https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/10/scrabble-star-nigel-richards-wins-spanish-world-title-despite-not-speaking-spanish [p] Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Close dialogue1/2Next imagePrevious imageToggle caption Skip to navigation Print subscriptions Newsletters Sign in US[ ] * US edition * UK edition * Australia edition * Europe edition * International edition The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian [ ] * News * Opinion * Sport * Culture * Lifestyle Show moreHide expanded menu * [ ]News + View all News + US news + US politics + World news + Climate crisis + Middle East + Ukraine + Soccer + Business + Environment + Tech + Science + Newsletters + Wellness * [ ]Opinion + View all Opinion + The Guardian view + Columnists + Letters + Opinion videos + Cartoons * [ ]Sport + View all Sport + Soccer + NFL + Tennis + MLB + MLS + NBA + WNBA + NHL + F1 + Golf * [ ]Culture + View all Culture + Film + Books + Music + Art & design + TV & radio + Stage + Classical + Games * [ ]Lifestyle + View all Lifestyle + Wellness + Fashion + Food + Recipes + Love & sex + Home & garden + Health & fitness + Family + Travel + Money * Search input [ ] google-search Search + Support us + Print subscriptions + Newsletters + Download the app * + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Licensing + About Us + The Guardian app + Video + Podcasts + Pictures + Inside the Guardian + Guardian Weekly + Crosswords + Wordiply + Corrections * Search input [ ] google-search Search + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Licensing + About Us * World * Europe * US * Americas * Asia * Australia * Middle East * Africa * Inequality * Global development Nigel Richards after winning the 2018 world championships in London. [ ] Nigel Richards after winning the 2018 world championships in London. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy View image in fullscreen Nigel Richards after winning the 2018 world championships in London. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy Spain Scrabble star wins Spanish world title - despite not speaking Spanish Nigel Richards has also been champion in English and - after memorising dictionary in nine weeks - French Ashifa Kassam in Madrid Tue 10 Dec 2024 10.04 ESTLast modified on Tue 10 Dec 2024 13.01 EST Share More than 150 competitors representing 20 countries descended on a hotel on the outskirts of Granada last month to battle it out at the Spanish World Scrabble Championships. Now, weeks after the letter tiles were meticulously placed and the points tallied, news of the tournament's winner, Nigel Richards, has made waves across Spain, with many scratching their heads over the fact he does not speak Spanish. "An incredible humiliation" was how one news presenter described it this week, while another report labelled it "the height of absurdity". But for those who have tracked the rise of Richards, a Malaysia-based New Zealander hailed as the Tiger Woods of Scrabble, the feat seemed fitting. "This is someone with very particular, incredible abilities; he's a gifted guy," Benjamin Olaizola, who came second to Richards in the Spanish-language tournament, told the broadcaster Cadena Ser. "We are talking about a New Zealander who has won multiple championships in English - at least five of them." English Scrabble tiles. Nigel Richards is widely viewed as the best player of the game of all time.View image in fullscreen English Scrabble tiles. Nigel Richards is widely viewed as the best player of the game of all time. Photograph: incamerastock/Alamy The Spanish title wasn't the first time Richards' Scrabble skills had shattered linguistic barriers: in 2015 he made headlines when he won the francophone world championships without being able to speak or understand French. Instead he reportedly memorised the entire French Scrabble dictionary in nine weeks. "He doesn't speak French at all - he just learned the words," his friend Liz Fagerlund told the New Zealand Herald at the time. "He won't know what they mean, wouldn't be able to carry out a conversation in French, I wouldn't think." In 2018 he again won the francophone tournament, casting off any suggestion that his French title had been a one-off. After nearly three decades of playing Scrabble competitively, Richards is widely viewed as the best player of all time, with some chalking up his skills to his photographic memory and ability to quickly calculate mathematical probabilities. Intensely private and swift to turn down interviews, very little is known about his personal life. His reclusive nature - along with his decades of Scrabble conquests and coups - have turned him into a legend of sorts for some. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to This is Europe Free weekly newsletter The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans - from identity to economics to the environment Enter your email address [ ]Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion "Just mentioning his name makes me tingle; he's a phenomenon," Eric Salvador Tchouyo, a world champion Scrabble player from Cameroon, told Radio France Internationale. "I often say he would make a good doctoral thesis topic for students in medicine because it's incomprehensible that someone could have such memory capacity in a language he doesn't speak." Describing Richards, 57, as an "exceptional" person, he noted that whenever Richards turned up at a tournament, the other players knew they were playing for second place at best. "When Nigel Richards sits at a table, everyone loses their nerves, even the biggest champions," he said. "Playing against Nigel Richards is like playing against a computer." 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