World Scrabble Championship 1999 | |
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4 November 1999 – 7 November 1999 | |
Winner | Joel Wapnick |
Number of players | 98 |
Location | Melbourne |
Sponsor | Mattel |
The World Scrabble Championship 1999 was the fifth World Scrabble Championship and was held at the Carlton Crest Hotel, Melbourne, Australia.
The winner was Joel Wapnick of Canada.[1] This was the second time a player representing Canada has won, the first being when David Boys won in 1995. The 1991 champion, Peter Morris, was also a Canadian but represented the United States.
Eight games were played on each of the first three days with the top two players advancing to a best-of-five finals.
In the first game, Wapnick opened with the bingo CHAPLET and took a 249-60 lead three turns later with the double -double FILTHIER then cruised to a 624-307 victory. Nyman took the second game and Wapnick took the third then got off to an early lead in the fourth before losing a turn when he tried the phony FUROUR. The game remained tight, with both players getting down two bingos, until Wapnick drew the X and DEOXY for 50 to take a one -point lead and take the last tile out of the bag. With Wapnick having multiple places to go out, Nyman was unable to catch him and lost by a single point. Joel Wapnick could now add a world title to his US national title and Canadian title, one of only two players to have won the big three.