck!

Footnotes re Qualifying Tournaments:

The two separate days of round-robin events such as Nottingham Nomads and Scottish Round Robin count as one event with qualification being based on performance over the two days. If, subsequently, an event is scheduled that was not known at the time of entry then an entrant may opt to change a future nominated event for the new event subject to formal approval of the Entry Registrar. Similarly, an entrant may nominate an event they expect to be happening during the qualification period but which is not yet scheduled. Any issues/queries arising will be dealt with by the Entry Registrar. For example, not being able to play at a nominated event because it is full or cancelled.