Scrabble and India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
A backgrounder
Courtesy: Perplexity, 2025 Ocr
Key Figures and Achievements
Akshay Bhandarkar — A Mumbai-born player and India’s top-ranked Scrabbler in 2025, he famously won the World English-language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) Championship in 2017 while representing Bahrain, where he had lived for years. This made him one of the few Indians to have ever claimed the senior world title, bringing attention to India’s Scrabble potential.
Madhav Gopal Kamath — In September 2025, the 14-year-old from Delhi’s Sanskriti School became the first Indian to win the World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event, organized by WESPA, drew 218 under-18 players from 18 nations. Madhav claimed victory with 21 wins out of 24 rounds, earning $1,000 and national recognition. His win marked India’s first-ever global Scrabble title across any age group. He is also the reigning national champion and the youngest ever to hold that title in India.
Suyash Manchali — The 15-year-old from Bengaluru secured 5th place at the same 2025 WYSC after finishing runner-up at the 2024 edition in Sri Lanka. Suyash’s consistent top performances have helped solidify India’s reputation in youth Scrabble.
Broader Indian Scrabble Landscape
Origins and Growth
Competitive Scrabble in India took root in the mid-1990s, with Mohan Chunkath (of Chennai) recognized as India’s first national champion. The sport now boasts more than 400 registered players, a steep increase from roughly 60 in the 1990s. Cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, and Pune have active Scrabble clubs.
International Representation
In 1999, Mohan Chunkath was the sole Indian representative at the Melbourne World Championship, but today India typically sends 6–8 players to major global competitions.
Promising Youth Scene
Youth talent has surged rapidly, with players such as Vihaan Singhvi, Khanak Singhvi, and Dahlia Verma cited among India’s promising young Scrabblers.
National Ranking Snapshot (2025)
According to the Scrabble Association of India (SAI) and WESPA rankings, as of October 2025:
Madhav Gopal Kamath — India No. 1 (rating ≈ 2068)
Sherwin Rodrigues — India No. 2 (rating ≈ 2049)
Akshay Bhandarkar — India No. 3 (rating ≈ 1766)
Major Competitions and Support
India’s players regularly compete under WESPA and in national events such as the Indian Open Scrabble Championships and the Wordaholix Scrabble League (WSL). Corporate entities like the Essar Foundation now sponsor Indian Scrabble teams, demonstrating increased institutional support.
Summary
India’s Scrabble journey has progressed from small club circles in the 1990s to producing both a world champion (Akshay Bhandarkar) and a world youth champion (Madhav Gopal Kamath). These milestones place the country firmly among the world’s emerging Scrabble powers.
World Youth Scrabble Championship
A 2025 backgrounder
Courtesy: Grok
The World Youth Scrabble Championship (now known as the WESPA Youth Cup), held annually since 2006, is a significant championship in the English-speaking Scrabble community, particularly for players under 18, as it showcases young talent and fosters global competition.
While it attracts participants from over 20 countries, including major English-speaking nations like the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, as well as strong contenders from India, Nigeria, and Malaysia (e.g., the 2025 event in Malaysia saw over 200 players from 21 countries), it does not represent the "entire" English-speaking world due to varying participation levels—some regions lack robust youth programs or face logistical barriers (e.g., visa issues for Nigerian players in 2016), and not all English-speaking countries send full teams. Its importance lies in developing future champions, with winners like India’s Madhav Gopal Kamath (2025) and Nigeria’s Wellington Jighere (who later excelled globally) highlighting its role, though it remains a niche event compared to broader intellectual competitions like spelling bees or chess, with a global but not exhaustive English-speaking reach.
Details
Sharmila Ganesan, Sep 5, 2025: The Times of India
Bae . That was the winning word.
The final move that sealed 14year-old Madhav Gopal Kamath’s victory at the 2025 World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC), making him the first Indian to ever clinch the title in its 20-year history.
Held from Aug 30 to Sept 1, the three-day tournament in Kuala Lumpur saw 218 under-18 players from 18 countries. India sent a 12member contingent consisting of seven boys and five girls, mentored by Mumbai-based coach Neeta Bhatia. Among them, Bengaluru’s 15-year-old Suyash Manchali—last year’s runner-up—finished fifth.
A student of Sanskriti School in Delhi, Kamath started playing the word game at age six. “My uncle was a national-level player. He taught me the game," said Kamath. Over time, "what Scrabble really gave me was an interest in math, especially concepts like game theory and probability, which are key to winning," added the 14-year-old who is the current national champion and ranked eighth in the world.
At the tournament, he played 23 intense matches that his pillar cum father, Sudhir, caught on live streams in the cafeteria where the duo shared noodles and fries during breaks. "This was our third time at the event in Malaysia," said Sudhir who was expecting Madhav to feature in the top five. While the first two days were smooth sailing, the tenth grader lost the first game on the third day. He quickly recovered to secure the championship in the penultimate round with 21 wins out of 24. "We hope this would prove to be a huge boost for India that inspires kids to wean away from screens,” added Sudhir.
Manchali, who stood fifth, began playing the word game at the age of seven, with his mother as his first coach. “It is due to her that I have come this far in scrabble,” he said. Besides sharpening his math skills, the game has done more. “By making a connection through the words I learnt and practised for Scrabble study, I could arrive at spellings that otherwise seemed tricky,” he explained.
In the run-up to the event, the teens had been poring over the newly updated Collins Scrabble Dictionary, refreshed in 2023 with over 2,000 Gen-Z, Indian, and international additions. In the final game, Sudhir saw his son laying out three letters to spell 'bae'--the Gen Z term for a person's lover--to clinch the title against his Nigerian opponent.
Calling Kamath’s win a “historic milestone,” Scrabble Association of India president Harvinderjit Bhatia said the achievement validates India’s growing stature in global Scrabble. A spokesperson at Essar Foundation, which supported the team along with Wordaholix, a scrabble training academy, said the triumph underscored its commitment to nurturing young talent in mind sports. Kamath--whose favourite new word is 'yeet', a slang term meaning to throw something--became the youngest-ever national champion in Mumbai. “To be the first Indian to win a world title is a dream come true,” he said. “I hope it inspires many more young players to believe they can compete at the highest level.”
