The second edition of the Malta Open Scrabble Tournament, organised by the Malta Scrabble Club (MSC), was held over three days last weekend at the Topaz Hotel, Qawra.

This year, the event took on an international stamp since the 62 participants came from nine countries, including several from Malta.

The tournament, sponsored by the Malta Tourism Authority, Scotts Supermaket and Intercomp, was played over 20 rounds on the basis of a Swiss system whereby fixtures are not pre-set but determined according to the standing after every round.

The players obtaining the top places in the tournament hailed from four different countries, with Nigerian Lukeman Owolabi emerging as the overall winner, followed by David Webb of England, and the Maltese number one player Theresa Brousson, (nee Camilleri), in third place. Romanian players Dan Sandu and Catalin Caba won the Ratings prizes of sections B and C respectively.

Brousson is currently the holder of the National League, having won the competition four times in a row. She will be joining former five-times national champion, David Delicata, to represent Malta in the World Scrabble Championships in Malaysia later this year.

At the end of the tournament, Nicholas Vella Laurenti, president of the MSC, expressed his satisfaction at the way the event was run and stressed the skills of this activity which can be practised on the level of sports by anyone versed in lexical knowledge.

"Thanks to the extraordinary online dissemination of the tournament under the hands of John Chew, I believe we have showcased Scrabble as a sport that people of any age and sex and of many nationalities can easily learn how to play with pleasure and skill," he said.