International competitors descend on Dubai for three-day wordplay challenge

International competitors descend on Dubai for three-day wordplay challenge.

Nikhil Soneja and Sayyad Yasir Jamshaid compete in the two-day scrabble tournament organised by the UAE Scrabble Club at International Horizons College in Business Bay, Dubai. Rebecca Rees for The NatShow more

DUBAI // More than 40 wordsmiths from across the UAE and beyond were locked in a battle of wits and wordplay at a Scrabble tournament yesterday in the emirate.

Two divisions of players, including national champions as well as beginners, were playing in a series of one-hour games during the Dubai Winter Scrabble Challenge, which began on Thursday and is due to end today at the International Horizons College in Business Bay.

Navya Zaveri, a 16-year-old student at the Indian High School Dubai, has been playing for the past four years. “Scrabble has got a lot of aspects in it,” said Navya. “It has strategy, wordplay and a lot of skills are involved so you need to be a very good all-round player to be able to win at this game.”

The oldest competitor was Daniel Milton, an 80-year-old American, who has been playing since the board game was first released more than 50 years ago. He only started taking part in tournaments, however, a little over a decade ago.

“It was just about 13 years ago when I got a book called Word Freaks and I had no idea there were tournaments,” he said. “I got hooked and I have been participating in tournaments more than once a month for the past 12 years.”

Filipino Ronald Credo has taken part in 15 tournaments around the world. “I enjoy this game and have been playing since 1998,” said the 45-year-old, a Dubai resident for the past seven years.

“It’s a very competitive game. I’ve been national champion in the Philippines twice and champion here in 2012. Such tournaments are great because it gives us more practice.”

Arham Abidi has been playing for five years. “I love the game, it’s interesting and there’s so much to it,” said the 17-year-old who flew in from Pakistan for the competition. “It’s not just a simple game. We prepare for it, there’s analysis and lots of components to it but I played really well today compared to yesterday.”

The teenager said he was introduced to the board game through his school. “Learning the words is the most difficult part.”

For Eric Kinderman, a 45-year-old English teacher at Uptown School in Mirdif, the tournament could not have come soon enough. “I’ve been an international Scrabble player for 15 years and I’ve been waiting for this tournament for a while,” said the American. “You have to learn 30,000 more words when you play internationally compared to America so it’s two lexicons. There are 115,000 two through eight-letter words in the Collins game, which we play today.”

To date, he has taken part in about 50 tournaments. “There are a lot of top players here today, the person I just played against is world-class,” said Mr Kinderman, who moved to Dubai eight years ago. “I managed to use my favourite word, which is achenium, meaning a fruit that does not ripen. There is a big tournament in India next week and I will attend one in Australia over the Easter break.”

Indian Nikhil Soneja, the chairman of the UAE Scrabble Club, has been playing since he was 13. He said organising a local Scrabble scene for the development of the game was vital. “We’re getting more schools involved,” said the 36-year-old. “Bahrain was the home of Scrabble but, for the past three years, we’ve taken a step forward for the UAE to become a global destination for it so we’re testing the waters to see how we do on an international circuit.”

He said playing the game required a sharp mind.

“You need to be mentally fit and be able to last this long,” he said. “Staying this focused is the most difficult part. You have to be switched on and this is the longest tournament we’ve ever done so it becomes more of an endurance test.”

“This is a good activity [for people] because it increases their vocabulary and entertains them,” said Rohit Malik, an Indian whose 14-year-old daughter was taking part in the competition. “It also gives a feeling of competition so we encourage her to participate in such events.”