Congratulations to dominant champion Paul Gallen and all other prize winners at the Festival of Scrabble which took place at Bournville this weekend. Not to be outdone by Lewis Mackay and Brett Smitheram, Paul now joins the pair on 9 Major victories, suffering only 2 losses across 19 games and accruing a mammoth +2340 spread in the process. Wayne Kelly finished 2nd, Chris Harrison 3rd with Alan Abela taking the ratings prize with a +8 performance.
In Division B, Marion Keatings ran out the winner 2 games clear of her rivals, with just 29 spread points separating Colin Nicol and Marjorie Struggles in 2nd and 3rd. Lowest rated of all, Aileen Morrison took the ratings prize with another +8 increase.
Next weekend will see the fifth Major of the year with a strong field assembled for the Masters. Paul and Lewis will be joined by 3 other previous champions - Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Paul Allan and David Webb as well as last year’s surprise runner up Chris Vicary. The standard was so high this year that 2018 champion Gary Oliver could not even qualify to defend his title!