National Scrabble Championship reaches half way stage

The National Scrabble Championship is in full swing at the Park Royal hotel in Warrington. There are 36 players in the main event, with 16 playing in the plate event.

After a long day, the tournament has reached the half way stage, with the unbeaten Harshan Lamabadusuriya leading the main event field with 8 wins. Here's Harshan in action, against Ahmed Khan in the final game of the day. Paul Gallen is in second place with 7 wins, whilst Chris Cummins, Phil Robertshaw and Dave Koenig are on 6 wins, with Dave having qualified yesterday through the Last Chance Qualifier. Graham Haigh, the other person to qualify through the LCQ, sits right behind Dave, in 6th place.

Meanwhile, Gary Oliver is leading the plate with 7 wins, with Sumbul Siddiqui hot on his heels, also with 7 wins. Here's Gary, wearing his trademark union flag cap, in action against Ray Tate, who's also in the running with 5 wins alongside with Stewart Brodie and Steve Graston.

As usual, there are frequent congregations around the coffee machine between games, with stories of amazing last-gasp victories being recounted, along with the tales of woe from the victims, plus high score comparisons (Graham Haigh leading the way with a 693 in the 2nd game)

Stretton is only a tiny village on the outskirts of Warrington, but it does support three pubs - to which the majority of the players have now decamped to spend the evening recounting further war stories - and in some cases, to play more Scrabble (or If Only or Lonify!)

Latest standings: NSC Main | NSC Plate    (Updated 6/10/2019 to link to live standings)