Spanish Scrabble Winner Does Not Speak Spanish
2024-12-18
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1A New Zealand man recently won an international Spanish Scrabble competition although he does not speak Spanish.
2Scrabble is a board game in which players form words from letters to gain points.
3Nigel Richards is a professional Scrabble player.
4He holds five English-language world championships in the board game.
5But in November, he won the Spanish world Scrabble championship in Granada, Spain.
6In the competition, he lost one game out of 24.
7Many people are wondering how Richards could win without speaking Spanish.
8Liz Fagerlund is a New Zealand Scrabble official and a friend of Richards.
9She recently told the Associated Press that Richards started memorizing the Spanish language Scrabble word list one year ago.
10She said, "He can't understand why other people can't just do the same thing."
11Fagerlund added, "He can look at a block of words together, and once they go into his brain as a picture he can just recall that very easily."
12In second place was defending champion Benjamín Olaizola of Argentina.
13He won 18 of his games.
14Nothing like the New Zealander's win had ever happened in Spanish Scrabble, said Alejandro Terenzani, an organizer of the competition.
15"It was impossible to react negatively, you can only be amazed," Terenzani said.
16"We certainly expected that he would perform well, but it is perhaps true that he surpassed our expectations."
17However, the recent Scrabble competition is not the first that Richards has won in a language that he does not speak.
18In 2015, he became the French language Scrabble world champion although he does not speak French.
19He studied the French language word list for nine weeks.
20He won the French championship again in 2018.
21Richards is known in the world of international Scrabble as the greatest player of all time.
22He has been playing in competitions for about 30 years.
23But other players have said his Spanish language victory was notable even by his standards.
24Playing Spanish Scrabble required some different methods to win.
25The wooden pieces, or tiles, used in the word game have different values in English and Spanish Scrabble.
26Richards also had to consider thousands of additional seven-, eight- and nine-letter words in the Spanish language.
27In 2008, Richards was the first player ever to hold the world, U.S., and British titles at the same time.
28He had to "forget" 40,000 English words that do not appear in the American Scrabble word list to win in the U.S.
29His victories are famous in the Scrabble community.
30Tens of thousands of people have watched and analyzed his games in YouTube videos.
31Scrabble does not require players to know the definitions of words.
32Players only need to know what combinations of letters can be used in a country's version of the game.
33Native speakers have "a huge leg up," American Scrabble player Will Anderson said in a video explaining Richards' Spanish win.
34In 2010, Richards' mother, Adrienne Fischer, told a New Zealand newspaper that he was not a great English student in school.
35He never attended university.
36And he took a mathematical approach to the game rather than a linguistic one.
37"I don't think he's ever read a book," she said, "apart from the dictionary."
38Fagerlund said Richards impressed her when he arrived at his first Scrabble club meeting at age 28.
39Two years later, in 1997, he rode a bicycle 350 kilometers from Christchurch to the city of Dunedin where he won the New Zealand championship on his first try.
40Then he rode the bicycle home again.
41At the Spanish event, he was shy and modest, organizer Terenzani said.
42But he happily had his picture taken and spoke with fans who sought him out.
43"Although he did so in English, of course," Terenzani joked.
44Richards now lives in Malaysia. He never speaks to reporters. What drives him is a mystery.
45"I get lots of requests from journalists wanting to interview him, and he's not interested," Fagerlund said.
46She added that he does not understand what all the fuss is about.
47I'm Anna Matteo.
1A New Zealand man recently won an international Spanish Scrabble competition although he does not speak Spanish. 2Scrabble is a board game in which players form words from letters to gain points. 3Nigel Richards is a professional Scrabble player. He holds five English-language world championships in the board game. But in November, he won the Spanish world Scrabble championship in Granada, Spain. In the competition, he lost one game out of 24. 4Many people are wondering how Richards could win without speaking Spanish. 5Liz Fagerlund is a New Zealand Scrabble official and a friend of Richards. She recently told the Associated Press that Richards started memorizing the Spanish language Scrabble word list one year ago. 6She said, "He can't understand why other people can't just do the same thing." Fagerlund added, "He can look at a block of words together, and once they go into his brain as a picture he can just recall that very easily." 7In second place was defending champion Benjamín Olaizola of Argentina. He won 18 of his games. 8Nothing like the New Zealander's win had ever happened in Spanish Scrabble, said Alejandro Terenzani, an organizer of the competition. 9"It was impossible to react negatively, you can only be amazed," Terenzani said. "We certainly expected that he would perform well, but it is perhaps true that he surpassed our expectations." 10However, the recent Scrabble competition is not the first that Richards has won in a language that he does not speak. 11In 2015, he became the French language Scrabble world champion although he does not speak French. He studied the French language word list for nine weeks. He won the French championship again in 2018. 12Richards is known in the world of international Scrabble as the greatest player of all time. He has been playing in competitions for about 30 years. But other players have said his Spanish language victory was notable even by his standards. 13Playing Spanish Scrabble required some different methods to win. The wooden pieces, or tiles, used in the word game have different values in English and Spanish Scrabble. Richards also had to consider thousands of additional seven-, eight- and nine-letter words in the Spanish language. 14In 2008, Richards was the first player ever to hold the world, U.S., and British titles at the same time. He had to "forget" 40,000 English words that do not appear in the American Scrabble word list to win in the U.S. 15His victories are famous in the Scrabble community. Tens of thousands of people have watched and analyzed his games in YouTube videos. 16Scrabble does not require players to know the definitions of words. Players only need to know what combinations of letters can be used in a country's version of the game. 17Native speakers have "a huge leg up," American Scrabble player Will Anderson said in a video explaining Richards' Spanish win. 18In 2010, Richards' mother, Adrienne Fischer, told a New Zealand newspaper that he was not a great English student in school. He never attended university. And he took a mathematical approach to the game rather than a linguistic one. 19"I don't think he's ever read a book," she said, "apart from the dictionary." 20Fagerlund said Richards impressed her when he arrived at his first Scrabble club meeting at age 28. Two years later, in 1997, he rode a bicycle 350 kilometers from Christchurch to the city of Dunedin where he won the New Zealand championship on his first try. Then he rode the bicycle home again. 21At the Spanish event, he was shy and modest, organizer Terenzani said. But he happily had his picture taken and spoke with fans who sought him out. 22"Although he did so in English, of course," Terenzani joked. 23Richards now lives in Malaysia. He never speaks to reporters. What drives him is a mystery. 24"I get lots of requests from journalists wanting to interview him, and he's not interested," Fagerlund said. 25She added that he does not understand what all the fuss is about. 26I'm Anna Matteo. 27Charlotte Graham-Mclay reported this story for the Associated Press. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. 28________________________________________________ 29Words in This Story 30block -n. a group or a set of something 31recall -v. to remember 32negatively -adv. in a bad, unhelpful or unhappy way 33amazed -adj. to be filled with wonder or admiration 34surpass -v. to go beyond something 35standards -n. (pl.) a level of expectations involving several qualities or conditions 36linguistic -adj. related to languages 37leg up -idiom something that helps a person do better at something than other people 38impressed -adj. causing a person to remember something about you 39shy -adj. unwilling or afraid to talk to other people for some reason 40modest -adj. unwilling to bring attention to oneself or to show excessive concern for one's appearance 41fuss -n. a show of too much praise or interest that might not seem real or honest