WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A remarkable accomplishment was achieved by a New Zealand man who secured the world championship title in Spanish Scrabble, despite it being his inaugural competitive game in the language he does not speak fluently. Nigel Richards, a seasoned professional Scrabble player who previously won five world titles in English, triumphed at the Spanish championship held in Granada, Spain, in November, losing only one of the 24 games he played.
According to Liz Fagerlund, a New Zealand Scrabble official and friend of Richards, he dedicated himself to memorizing the essential Scrabble word list for the Spanish language a year ahead of the competition. “He can’t comprehend why other people find it challenging,” she remarked. “He visualizes a set of words, and once they register in his mind’s eye, he can retrieve them effortlessly.”
The runner-up was Benjamín Olaizola from Argentina, the defending champion, who managed to win 18 of his games. Alejandro Terenzani, an organizer of the contest, stated that such an achievement had never been witnessed in the realm of Spanish Scrabble. “It was impossible to have a negative reaction; you could only be in awe,” Terenzani expressed. “We certainly anticipated his performance, but it’s true that he exceeded our expectations.”
This is not new territory for Richards. In 2015, he won the world championship in French Scrabble, also without fluency in the language, after studying its word list for just nine weeks. He subsequently claimed the French title again in 2018. Throughout his three-decade career, he has been acknowledged as the greatest Scrabble player globally, and his recent success in Spanish Scrabble only adds to his legacy, according to peers in the game.
Richards faced unique challenges during this tournament, needing to navigate different tile values that exist between English and Spanish Scrabble. Additionally, he encountered thousands of extra seven to nine-letter words, which required a distinctive game strategy. Notably, in 2008, he became the first player to simultaneously hold the world, U.S., and British titles, which involved “forgetting” 40,000 English terms absent from the American Scrabble word list to achieve success in the U.S.
His impressive wins have reached legendary status within the Scrabble community, with games that are dissected in YouTube videos garnering thousands of views. Unlike many players, Scrabble does not necessitate a deep understanding of word meanings; it is merely concerned with permissible letter combinations as defined by each country’s game rules. However, native speakers hold a substantial advantage, American Scrabble player Will Anderson noted in his commentary on Richards’ significant victory.
Richards’ mother, Adrienne Fischer, shared in a 2010 interview that he struggled with English in school, did not pursue higher education, and approached the game through mathematics rather than linguistics. “I don’t believe he’s ever read a book, other than the dictionary,” she remarked.
Fagerlund recounted that she was impressed when he initially joined a Scrabble club at age 28. Just two years later, in 1997, he rode a bicycle over 220 miles (350 kilometers) from Christchurch to Dunedin, clinching the New Zealand title on his first attempt before biking back home.
During the Spanish championship, Terenzani noted that Richards was both modest and reserved, yet he willingly posed for photos and engaged with fans who approached him—albeit speaking in English. “Of course,” Terenzani added humorously.
Richards currently resides in Malaysia, and the motivations driving his passion for Scrabble remain a puzzle, as he rarely communicates with the media. “Many journalists reach out for interviews, but he shows no interest,” Fagerlund stated. “He doesn’t grasp the fuss surrounding his achievements.”
