HELD on Aug 26 and 27, the first Pearl Point Shopping Mall Scrabble Championship 2023 was organised by both the mall and the Malaysian Scrabble Association. Over two days, the championship saw 240 players from different countries compete in the National Youth Scrabble Championship for players under the age of 18 and the Open Division for masters, intermediates and beginners.
Cash prizes up to RM5,000 were awarded to the winners, while top performers in the National Youth Scrabble Championship competed for limited spots to represent Malaysia in December’s World Youth Scrabble Championship 2023.
Clinching the top spot for the second time in this year’s National Youth Scrabble Championship is 17-year-old Eirfan Razman.
Speaking to theSun after receiving his championship trophy, Razman explained that though it feels good to win for the second time, this is the last he will be competing.
“I turn 18 next year, so I can’t qualify in the youth category anymore. I will probably continue in the open category, maybe,” he said.
Razman’s win also comes during a pivotal period in his high school life; he will be sitting for his SPM examinations later this year. Due to it, he has had less time to play Scrabble.
He also revealed that he does not “train” to play Scrabble the traditional way, but he does it online, playing against computer AI.
“It’s a good way to practise and learn new words. I also do word lists because there are certain words that you want to remember as they have a higher chance of being played”.
When asked whether knowing or memorising high-scoring words is a go-to strategy, Razman pointed out that players also need to know low-score words.
“For example, you have really bad tiles; you still need a way to get rid of them. So, you don’t just need to know the high, but also the low”.
Being the champion of this year’s youth category, a reasonable assumption would be that Razman would be going to Thailand to represent Malaysia, but that may not happen.
“I might take a rain check on that,” Razman said.
“It’s because SPM is on Dec 5 and the tournament is on Dec 1. It’s quite close together, but we’ll see.”
