Unveiling the playoff bracket for the World Blitz Scrabble Championship

It's here! It's finally here.

Welcome to the playoffs.

Nine weeks ago, we began this tournament with 80 players; we have now officially narrowed the field down to our final 16. From here, every single match will be do-or-die, and the world's best speedy Scrabble players will vie for the title of World Blitz Champion.

The road here was long, and it was not without drama. Just in this final week alone, we saw a couple of players gut out 5-4 victories in must-win matches, and a couple others had to watch their rivals duke it out at the end, sweating over every single spread point as their tournament lives hung in the balance. Things got pretty intense.

In the end, though, we have our 16. The format from here on out is simple - four weeks, four rounds of playoffs. It's straight-up single elimination - win and you advance, lose and you're out. By April 24 or thereabouts, we will have our champion.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the eight matchups that await us in the first round.

Austin Shin (9-0, 73.5-7.5) vs. Ben Schoenbrun (8-1, 62-19)

Austin enters the round of 16 as seed 1A - he's the top player in the entire tournament to date, as he ripped through the Hippo Group at an absolutely insane clip, averaging better than an 8-1 win per match. Even in the final match of the season against Geoff Thevenot, who was a very strong No. 2, Austin dominated just the same, winning all nine. Austin is just absolutely crushing it - no two ways about it.

Bnjy, meanwhile, is seed 2B, and he's been almost as strong. He too was undefeated going into the final week of pool play, coming up short only against Will Anderson in Week 9. He made quick work of some very strong players along the way, including Ricky Purnomo and Doug Brockmeier. I've played plenty of blitz with Bnjy myself over the years, and I know how tough he is to beat in speedy Scrabble.

In my conversations with both these players, they've been unflinchingly modest - "I've been drawing really well," "I'm just going to get squashed once I reach the playoffs," and so on. Don't let any of that fool you. They're both terrifyingly good, and one of them will advance after this week as a serious threat to win it all.

Jakob Teitelbaum (7-2, 65-16) vs. Janul de Silva (8-1, 54.5-26.5)

Jakob is seed 7A, having won the Dingo Group in improbable fashion. He was two matches out of first place with two rounds to go, but he scored a comeback win over Conrad Bassett-Bouchard in Week 8, then watched in Week 9 as I upset Conrad by mercilessly drawing the bag again and again. We ended up in a situation where four of us - Jakob, Conrad, Peter Armstrong, and myself - were all tied at 7-2, and Jakob won the division on tiebreakers. Well done.

Speaking of crazy playoff races, Janul emerged as seed 8B after a dramatic final week in the Chipmunk Group. He won his final match of the season against Dipankar Chatterjee, 5-4, and Jesse Day won his last one against Chris Grubb, 6-3, setting up a situation where Janul and Jesse were virtually tied, with Jesse winning the division by a few spread points. Janul may have come up short in the Chipmunk standings, but nonetheless, he's had a dazzling run with wins over some great players (including Jesse). He's going to be tough to beat in the playoffs.

Then again, Jakob is super tough as well. (I should know.)

Chris May (9-0, 64-17) vs. Andrew Fisher (8-1, 61-20)

What a matchup. These guys aren't just two of the best players in Australia - they're two of the very best on the planet, and somehow they find themselves head to head in the first round.

Chris is seed 4A - of the four players who finished the regular season 9-0, he had the lowest game win total (not that 64 wins in 81 games is anything to sneeze at!). He just finished a thrilling playoff race with another Australian countryman, Edward Okulicz, beating him in the final week in an intense match that was decided 5-4.

Andrew also had a chance at a 9-0 tournament, but he fell just short in the end, losing to Dave Wiegand in the final week. That makes him a lower seed going into the playoffs, but no matter. He's a fantastic player at any time control, and he's going to be a serious threat. Andrew versus Chris will make for a simply incredible opening round.

David Eldar (8-1, 64.5-16.5) vs. Matthew O'Connor (7-2, 52-29)

These were the final two players to qualify for the playoff bracket. With about 24 hours remaining in pool play, we had 14 of the 16 bracket spots completely filled out - the remaining two, I had marked "Eldar/Weibin" and "O'Connor/Siddiqui."

David needed a win in the final match of the season to stay alive in the tournament. He and Weibin Toh were the top two seeds in the Aardvark Group - but thanks to Anand Bharadwaj's dominance, it turned out that only one of David or Weibin could make the next round. David prevailed on Sunday, going 6-3, and Weibin was sent packing.

