Reflecting on a successful Word Cup 2024 event
It's the Monday morning after. Our whole team has had time to return home from Word Cup 2024. We've begun recovering; we've begun settling back into our normal lives. We've had a minute to catch our breath.
We've also had a little time to reflect on the Word Cup that was. Two things stand out - first, that we've got a whole lot of people to congratulate, and second, that we've got a whole lot of people to thank.
So without further ado, let's jump right into it.
Congratulations...
...first and foremost, to our grand champion, Eta Karo of Nigeria. Eta entered the tournament as the #4 seed, but he ended up winning in commanding fashion - he started the first day 6-0, then kept mowing down opponents left and right from there. He led the tournament every single round from 19 on. Eta was Gibsonized with two games still to go; with a final record of 23-8 +1943, he's a highly deserving winner of the $10,000 grand prize.
...to the runner up, Wellington Jighere, also of Nigeria. Wellington is a former world champion, so he's no stranger to performing at the highest level, and he was very much in the mix to be Word Cup champion this year. He fell behind Eta on Day 3 and never quite caught up, but with a record of 20-11, +1303, Wellington was able to lock down the $3,000 second prize.
...to the rest of the top finishers in Division 1. Waseem Khatri rallied after a rough start and got to 19 wins in the end, landing him in third place; also at 19 wins were Jesse Day and Joel Wapnick, rounding out the top five. Bob Linn was seeded 19th and ended up 18-13, good for ninth place and the class prize.
...to our Division 2 champion, Mpakaboari Jack, another Nigerian master, who turned in a dominant performance at 21-10 to win the $1,250 top prize. He wasn't Gibsonized early like Eta, but Jack still led for most of the way, and he prevailed in a decisive final game against Bharath Balakrishnan to seal the deal.
...to the other top performers in D2. Bharath finished 20-11, in second place; Adebola Sanya ended up just spread points behind, in third. Melissa Routzahn rounded out the money finishers in fourth, while Eric Fox came in seeded 10th but rallied to 17.5 wins, netting him the class prize.
...to our cohort of three players who earned CSW Newcomer prizes. Ethan Joseph led the group - he went a very impressive 18-13 in his first Scrabble tournament ever, easily the top newcomer. Nancee Mancel, a longtime Scrabbler playing Collins for the first time, was our second-leading newcomer, and Tony Boyle was third.
Thank you...
...to our entire CoCo team behind the scenes who laid the groundwork for this tournament. Martin DeMello created and fine-tuned our infrastructure for reporting scores, calculating standings, running pairings, and posting live coverage. Becky Dyer managed our entrants list, including managing a morass of peak ratings data. Wayne Dyer was our webmaster, creating and maintaining a number of pages and helping the tournament run smoothly.
...to the WGPO team who collaborated with us every step of the way, and especially to the WGPO directors who helped run the event - Bennett Jacobstein, John Karris, Mike Johnson, and Chris Patrick Morgan. Together, we delivered an enjoyable tournament experience for everyone involved.
...to our stream producers, who put together a top-notch live broadcast of the tournament, as they always do. Christian Kay and Andrew Kay led the way; Will Anderson was a fantastic lead commentator, as per usual. Sam Rosin, Nits Chagti, and Matt Canik provided additional commentary. All did excellent work.
...to Lola McKissen, who conceived of and donated the CSW Newcomer prize fund, and to the family of the late Dan Milton, who contributed a series of daily prizes as a tribute to Dan's memory.
...to everyone who did their part to honor Steve Pellinen, the former WGPO president and CoCo board member, who passed away earlier this summer. Steve was a pillar of the Scrabble community and will be dearly missed. This year's Word Cup included a number of heartwarming Steve tributes from players and directors alike.
...to all of you who played a part in this year's Word Cup. Everyone who played, everyone who volunteered, everyone who followed along from home with our live coverage. It takes a great big community of Scrabble lovers, hailing from all over the world, to make these big championship tournaments. So, thanks to all of you.
And with that: We'll see you next year. As we announced last week, at Word Cup 2024, we're already excited to host the upcoming 2025 event, coming next August in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Let's make it the biggest, baddest Word Cup yet. Until then...