BlitzChamps Week 4: An early look at the playoff race

This past weekend was a big one in the World Blitz Scrabble Championship. If you read what I wrote in this space last week, and/or listened to me ramble on our recent Twitch streams, you know why - Week 4 of the tournament brought a series of showdowns between the No. 2 seeds and the No. 3's in each group, with major playoff implications in every one of them. I promised you an epic weekend of Scrabble was coming, and indeed it was.

The matches were awesome. Edward Okulicz was in rare form against Brian Bowman, playing masterfully (and crazy fast!) to win his match and improve to 4-0. Dave Wiegand also stayed undefeated, forcing a deciding ninth game against Hubert Wee and then dominating in the end. Ben Schoenbrun got past Doug Brockmeier in style, winning the final game with the nine-letter bingo of (F)ERrUL(I)NG. I drew more blanks than the creators of Mad Libs against Jakob Teitelbaum and was fortunate to get a win. I think some other matches happened too; I was asleep.

In any event, the 2-versus-3 matchups are now behind us, and we now have far more clarity on how the standings look in each group. I thought today would be a good opportunity to take stock of everything, group by group - who's winning, who else is in the hunt, and which key matches are still to come in weeks 5 through 9.

Let's get into it.

AARDVARK GROUP

Top contenders: David Eldar (4-0, 32.5-3.5), Anand Bharadwaj (4-0, 31-5), Weibin Toh (4-0, 26-10), Harry Wiggins (3-1, 29.5-6.5)

Key matches to watch: David vs. Harry (Week 5), Anand vs. Harry (Week 6), David vs. Anand (Week 7), Weibin vs. Harry (Week 7), Anand vs. Weibin (Week 8), David vs. Weibin (Week 9)

Weibin was the big winner of the weekend, as he went into a crucial 2-versus-3 matchup against Kevin Fraley and he won decisively, 8-1. This solidifies his position as one of the top contenders in the group, as he remains undefeated with five weeks to go. It's now looking like a four-man race for two spots in the playoff bracket.

An interesting dark horse in that race is Harry, who entered as the No. 6 seed but has punched above his weight so far. The next two weeks will be crucial for Harry, as he goes up against two of the undefeateds - we'll soon find out whether he's in this race for real. Then, later in March, we'll see the three undefeated guys meet face to face.

BUFFALO GROUP

Top contenders: Chris May (4-0, 33-3), Edward Okulicz (4-0, 31-5), Brian Bowman (3-1, 27-9), Amit Chakrabarti (3-1, 23-13)

Key matches to watch: Chris vs. Amit (Week 7), Edward vs. Amit (Week 8), Chris vs. Brian (Week 8), Chris vs. Edward (Week 9)

This has been the most predictable group of the eight so far. Simply put, the higher-seeded player has won almost every single match among the Buffaloes, and that's put us in a situation where the top two seeds are 4-0, the next two are 3-1, and everyone else is chasing them.

When the tournament began, the two bracket spots were Chris's and Edward's to lose. That remains the case, as no one has seriously challenged either Aussie yet. If Brian or Amit can score an upset against Chris or Edward in the weeks to come, things could get interesting, but so far, the top seeds are in total control.

CHIPMUNK GROUP

Top contenders: Jesse Day (4-0, 26-10), Jackson Smylie (3-1, 28-8), Chris Grubb (3-1, 24.5-12.5), Dipankar Chatterjee (3-1, 22-14), Janul de Silva (3-1, 22-14)

Key matches to watch: Jackson vs. Dipankar (Week 5), Jesse vs. Janul (Week 6), Chris vs. Dipankar (Week 6), Jesse vs. Jackson (Week 7), Jackson vs. Chris (Week 8), Dipankar vs. Janul (Week 9), Jesse vs. Chris (Week 9)

While the Buffaloes may be the most predictable of them all, the Chipmunks might be the least so. Just look at that group of contenders - there are five players with a realistic shot at the playoffs, including the No. 5 seed and the No. 8! Props to Janul and Dipankar, who have given themselves more than a fighting chance with their play thus far.

Not only do we have five players in serious contention, but we have seven head-to-head matchups among those players still coming up in the next few weeks. This group is absolute mayhem. I have no idea who's making the playoffs. I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy the show.

