Europe

France lost for words over new Scrabble champion

Non-French speaker Nigel Richards memorises Scrabble dictionary in nine weeks to win title

New Zealand’s Nigel Richards competes in a category of the Francophone Scrabble World Championships in Louvain-La-Neuve. Photograph: John Thys/Getty Images
New Zealand’s Nigel Richards competes in a category of the Francophone Scrabble World Championships in Louvain-La-Neuve. Photograph: John Thys/Getty Images
Wed Jul 22 2015 - 09:55

Nigel Richards’ command of the language of Moliere, as the French like to call it, stretches to “bonjour” and being able to count. However, the New Zealander has a way with words, even French ones.

Despite the linguistic handicap, Richards has just won the francophone world Scrabble championships - after reportedly memorising the entire French Scrabble dictionary in just nine weeks.

Richards (48) the three times world Scrabble champion in English, beat a rival from French-speaking Gabon in the final held at Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium on Monday.

During the match he even successfully challenged his rival Schelick Ilagou Rekawe’s use of a form of the verb ‘fureter’ (to snoop), going on to win two games to nil. He was given a standing ovation by the mainly French-speaking crowd.

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Richards, born in Christchurch but now based in Malaysia, has been described as the world’s best Scrabble player.

With his long beard, spectacles and intense gaze, the reclusive competitor cuts an enigmatic figure hunched over his letter tiles.

“He’s not a francophone, I can confirm that,” Yves Brenez, the vice president of the Belgian Scrabble federation and organiser of the Francophone championships, told FranceTV.”

Nigel will say ‘bonjour’ with an accent and he can also give the score in French, which is obligatory, but that’s all.

“The challenge was a bit crazy, but he learned French vocabulary in only nine weeks. He’s a fighting machine. To him words are just combinations of letters. “I’m perhaps exaggerating a bit, but he comes up with scrabbled (words of seven or more letters) that others take 10 years to know.”

The French Scrabble federation described Richards' victory as a first in a tweet after the final.

Richards, a vegetarian who doesn’t drink or smoke, and is reported to have only two interests - Scrabble and cycling - began playing at a Scrabble club in Christchurch but did not learn the game competitively until 1996, reportedly picking it up from his mother, Adrienne, who works as a secretary.

Scrabble experts suggest the competitive game has more to do with memory and mathematics than linguistics.

Guardian