National School U-18 Scrabble Competition_06.06.09

MSA organized the National School U-18 Scrabble Competition which was held at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur on 6th – 7th June 2009. 82 players from 16 schools from throughout the country took part in this tournament playing 15 rounds of scrabble in two days.. The Champion would qualify automatically to represent Malaysia for the 2009 World Youth Scrabble Competition (WYSC) which would be held in Johor Bahru in December. In addition, the top twenty finishers would be invited for the MSA National Youth competition in September for the selection of the Malaysian representatives of 2009 WYSC.

We were all involved in the competition. Rama took part as one of the six players representing SMK Seafield, Subang Jaya. I was the co-coordinator for the competition with Martin Teo. Chitra and Priya were tournament helpers, taking care of the scrabble sets and clocks. Chitra also helped mail the invitations for the competition to 45 schools. The Tournament Director was Alex Tan, MSA Vice President.

Participants of U18 Scrabble Competition
Playing under pressure

The prizes were sponsored by Mattel Southeast Asia Pte. Ltd (Malaysia). We managed to give a total of 19 prizes (3 top prizes, 14 consolation prizes, 1 highest word and 1 youngest player award). Another 10 prizes were given out during the rounds as spot prizes.

Tournament Prizes

The players played eight games on Saturday and another seven on Sunday. Rama was in awesome form winning all his eight games in the first day. In the second day, he won six games losing only one to Ong Suanne, winning a total of fourteen points with a spread of 1847. He also won the Highest Word prize with the word “TYROSINE” scoring 154 points.

Rama also earned automatic qualification to represent Malaysia for the 2009 WYSC. Unfortunately, he would not be able to take part this year as the tournament dates are clashing with his S.P.M. examination.

Rama Vs Scott Chung (Round 10)

The second placing went to Chang Ching Wei, followed by Ker Jen Ho, Scott Chung, William Kang and Ong Suanne.

Some photos of the winners:

Ganesh (Rated World No.1 Scrabble Player) handing Rama the 1st Prize.
2nd Prize winner, Chang Ching Wei.
3rd Prize winner, Ker Jen Ho.

Thank you to Dr. Adele Tan, President of MSA and other Committee Members i.e. Jocelyn, Henry Yeo and Chim who helped out during the competition.

Results after game 15 for top 10 finishers
06.06.2009 MNIC2009 -- INTERSCHOOL

Rank Player Wins Mar
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1 Ramaraj Sundraraj 14 1847
2 Chang Ching Wei 11 1243
3 Ker Jen Ho 11 1156
4 Scott Chung 10 1264
5 William Kang 10 1029
6 Ong Suanne 10 947
7 Tan Kar Hee 10 723
8 Marcus Loke Qi En 10 569
9 Sue Wye Hong 10 365
10 Muhammad Nasrom 10 71

Due to the upcoming S.P.M. exams, this would probably be Rama’s last tournament for this year. Furthermore, next year he would not qualify for WYSC as he would be above 18 years old. Alas, Rama bows out from the U18 tournaments as a Champion.

Rama & his proud father.

Refer to MSA website for more information:- http://www.penster.com.my/

For more photos, visit our photo album at http://rajscrabble.fotopic.net/