Recapping the 3rd annual Champions Cup
This weekend brought the return of Champions Cup, one of the toughest and most exclusive events on the Scrabble tournament calendar in North America, back for the third consecutive year.
In each of the two years prior, Champions Cup had been a showcase for some of the top Scrabble talent from across the U.S. and Canada. Everywhere you looked, at every board, you saw some of the top players on the continent.
This year took it one step further. In Slingerlands, NY, this weekend, you saw not just some of North America's best and brightest, but a few of the world's best. Joining some of the usual Champs regulars were three players from Nigeria - Wellington Jighere, Dennis Ikekeregor, and Nsikak Etim - who all rank among the world's top 100.
In the end, though, none of them were any match for a local star player who made the trip to Slingerlands from just a couple hours' drive down Interstate 87. It was Ben Schoenbrun who took it down this year, going 13-4 and cruising to the title.
It was anyone's tournament in the early going - which tends to happen when you fill a house with some of the best players on Earth. They beat up on each other, making for a pretty muddled group of names atop the standings. At the end of day 1, we had not one, not two, but five players all tied for first place at 6-3, separated only by a few hundred spread points at most - Wellington, Jason Keller, Ben, Etim, and Dennis. This set things up for a dramatic second day.
...turned out, though, the drama didn't last long. Instead, Ben pretty much annihilated everyone on Sunday, notching victories over Wellington, Bob Linn, Dennis, and Etim early in the day to put himself in a dominant position. Ultimately, the only race worth watching was for second place.
Once the dust settled, following up Ben's 13-4 mark in the final standings were Wellington in second place at 11-6, Dennis third at 10-7, and Laurie Cohen fourth at 9-8.
Winning this Champions Cup is a notable achievement for Ben, who takes home the title for the second time - sort of. He actually now holds 1.5 Champs titles technically, as he finished exactly tied with Conrad Bassett-Bouchard for first place in the 2023 event, earning a share of the tournament win. This time, no tie - he wins in dominant fashion.
Congrats to Ben - and to Wellington, Dennis, and Laurie as well on their top-four finishes. And, as always, an enormous thank you to organizer and host Terry Kang, who works tirelessly to put these amazing tournament weekends together, Scrabble-wise and otherwise. She's the real champion among champions.