The Hong Kong National Scrabble Championship 2019 was successfully held on 13 and 14 April 2019.
There were two divisions in the Championship. Division A was open to players who had HKSPA peak ratings 1500 or above from 1 January 2019 to 29 March 2019, while Division B was open to players with HKSPA peak ratings below 1500 during the period above. Only players with Hong Kong representation status were eligible for the Championship.
In Division A, players played 18 rounds to compete for the Hong Kong Scrabble Champion title, the largest number of games in a single tournament in Hong Kong so far. After 18 rounds of games, Brian Po won the title of Hong Kong Scrabble Champion with 13 wins and a total accumulative spread of +1050 points. The first runner-up, second runner-up and third runner-up were Carson Ip (the Hong Kong Scrabble Champion 2016 and 2017), Thomson Law Long Yin and Euclid Hui (the Hong Kong Scrabble Champion 2018) respectively. This was the first time that the title has gone to a youth player. Brian Po, therefore, was also awarded the Best Under-18 Player award in the Division. The Best Under-16 and Best Under-14 award were awarded to Thomson Law Long Yin and Ernest So Yat Long respectively.
Division A was a fierce tournament. Players played very competitively and demonstrated a high level of ability in playing the game. The competition in the top-ranked places is especially exciting. Selected games played by top players in the Division are annotated and are available on HKSPA Players Database.
In Division B, 38 players played six rounds. Choy Tsun Hin was awarded the winner of the Division. He was also awarded the Best Under-18, Best Under-16, Best Under-14 and the Best Player from HKMA K S Lo College. The first runner-up, second runner-up and third runner-up were Ian Tsoi Yin, Pang Shing Wai and Hong Jiaen respectively. The Best Under-12 player award was awarded to Rex Chan Hiu Cheung.
Players playing seriously for their games
Winner of Division B - Choy Tsun Hin (left) with the Herbert Ma (right, Tournament Director of the division)
Group photo of Division B
The overall High Word across both Divisions belonged to Tam Pok Hin for playing NUTTIEST for 131 points, and the High Game award went to Ian Tsoi Yin for his game with a final score of 580 points.
Thank you all players for supporting this annual Scrabble tournament in Hong Kong and congratulations to all winners in the Championship! We look forward to seeing all the players in our upcoming tournaments around the summer!