Eric Rosen is an expert chess player. In recent years, he's made a name for himself as one of the biggest chess streamers on Twitch, where he's currently got over 50,000 followers. In addition to regularly streaming online chess action, he also dabbles in another game: Scrabble. I thought it would be interesting to sit down with Eric and chat about streaming, chess, Scrabble, and more.

We spent nine weeks on the Virtual World Cup - three weeks recruiting players followed by three rounds of pool play and three knockout rounds. The tournament was a blast, but it's come and gone, and many Scrabblers around the world have found themselves quarantined at home for a heck of a lot longer than nine weeks. So... what's next?

The Virtual World Cup has come to a close, and we couldn't be happier with how the event unfolded, from start to finish. All 16 teams were eager to compete and they played their hearts out, and our viewing audience grew larger and more enthusiastic each week. In the end, the United States is your champion.

Your finalists for this Virtual World Cup are India and the United States. Both teams have come a long way to reach this point, and both are now just 13 wins away from being world champions. This week's post will be a deep dive into the two finalists - who they are, how they got here and how they can win the title once and for all.

The dust is now settling at the Virtual World Cup; after all the madness, we're down to just four countries with a chance to win it all. Next week, we'll have just two, and a week after that, we'll have our champions. Here's a look at the matchups that await us in the semifinals this weekend.

Starting next week, the remaining eight teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket, culminating in a champion being crowned the weekend of August 15. Here's a look at the four matchups that await us in the quarterfinals.

There's only 1 match left to play in the pool play stage of this tournament, but just about everything is still up in the air. Almost no teams are eliminated from playoff contention; almost no teams are guaranteed a spot, either. Here's a rundown of what went down this week, where the teams stand now, and what needs to happen for each team to qualify for the knockout rounds.

With one weekend in the books, each team has now played exactly one match, which means we've got eight teams sitting pretty at 1-0 and eight now playing from behind at 0-1. Two of the four No. 1 seeds were upset by No. 4 seeds, and the same for No. 2 seeds against No. 3's. Here's a recap of all the action we witnessed this weekend.

We are a go. I repeat: We are a GO. Based on the average WESPA ratings of their top 5 players, the 16 countries securing a spot will be the United States, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ireland, Canada, India, Ghana, New Zealand, Pakistan, Kenya, Thailand, South Africa and the Philippines. Congrats to all!

I'm happy to say we've made a lot of progress. We're much closer to having a full field of 16, though not all the way there. Here's another update on where everything stands and what still needs to happen before our slate of teams is fully ready to go.