DINGO GROUP

Top contenders: Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (4-0, 35-1), Peter Armstrong (3-1, 26-10), Evans Clinchy (3-1, 25-11), Cedric Lewis (3-1, 23-13), Martin DeMello (3-1, 21-15)

Key matches to watch: Conrad vs. Martin (Week 5), Pete vs. Martin (Week 6), Conrad vs. Cedric (Week 6), Conrad vs. Pete (Week 7), Evans vs. Martin (Week 7), Pete vs. Evans (Week 8), Conrad vs. Evans (Week 9)

This group is also a little bonkers. Conrad has the best record in the entire tournament at 35-1, so he's looking like a pretty solid favorite to advance to the playoffs. But, uh... who's getting that second spot? As you can see, the race is wide open. Martin is very much in the race at 3-1, and this will be an interesting couple of weeks for him, as he has the top two players coming up next. If he can steal a win against Conrad and/or Pete, then he may well be in the hunt until the very end. We shall see.

EMU GROUP

Top contenders: Will Anderson (4-0, 34-2), Ben Schoenbrun (4-0, 27-9), Lukeman Owolabi (3-1, 27-9), Doug Brockmeier (3-1, 23-13)

Key matches to watch: Will vs. Lukeman (Week 6), Lukeman vs. Doug (Week 7), Will vs. Doug (Week 8), Will vs. Bnjy (Week 9)

Just like in the Buffalo group, the Emus have been on the predictable side, with the top seeds taking care of business most of the time. The only notable upset was Lukeman's win earlier this month over Ricky Purnomo, and that was a No. 5 seed beating a No. 4.

In other words, Will and Bnjy started the tournament as the favorites in this group, and they remain the favorites. Lukeman and Doug are both still alive, though, and they will both get a shot at upsetting Will later in the tournament. So, we'll see. There's still time for someone to shake things up in this group - stay tuned.

FALCON GROUP

Top contenders: Paul Gallen (4-0, 33-3), Matthew O'Connor (4-0, 27-9), Piotr Andronowski (3-1, 25-11), Irfan Siddiqui (3-1, 24-12)

Key matches to watch: Paul vs. Irfan (Week 6), Paul vs. Matthew (Week 7), Matthew vs. Piotr (Week 8), Paul vs. Piotr (Week 9)

Matthew has long been praised for his blitz skills, and there was a lot of buzz going into this tournament that he was likely to outperform his No. 4 seed. So far, he has indeed done so. With clutch wins in recent weeks over both Irfan and Josh Sokol, Matthew has stayed undefeated in Group F, and he's right there with Paul as one of the top players in the group.

But as you can see, there are a lot of crucial matches still coming. I'm psyched to watch the two undefeated players go heads-up in Week 7, as well as for Matthew-Piotr the following week - both of those matches are going to be hugely important in the playoff race. A lot is still up in the air here. I'll be excited to follow along.

GIRAFFE GROUP

Top contenders: Andrew Fisher (4-0, 32-4), Dave Wiegand (4-0, 26-10), Natthanon Limthongkam (3-1, 16.5-20.5)

Key matches to watch: Andrew vs. Natthanon (Week 5), Dave vs. Natthanon (Week 7), Andrew vs. Dave (Week 9)

Andrew and Dave are two of the very best players in the world, so it's not surprising that they've both been dominant. Their combined record is 8-0, 58-14, which is just stupidly good. Things are looking especially good for Dave, who notched a hugely important win this past weekend when he squeaked past the very strong No. 3 seed, Hubert Wee.

What's interesting in this group is that Natthanon has emerged as a serious threat at 3-1. He's got Andrew and Dave both coming up soon - if he can score an upset in one or both of those matches, then this could become a real race. Otherwise, the top two guys may just waltz into the bracket. We'll know a lot more about where this race stands in a couple of weeks.

HIPPO GROUP

Top contenders: Austin Shin (4-0, 33.5-2.5), Aaron Bader (4-0, 21-15), Ryan Fischer (3-1, 22-14)

Key matches to watch: Austin vs. Ryan (Week 6), Austin vs. Aaron (Week 7)

I'm not sure what's more impressive - that Austin is totally crushing his group, or that he's doing it all while taking care of a newborn baby boy (congrats by the way, Austin!). Scoring never stops for anything - even childbirth.

But the race for second place is a competitive one, with Aaron and Ryan both making a compelling case so far. Interestingly, both players go up against Austin pretty soon - and on top of that, Aaron still has to face Geoff Thevenot later on. Geoff is a very serious threat to end his undefeated streak.

It's also worth noting that Geoff could sneak into the playoff race himself. He's got two losses already, but his schedule does get a little softer for the next few weeks, and he's definitely capable of going on a run.

In this group, like in every group, there are a lot of questions still unanswered. We're just about halfway through pool play in the World Blitz Scrabble Championship, but the second half is sure to bring its share of drama. Check out our live coverage page to see what big matches are coming up next.