As for Matthew, he benefited from a chaotic final day in the Falcon Group. First Irfan Siddiqui snuck past Jack Moran, 5-4; then Piotr Andronowski, the second seed in the group, scored a 5-4 win over Paul Gallen, eliminating Paul. This gave us a scenario where Piotr was a playoff lock, Irfan was in second, and Matthew needed to go 6-3, +287 in his final match against Tony Sim to overtake Irfan.

Matthew went 6-3, +319.

He just barely survived elimination in the final game, all while live-streaming the whole thing to a captivated audience. It was the most intense moment of the tournament to date, bar none. Matthew now advances, and he faces none other than the No. 2 rated Scrabble player on the planet Earth. This will be quite the match.

Dave Wiegand (9-0, 66-15) vs. Edward Okulicz (8-1, 66-15)

This will also be quite the match. Dave and Edward are two of the best blitz players I've ever seen. Dave's word knowledge and play-finding abilities are pretty much unparalleled, and his ability to bust out amazing plays in mere seconds makes him a terrifying opponent. It wasn't surprising in the slightest that Dave went undefeated in the pool play rounds of this tournament. Dave is a serious contender to win the whole thing.

Then again, so is Edward. I've just been amazed throughout this event watching him work - his play is so blazing fast, and so accurate, that it's just insanely hard for anyone to keep up. Edward very nearly went undefeated in pool play also, with that final 5-4 loss to Chris being the only blemish on his record.

I don't know who's winning this match. All I know is, whoever it is, the rest of the field had better look out.

Piotr Andronowski (8-1, 58-23) vs. Anand Bharadwaj (8-1, 61-20)

A few weeks ago, the race to win the Falcon Group looked like a two-man competition between O'Connor and Gallen. Turns out, not so much! Piotr took down both of them in the final two weeks, beating them 6-3 and 5-4 respectively, thus surging into the No. 1 spot in the group by season's end. I got to broadcast his final match of the season, and I was really impressed with both his word knowledge and speed. Piotr is a very deserving seed 6A.

As for Anand, what can you say? Anyone who finishes in the top two in a group that includes Eldar and Weibin deserves a round of applause. Anand's 5-4 win over Eldar in Week 7 was a major turning point in the season for the Aardvark Group, solidifying his place as a serious contender. He's now playoff bound as seed 5B, and he's going to be very tough to beat, for Piotr or anyone else. This match is going to be super competitive.

Will Anderson (9-0, 68-13) vs. Aaron Bader (8-1, 50-31)

In addition to being the biggest Twitch star in this tournament, Will is also one of its very best players. The above W/L record pretty much speaks for itself, but I'll speak for Will too: He's been amazing in this tournament. The word knowledge, the play-finding, the quick analytical thinking - he's got all the skills you need to be an amazing blitz player, and he's proven it these last 9 weeks. He's been saying on his Twitch broadcasts again and again that he doesn't have what it takes to win this tournament, but I'm starting to think that's nonsense. He's an extremely legit contender.

Aaron has also been the face of modesty. When I told him that resignations would be allowed in the playoff rounds, he replied that he "looked forward to resigning his 5 remaining games in this tournament." I'm not so sure he'll be that easy an out. Aaron doesn't have the W/L record that Will has so far in this tournament, but he's got ridiculous word knowledge from 2 through 9, and he's busted out all sorts of sensational plays in this tournament. He's good. He's going to put up a strong fight against Will this week, I'm sure.

Jesse Day (8-1, 54.5-26.5) vs. Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (7-2, 60-21)

Saving perhaps the most entertaining matchup of the playoffs for last. Jesse and Conrad are longtime friends, they're world-class players, and they're also co-creators of Woogles.io, the platform we're using to host this tournament. Now, they're facing each other in the first round! You can't make this stuff up.

Jesse had a tough playoff battle in the Chipmunk Group, needing a win in the final week against the formidable Chris Grubb to advance. He indeed got that win, 6 games to 3, and he squeaked out an extremely close race for first place with Janul, thus securing seed 8A in the playoffs. As for Conrad, he just emerged from a tough group himself, finishing second on tiebreakers out of that four-way Dingo tie at 7-2. Thanks to a robust spread, he edged out Pete for seed 7B, and he advances to the sweet sixteen.

Jesse and Conrad were both on my short list of players who might win this tournament at the outset. After this week, though, only one will remain. I can't wait to find out who.

Then again, I can't wait for any of these matches - this first playoff round is going to be an absolute blast. If you're excited too, then head over to our live coverage page and get a complete breakdown of the opening round schedule.