ABSP - Majors

Majors

Results

The National Scrabble Championships is organised by Mattel, the Scrabble trademark owners, and has had a variety of formats over its years of existence. The current format involves six regional stages where players play over 7 games in one day; the number of qualifying places available varies according to the number and strength of players in the region. The 60 qualifiers then play a 14-game semi-final stage, with the top two finishers qualifying for a best-of-five head to head final in London towards the end of the year.

The British Matchplay Scrabble Championships (BMSC) is the flagship event of the ABSP. Consisting of 19 games played over the August Bank Holiday weekend, it was held in Nottingham until 2001, moved to Birmingham for 2002-2004 but has more recently found a home at Yarnfield Conference Centre in Staffordshire.

The ABSP Masters is an elite invitational event for the 16 best players in the UK. It is usually a 'round robin' event (i.e. everyone plays everyone else once), currently held on the first weekend in July in Staffordshire.

The UK Open was introduced in 2008 and is the longest event of the year, comprising a mammoth 38 games over 5 days in early January. The Spring Matchplay was originally held at Durham University but moved to Daventry in 2008, also increasing from 13 to 25 rounds over the early May Bank Holiday weekend. The Easter Matchplay is held in Exeter over the Easter weekend and comprises 19 rounds, as does the Festival of Scrabble (formerly known as Summer Matchplay) in Edinburgh in June. The Winter Matchplay is 12 rounds played in Milton Keynes in late November each year.

The British Elimination Scrabble Tournament (BEST) is a knockout competition which lasts over six months. Played as a series of face-to-face knockout matches at regional and then national level, the winner typically plays more than 70 games over six months to lift the trophy. The event has its own website with past results. It start off as an annual event but has become biannual in recent years due to the long time period over which it is played.

	National Champion	BMSC	ABSP Masters	BEST	UK Open

1987		Allan Simmons
1988		Allan Simmons
1989	Russell Byers	Gareth Williams
1990	Philip Nelkon	Phil Appleby
1991	Phil Appleby	Allan Simmons
1992	Philip Nelkon	Mark Nyman	Di Dennis
1993	Allan Saldanha	Andrew Fisher	Phil Appleby
1994	Mike Willis	Russell Byers	Allan Simmons
1995		Allan Saldanha	Mark Nyman
1996	Andrew Fisher	Mark Nyman	Gareth Williams
1997	Andrew Cook	Andrew Davis	Mark Nyman
1998	Mark Nyman	Helen Gipson	Andrew Fisher
1999	Evan Simpson	Andrew Perry	Andrew Davis
2000	Brett Smitheram	David Acton	Mark Nyman
2001	Mark Nyman	Andrew Cook	Andrew Davis	Andrew Fisher
2002	Mark Nyman	Mark Nyman	Andrew Davis	Paul Allan
2003	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Brett Smiterham	Mark Nyman	Phil Appleby
2004	Mark Nyman	Brett Smitheram	Mark Nyman	Adam Logan
2005	Wale Fashina	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Brett Smitheram
2006	Jake Jacobs	Brett Smitheram	David Webb	Phil Appleby
2007	Paul Allan	Paul Allan	Allan Simmons
2008	Allan Simmons	Allan Simmons	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Nigel Richards
2009	Craig Beevers	Mark Nyman	Jared Robinson	David Webb	Helen Gipson
2010	Mikki Nicholson	Brett Smitheram	Lewis Mackay	Mark Nyman	Nigel Richards
2011	Wayne Kelly	Lewis Mackay	Craig Beevers	Mikki Nicholson	Nigel Richards
2012	Paul Gallen	Kevin McMahon	Femi Awowade	Lewis Mackay	Nigel Richards

	Spring Matchplay	Easter Matchplay	Festival of Scrabble	Winter Matchplay

1988	Mark Nyman
1989	Barrie Knox		Darryl Francis
1990	Pete Finley		Mark Nyman
1991	Simon Gillam		Mark Nyman	Mark Nyman
1992	Andrew Fisher		Gareth Williams	Mark Nyman
1993	Mark Nyman	John Grayson	Andrew Fisher	Evan Simpson
1994	Helen Grayson	Mark Nyman	Clive Spate	Mark Nyman
1995	Mike Willis	Terry Kirk	Russell Byers	Andrew Cook
1996	Clive Spate	Andrew Fisher	Martin Fowkes	Joyce Cansfield
1997	Clive Spate	Terry Kirk	David Acton	Bob Violett
1998	Peter Preston	Phil Appleby	Karl Khoshnaw	Jackie McLeod
1999	Rob Dowse	Andrew Perry	Joyce Cansfield	Andrew Perry
2000	Mike Willis	Allan Simmons	Paul Allan	Andrew Cook
2001	Paul Allan	Gareth Williams	Paul Allan	Andrew Cook
2002	David Acton	Andrew Fisher	Robert Richland	Shanker Menon
2003	Allan Simmons	Femi Awowade	Martin Thompson	Pete Finley
2004	Adam Philpotts	Phil Appleby	Lewis Mackay	Pete Finley
2005	Adam Logan	Ed Martin	Stewart Holden	Austin Shin
2006	Wayne Kelly	Brett Smitheram	Paul Allan	Craig Beevers
2007	Ed Martin	Elie Dangoor	Helen Gipson	Femi Awowade
2008	Martin Harrison	Brett Smitheram	Mikki Nicholson	Austin Shin
2009	Austin Shin	Phil Robertshaw	Martin Harrison	Azu Ogbogu
2010	Martin Harrison	Wayne Kelly		Brian Sugar
2011	Martin Harrison	Elie Dangoor	Azu Ogbogu	Adam Logan
2012	Wayne Kelly	Theresa Brousson	Azu Ogbogu	Craig Beevers

For details of all of these tournaments and others, have a look at the calendar.

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.