BlitzChamps Week 2: The action heats up

We're now two weeks into the World Blitz Scrabble Championship, and I've got to say: This event has a pace and an energy to it that I didn't expect.

When we first drew up this format, I was wary of running nine weeks of pool play matches - it seemed like an exorbitant amount of Scrabble. I worried that the event would feel like it was dragging on forever. Now that we've played two rounds, I've reassessed, and I have no such worries.

Every match is exciting! Every match feels like it has real stakes to it. The standings in each group are already beginning to take shape, and with each new showdown - especially those between two players near the top - you know there are real implications for each player's chance of contending. Remember, at the end of these nine weeks, only two players from each group can advance to the knockout rounds. That means some very good players are going to get squeezed out.

Today, let's take a look at some notable developments from these first two weeks and what they mean for the tournament moving forward.

It's good to be 18-0.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it's difficult to win 18 games of Scrabble in a row against anyone. Even for the top seeds in this tournament, who are paired against the lower-ranked players to start off, it's easy to slip up and lose a game or two - you run out of time, you draw poorly, you just get outplayed once. It happens.

So it's beyond impressive that two weeks in, we still have four players who remain undefeated: Chris May, Andrew Fisher, Conrad Bassett-Bouchard, and Jakob Teitelbaum. Jakob is perhaps the most impressive of that cohort - as a No. 3 seed in his group, he's been paired against tougher players to start than the other three guys, who are all No. 1's. Jakob was dominant this weekend in his match against Martin DeMello, who's definitely no slouch.

We're two-ninths of the way done with pool play, and these four players have a clear advantage in the race for the 16 playoff spots. Chris will have a battle in his group against Edward Okulicz (17-1) and Brian Bowman (16-2), but he currently leads. Andrew is three games up on Dave Wiegand in his group. As for Conrad and Jakob, they're in the same group, so I pity the fool that's in third place trying to chase them down.

*checks notes*

Yikes. That would be me.

There have been some upsets near the top.

The No. 1 seeds are playing the bottom seeds in order, so it should come as no surprise that they're taking care of business against opponents ranked No. 10 and No. 9. So far, the top seeds in each group have a combined match record of 16-0. That's to be expected.

But if you look just a little bit farther down the ranks, you'll find that upsets do happen. Indunil Amarasinghe, a No. 7 seed, forced a tie-breaking 10th game against Chris Grubb, a No. 2, and he won it. Aabid Ismail, also seventh in his group, squeaked out a close 5-4 match win over another No. 2, Geoff Thevenot. Natthanon Limthongkam, a No. 6 seed, forced a 10th game and beat a No. 3, Hubert Wee. And two lower seeds in Group C have taken down their No. 3 player, Zachary Dang. These high-seeded players are not invincible!

And when they do lose, it adds a little extra drama to the standings. The playoff races could get complicated - Chris, for example, is now in fourth place in his group, and he'll have a tough battle for a top-two spot against players like Dipankar Chatterjee and Janul de Silva. Geoff is also now in fourth - he's been leapfrogged for second by Enoch Nwali and Aaron Bader.

Going into this tournament, a lot of spectators assumed that the top two players in each group would cruise to the playoffs. I think we're already seeing that it's not necessarily so simple.

The Australians are off to an incredible start.

Of all the players in this worldwide field, exactly 10% are representing Australia - 8 out of the 80 players. Not a huge contingent. But check out how well they've fared through two rounds:

Andrew Fisher: 2-0, 18-0

Chris May: 2-0, 18-0

Jakob Teitelbaum: 2-0, 18-0

Edward Okulicz: 2-0, 17-1

Anand Bharadwaj: 2-0, 15-3

David Eldar: 2-0, 14.5-3.5

Victor Tung: 1-1, 10-8

Ryan Sutton: 0-2, 7-11

That's 117.5 wins in 144 total games - a winning percentage of just under 82%. That is insane.

Now, a lot of these guys are very high seeds, which means their schedules have been relatively soft so far. Things will get tougher for a few of these players in the weeks ahead. But still: This is as good a start as you could ask for. We could very well be headed for a scenario where Aussies account for just 10% of the initial field but a quarter - or more! - of the playoff bracket.

Streaming your own blitz matches is hard.

One of the coolest things about this tournament so far has been seeing how many players have shown an eagerness to broadcast their matches on Twitch. For the second week in a row, nearly half of this weekend's matches were aired live! It's been exciting to watch everyone play.

It's also - and I say this from firsthand experience - a serious grind for the streamer.

You're fumbling with the buttons on your streaming software, making sure you've got the right elements on the screen at all times. You're fidgeting with your mic, trying to get the sound quality right. You're trying to talk constantly - and actually express coherent thoughts when possible. All the while, you've got an opponent coming at you with lightning-fast moves, hoping to run you over on the clock. God help you if you draw a tough rack with a blank and can't find the bingo.

I won't name names, but when I look at the current BlitzChamps standings, there are a number of players I look at and think, "Huh! I wonder why their record isn't better." In several cases, those players are frequent Twitch streamers. I'm not saying thing A causes thing B necessarily... although, actually, maybe I am.

Let me be clear: It's worth it! Creating entertaining Scrabble content is important. The future of our game depends on our ability to engage a broader audience and attract more people. If I lose a game or two because I've made that my focus, then so be it.

But man. These matches are tough. Just saying.

The schedule is heating up!

With the round robin format that we're using, the first couple weeks have been relatively quiet in terms of marquee matchups between contending players. In round 1, each group saw seeds 1, 2, and 3 facing seeds 10, 9, and 8; in round 2, they faced 9, 7, and 6. There weren't a lot of "superstar showdowns," if you will.

That's going to change in the coming weeks. This coming round features 2 vs. 5 and 3 vs. 4; the round after that brings one of the most pivotal matchups of all, 2 vs. 3. These are going to be big, important matchups that will tell us a lot about who makes the playoffs and who falls short.

Check out this week's schedule, and you'll notice that it's just loaded with important matchups. We've got Ben Schoenbrun vs. Lukeman Owolabi. We've got Jakob Teitelbaum vs. Peter Armstrong. We've got Josh Sokol vs. Matthew O'Connor.

It's happening! It's all happening so fast. We're just two weeks into this months-long tournament, but there's a sense of playoff intensity in the air already. Can you feel it? I know I can.

For more info, check out our live coverage page and see who plays who when. We're just a few days away from the start of Week 3.