UK Open 2019 - Goodbye Austin

Another year and another excellent UK Open to kick the Scrabble year off. Chris Harrison opened his campaign in the Warm Up with five bonuses in a row against a globe-trotting Richards, but it was Karen, not Nigel and wasn't even enough to top round 1 standings. That honour went to Theresa Brousson on the comeback trail, with Nigel only 5th. Normal service was resumed from round 2, with Nigel hitting the top spot, a position he would hold right through until the end. His closest rival in the Warm Up was Natalie Zolty, but she would need to beat him in the final round by a meagre 557 points... In any event, she was secure in 2nd place and Theresa won her final game to finish 3rd. Other Division winners were Paul (Tranmere) Thomson, Ian Nichol and Geoff Cooper.

Natalie hotfooted it home for an interview on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire's Culture Club. Having heard some of the words played, presenter Dave Marshall Barrett is not about to enter next year's event, but Natalie assured him that clubs around the country welcome players of all levels!

It would largely be business as usual for Nigel in the main event too, but he didn't have it all his own way with Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Ed Martin and Wayne Kelly pushing hard, and giant-killing Mick Healy taking his own personal record against Nigel to 2-0. Ultimately, it was Austin Shin who would come out of the pack to launch the strongest assault, but he would need to beat Nigel five times in a row, and fell at the 4th hurdle. He had done enough to claim Runner Up's spot though, with Harshan rallying for 3rd place. Other strong performances came from Rik Kennedy in 4th and Ahmed Khan 5th earning him a new ratings peak of 172.

For Nigel it was his 10th UK Open title, and including side events, he now has 20 wins from 22 attempts at this tournament. For Austin, pictured here with the UK's 2nd biggest improver of 2018, Sumbul Siddiqui, it was his last event in the UK before his move overseas, and whilst we all wish him well, it will be sad not to see him as regularly on the UK circuit. He has been a permanent fixture across more than two decades, evolving into a true ambassador at the very top of the global game. #Scoringneverstops and I am sure he will continue to be a force to be reckoned with in his new surroundings.

Ebi Sosseh was the top seed in Division B and for the most part looked the one to beat. However, it was Andrew Eames who was amassing the best spread and by the final round, it was almost double that of any others. Although still behind on wins, a victory in the last round could still be enough if Ebi lost. Ebi did indeed lose, but so did Andrew, by just 11pts and so the top 2 remained unchanged. Division C was very tightly fought with 4 players all on 19 wins going into the final round - Ann Golding, Breda O'Brien, Stany Arnold and Jack Mitchell. Ann had the best spread, but needed to win which she duly did, and with the four all matched against each other, Stany was the other victor, vaulting her above Breda into 2nd place. Full results for all divisions can be viewed here.

Craig Beevers streamed many of the top games so you can get at least a flavour of what a great event the UK Open is, by checking out his twitch channel. Videos only stay on twitch for 2 weeks but will also be available on YouTube soon. Congratulations to all prize winners, and thanks to everyone who contributed in making the event such a success.