A New Zealand man hailed as a Scrabble phenom dominated the Spanish World Scrabble Championships – despite reportedly not speaking the language.
Nigel Richards claimed victory at this year’s tournament in Granada, Spain last month, Reuters reported, showcasing once again his remarkable abilities to outperform even native speakers in their own languages.
“This is an incredible humiliation,” Benjamín Olaizola, who came second to Richards, told Spanish radio network La Cadena SER, calling his opponent a “gifted man” with “very specific capabilities.”
Richards, who is in his 50s, bested more than 145 opponents from across the world, including Argentina, Venezuela, Spain and Colombia, winning 22 consecutive matches, the Federación Internacional de Léxico en Español said on Instagram.
Widely known as the “Tiger Woods of Scrabble,” Richards has won nearly 200 tournaments, including multiple world titles, and is ranked No. 1 by the World English-language Scrabble Player’s Association (WESPA).
But his Scrabble talents have long extended beyond the board of his native tongue.
“He started playing Scrabble with his mom because she got sick of him beating her at cards. She thought she might be able to win, since he was no good at English in school,” Fagerlund says. “He came to the club and was very soon beating everyone there.”