French World Scrabble Championships

The French World Scrabble Championships (French: Championnats du monde de Scrabble francophone) is an annual Scrabble tournament that takes place in a different French-speaking country every year. Created in 1972 by Hippolyte Wouters, it was the first of the three World Scrabble Championships to be created, with the English version being created in 1991 and the Spanish version being created in 1997.

Unlike the English and Spanish versions, the French World Championships are made up of various tournaments, somewhat like the World Series of Poker. The "Main Event" is the Elite tournament which has existed since 1972, and was first won by the tournament's creator Hippolyte Wouters.

List of tournaments

edit

World Championships

edit
  • Elite: Each national federation has a specified number of places in the Elite division in different age categories: Up to 16, 16-18, 18-25, 25-62, 62-72 and 72+. Each of these age categories has its own World Champion, but the individual World Champion is the player that wins the tournament. The tournament is a duplicate tournament where players do not play matches, but play every move with the same letters and board configuration as every other player and try to get the maximum score by playing the highest scoring move every time. Players play 7 games of 2 minutes per move.
  • Paires: Duplicate Scrabble in pairs, with two players discussing and submitting their solution together. 4 games are played with two minutes per move, followed by 2 games with just one minute per move. Players can form mixed pair, i.e. not both from the same country.
  • Blitz: A normal duplicate tournament but with 4 games with just one minute per move for all four games.
  • Classique (match play): Players play 17 games, two players to a board with the final standings being judged by games won and total points scored minus the total number of points scored by the player's opponents. The top two players in the standings play a best-of-three final to determine the World Champion. The tournament is very popular with Arab players as Duplicate Scrabble is less popular in the Arab World than it is in Europe.

Other tournaments

edit

Some other tournaments are organised during the week which do not crown a World Champion but do have a winner:

  • Open classique: a matchplay Scrabble tournament open to players who have not already qualified for the Elite world championship. The winner qualifies for the Elite.
  • Open duplicate: an open duplicate tournament which anyone can compete in. Players who are qualified for the Elite are barred from competing in the Open under the rules of the International Federation.
  • Défi mondial: A duplicate game reserved for qualified players. The game is a normal duplicate game, apart from any player who misses the highest scoring solution is eliminated. This process continues until there is only one player remaining. To make things harder, the game starts at 80 seconds per move and goes down to 60 then 40 seconds per move.
  • Défi des jeunes: the same as the Défi mondial but for players aged under 18. Another notable difference is that each player can miss the highest scoring move once before being eliminated.

History of the Championships

edit

The French World Scrabble Championships started off as a small tournament in Cannes with just 7 players, and at the time, was not considered to be a World Championship. The tournament moved each year and more and more players which led to other tournaments being created at the same venue. The Elite tournament was at first dominated by Belgian players, with 5 of the first 7 championships being won by Belgian players. After three French winners in 1979, 80 and 81 the tournament was taken over by Michel Duguet of France who won the tournament 5 times in 7 years, while finishing second twice in that period. Duguet also set various championship records by dropping just 12 points in 5 games, which is 99.71%. After winning the Elite World Championship for a 5th time he retired from Scrabble and took up contract bridge and became one of the best players in the world, competing in both the French national championships and the European team championships.

After Duguet's retirement the French domination of the championships continued, with in total 12 championships in a row being won by France. Indeed, France also took second place every year during that ran, apart from in 1990 when Christian Pierre of Belgium finished second. In 1991 it was Christian Pierre who won Belgium's first title since 1978 and continued to win the title a total of 5 times in 8 years, matching what Duguet did in the 1980s. In 2002 and 2003 Jean Pierre Hellebaut became the first Swiss winner of the tournament. In fact he was born in Belgium and had previously finished second in the Belgian national championship in 1991 but after moving to Switzerland, won the World Championship 2 years in a row, a feat only accomplished before that by Duguet and Pierre. Antonin Michel has since dominated the Elite World Championships, having won the tournament twice in 2005 and 2007 and having finished second in 2001 and 2006.

The pairs event has been mainly dominated by France; Michel Duguet holds the record with five titles while Antonin Michel and Franck Maniquant (also of France) are just behind with 4 titles. Two African players have won the title - Ndongo Samba Sylla and Mactar Sylla of Senegal - these two are in fact brothers.

The blitz is a relatively recent event, added in 2001 and 5 of the 8 championships have been won by Antonin Michel. The four other winners and Florian Lévy and Franck Maniquant of France, and Ndongo Samba Sylla and Mactar Sylla of Senegal.

The match play tournament known as le Championnat du monde de Scrabble classique was brought in during 2006 and has been systematically dominated by African players, showing that the traditional form of Scrabble is more popular in Africa than the duplicate one. In 2008 in Dakar, 7 of the top 10 players were African, the three exceptions being Pascal Astresses, Antonin Michel and Hervé Bohbot all from France. More recently, the 2015 event saw Africans claim six of the top 10 places, and in 2016 the top three players and seven of the top 10 were Africans.[citation needed]

