Two international tournaments at Suncrest Hotel

Recently, the Malta Scrabble Club organised two international scrabble tournaments, the European Open Championship and the Malta International Open, both played at the Suncrest Hotel in Qawra.

Scrabble championships have now become annual fixtures on the Malta club’s calendar, attracting a good number of calibre competitors from different countries.

Of utmost significance for local scrabble player Theresa Brousson was her success in the European Open.

She preceded Chinedu Okwelogu, of Nigeria, and Mikki Nicholson, of England, for what was a very welcome and prestigious win for Brousson who has been a long-standing flag-bearer in local circles and one of the foremost performers in the international circuit.

The Malta International Open event was won by Helen Gipson, of Scotland, followed by Evan Cohen, of Israel, and England’s Mikki Nicholson.

Each of the top-ranked participants won handsome prize-money, starting from €1,000.

At the end of the tournaments, which were expertly streamed online by John Chew, Brousson and Gipson expressed their satisfaction at having won this year’s events, stressing that these victories showed that women can succeed in events traditionally dominated by males.

Nicky Vella Laurenti, a spo-kesman for the Malta Scrabble Club, said that this year’s tournaments confirmed Malta’s growing stature as a hub of international scrabble competitions.

“Our tournaments attracted players from 12 different countries and spured the development of competitive scrabble both locally and on the international scene,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Brousson and David Delicata will be representing Malta in the World Scrabble Championship which is being held in Poland in October where over 40 countries should be participating.

Results

European Open
Class A: 1. T. Brousson (Malta); 2. C. Okwelogu (Nigeria); 3. M. Nic-holson (England).
Class B: 1. J. Mackenzie (England); 2. E. Meghen (Ireland).
Class C: 1. M. Doyle (Ireland); 2. A. Zammit (Malta).

Malta Open
Division A: 1. H. Gipson (Scotland); 2. E. Cohen (Israel); 3. M. Nicholson (England).
Division B: 1. M. Armstrong (Scot-land); 2. J. Wilkie (Scotland); 3. P. Cilia (Malta).