Weekly Tournament Round-Up: Leamington, Hastings and Milton

Board from Leamington Spa featuring TUNICLE

Invitationals in Leamington Spa and Hastings, plus Milton of Campsie: Brian Po staged a remarkable comeback to win eighteen games’ worth of drama, Craig Solomons stormed Hastings, and debutant Richard Burge took Division C in Scotland.

There were flurries of fireworks behind closed doors this weekend, as ABSP Scrabble supplemented its recent run of regional opens with two invitationals full of heavy-hitters: one in Hastings and one in Leamington Spa, as well as another trip back to Milton of Campsie in Scotland. Players traded three-figure moves and nine-timers with abandon, another debutant conquered their first ever competitive field, and one eighteen-game slog went to the wire: here’s everything that happened in UK Scrabble last weekend.

Brilliant Brian shines again

Brian Po has had what American sports commentators call a ‘career year’. He hurtled into 2026 by winning his first-ever Major (the 2026 UK Open), and followed it up by taking the BEST title against serial Major winner Phil Robertshaw. Since then, the wins have continued to flow, and he entered the Leamington Spa invitational in a rich vein of form, having won at Leamington in July, come second at the BMSC in August, and then triumphed at Holmfirth. Despite a strong field assembling in Leamington—one that included Expert Rik Kennedy, Expert Jason Carney, aspiring Experts Joel Davey and Ronan Dance, and 2025 BMSC Warm-Up winner and commentator extraordinaire Joseph Bennett—Brian was the clear favourite.

Success in Scrabble seldom comes easy, however, and so it proved after one-third of the event, with Brian having posted a 2–4 record that included a 416–560 reverse against Rik. Brian bounced back with three victories, only for further defeats against Rik and Joel to leave him chasing Joel Davey after 12 rounds. The scale of Brian’s task was compounded by Joel’s formidable spread: he’d won five of his first ten games by margins of more than 100 points.

So it transpired that with three rounds to go, Brian and Joel would face each other three times. To emerge victorious overall, Brian would need to win all three games, and with an average spread margin of over 130 points: no mean feat against anyone in the field. However, if one had to identify someone in UK Scrabble currently capable of taking three consecutive games against a 170+ player by 130-point margins, it would be difficult to look past Brian, and he gave himself an immediate fighting chance—and momentum—with a 560–387 win, followed up by another high-scoring slog, which he took by 551 points to 397. Needing to pull off the feat once more, the tiles continued to flow for Brian as favourably as they have done for much of the year: another 500+ score, a 502–382 W, and Brian continued a hot streak that has seen him win 3 and come second at two of his last five tournaments.

Beyond Brian’s success, there were brilliant moves to be found everywhere one looked at Leamington. Joel Davey played GRE(E)NiSH for 149, responding to Brian’s TUNICLE. Rik found an elegant QuEENDOM against Jason Carney, and his 976-point battle with Brian saw bonuses flow freely: CEINTURE, RISIBLY, BLANCHED, LOCUSTAE, SPEANED, SWOONIER.

Board from Brian Po vs Rik Kennedy at Leamington Spa, featuring CEINTURE and BLANCHED

Brian now moves to a 186 rating and eighth in the country: few would bet against him ascending still higher. His next engagement will be at another invitational on November 1st, in Chorlton, where another strong field will attempt to stymy his progress. It includes leading light of UK Youth Scrabble Samuel Crispin, former national champion Wayne Kelly, and a slew of Experts including Natalie Zolty, Jason Carney, and Jared Robinson.

Craig the Conqueror in Hastings

Not to be outdone, Victoria Kingham hosted one of her series of invitationals in Hastings: 16 games over two days. Equally reluctant to be outdone was Expert and aspiring Grandmaster Craig Solomons, who took 12 of his 16 games, amassing an eye-watering +1480 spread, on his way to winning the tournament. Craig found his flow in some style: he won five consecutive games by margins of more than 150 points, one of which was a 608–333 win, and proved that his word knowledge could compete with the country’s very best by finding gorgeous plays like NENUPHAR against Ebi Sosseh. Second was Noble Onoshevwe, who won 11 games with a spread of +472, while third place went to aspiring Expert Chris Vicary (11 wins, +426).

Burge bursts onto Scottish scene

It’s a month for debutants. After teenager Aiden Crane recorded a sauntering clean sweep at his first-ever ABSP event last weekend in Manuden, newbie Richard Burge graduated from club to competition in Milton of Campsie. Having sharpened his Scrabble skills at the Edinburgh Scrabble Club, he won six of his first seven games to take Division C, ahead of seasoned Scrabblers like runner-up Joyce Clegg (nearly 600 rated games over 16 years) and Willie Scott (22 years of competitive play). Congratulations to Richard—we’re looking forward to welcoming you to the Stirling Open next month!

Up in Division A, Simon Gillam (Exp) won his second Scottish tournament of the year, overcoming Grandmaster Neil Scott by approximately 100 spread points over the seven games. Simon defeated Neil 412–371 in the final game of the day to add to his Aberdeen triumph in March; Marion Keatings also won five games and played 36 points above her pre-tournament rating to come third.

In Division B at Milton, Caroline Foy took six of seven games by an extra 193 points of spread over Alan Payne. In rising to 119, Caroline has reached her highest rating of the year—congratulations! Many thanks, too, to Grant Wallace for organising the event.

Looking ahead

We now move from Scotland and England into Wales this coming weekend, with another James Burley double-header taking place in Cardiff. 53 entrants have been received over the two days, including five new debutants on Saturday and one on Sunday. Can a debutant take a division for the third weekend in a row? Stay tuned for next week’s round-up to find out!

Keep Scrabbling,
Jack Moran
ABSP Communications Officer
16 October 2026