List of winners of the Elite (duplicate individual) tournament

edit
 
Antonin Michel, winner of the Elite tournament in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Year Host City Winner Nationality Runner-up Nationality
1972   Cannes Hippolyte Wouters   Belgium Sarah Wolfowicz   Belgium
1973   Liège Agnès Lempereur   Belgium Dominique Darmstaedter   Belgium
1974   Monaco Marc Selis   Belgium Dominique Darmstaedter   Belgium
1975   Estepona Michel Charlemagne   France Marc Selis   Belgium
1976   Djerba Marc Selis   Belgium Michel Charlemagne   France
1977   Aix-les-Bains Jean-Marc Bellot   France Michel Pialat   France
1978   Brussels Yvon Duval   Belgium Claude Del   France
1979   Vichy Benjamin Hannuna   France Vincent Labbé   France
1980   Liège Vincent Labbé   France Robert Laïk   France
1981   Montreux Jacques-Henri Muracciole   France Marc Esquerré   France
1982   Hammamet Michel Duguet   France Benjamin Hannuna   France
1983   Grenoble Michel Duguet   France Frank Pluven   France
1984   Montreal Benjamin Hannuna   France Michel Duguet   France
1985   Brussels Michel Duguet   France Claude Del   France
1986   Lausanne Philippe Bellosta   France Michel Duguet   France
1987   Metz Michel Duguet   France Philippe Lorenzo   France
1988   Quebec Michel Duguet   France Jean-Louis Pallavicini   France
1989   Namur Paul Levart   France Marc Treiber   France
1990   Dakar Marc Treiber   France Christian Pierre   Belgium
1991   Fleurier Christian Pierre   Belgium Paul Levart   France
1992   Hull Christian Pierre   Belgium Emmanuel Rivalan   France
1993   Saint-Malo Emmanuel Rivalan   France Franck Maniquant   France
1994   Libramont Christian Pierre   Belgium Eddy Clauwaert   Belgium
1995   Ovronnaz Jean-François Lachaud   France Franck Maniquant   France
1996   Aix-les-Bains Christian Pierre   Belgium Nicolas Grellet   France
1997   Saint-Hyacinthe Aurélien Kermarrec   France Emmanuel Rivalan   France
1998   Brussels Christian Pierre   Belgium Franck Maniquant   France
1999   Bulle Emmanuel Rivalan   France Jean-François Lachaud   France
2000   Paris Florian Lévy   France Gérard Boccon   France
2001   La Rochelle Franck Maniquant   France Antonin Michel and Emmanuel Rivalan   France
2002   Montreal Jean Pierre Hellebaut   Switzerland Thierry Chincholle   France
2003   Liège Jean Pierre Hellebaut   Switzerland Christian Pierre   Belgium
2004   Marrakech Germain Boulianne   Canada Franck Maniquant   France
2005   Neuchâtel Antonin Michel   France Jean Pierre Hellebaut   Switzerland
2006   Tours Pascal Fritsch   France Antonin Michel   France
2007   Quebec Antonin Michel   France Christian Pierre   Belgium
2008   Dakar Éric Vennin   Belgium Aurélien Delaruelle   France
2009   Mons Hugo Delafontaine   Switzerland Christian Pierre   Belgium
2010   Montpellier Antonin Michel   France Didier Roques   France
2011   Montreux Francis Desjardins   Canada Antonin Michel   France
2012   Montauban David Bovet   Switzerland Étienne Budry   France
2013   Rimouski Antonin Michel   France David Bovet   Switzerland
2014   Aix-les-Bains Hugo Delafontaine   Switzerland Francis Desjardins   Canada
2015   Louvain-la-Neuve David Bovet   Switzerland Nigel Richards   New Zealand
2016   Agadir Hugo Delafontaine   Switzerland Arnaud Mulonda   Democratic Republic of the Congo
2017   Martigny Nigel Richards   New Zealand Thierry Chincholle   France
2018   Mont-Tremblant Nigel Richards   New Zealand Arnaud Mulonda   Democratic Republic of the Congo[1]
2019   La Rochelle Nigel Richards   New Zealand N'Dongo Samba Sylla   Senegal

List of winners of the Classique (matchplay) tournament

edit
Year Host City Winner Nationality Runner-up Nationality
2006   Tours Parfait Mouanda   Republic of the Congo Henry-Marcel Engonge   Democratic Republic of the Congo
2007   Quebec Amar Diokh   Senegal Edouard Lebeau   France
2008   Dakar Élisée Poka   Ivory Coast Pascal Astresses   France
2009   Mons Benjamin Valour   France Pierre-Olivier Georget   France
2010   Montpellier Christian Coustillas   France Gille Sauze   France
2011   Montreux Jean-François Ramel   France Julien Affaton   Benin
2012   Montauban Pierre-Olivier Georget   France Julien Affaton   Benin
2013   Rimouski Christian Coustillas   France Julien Affaton   Benin
2014   Aix-les-Bains Julien Affaton   Benin Schélick Ilagou Rekawe   Gabon
2015   Louvain-la-Neuve Nigel Richards   New Zealand Schélick Ilagou Rekawe   Gabon
2016   Agadir Abib Alabi   Ivory Coast Gildas Ingrid Madela   Gabon
2017   Martigny Benjamin Valour   France Belphégore Mpaga Réténo   Gabon
2018   Mont-Tremblant Nigel Richards   New Zealand Gueu Mathieu Zingbe   Ivory Coast[2]
2019   La Rochelle Francis Desjardins   Canada Élisée Poka   Ivory Coast

References

edit
  1. ^ "FFSC - Ma Fiche".
  2. ^ "Scrabble® classique".
edit