Serpo
21st July 2015, 10:32 PM
CECILE MEIER
Last updated 13:57, July 22 2015
http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/5/x/n/c/0/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349. 15xt3j.png/1437536789845.jpg REUTERS
Nigel Richards, from Christchurch, used obscure words to win the French-language Scrabble world championships even though he does not speak the language.
Kiwi Scrabble star Nigel Richards was unknown in French Scrabble circles.
French journalists thought he was an "amusing" participant in the French-language world championships of the word game this week.
After all, he did not even speak French.
Yet Richards achieved the remarkable feat of winning the competition (http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/70433346/kiwi-wins-frenchlanguage-scrabble-world-champs-without-speaking-french.html) by memorising all possible words in the official French Scrabble dictionary in only nine weeks.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/5/x/v/e/w/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349. 15xt3j.png/1437536789845.jpg Le Nouvel Obs
A re-enactment of Nigel Richards' Scrabble board at the French-language world championships.
French journalist Jean-Baptiste Morel, analysing Richards' feat for the NouvelObs, (http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/1399587-scrabble-francophone-un-neo-zelandais-champion-du-monde-ses-10-meilleurs-coups.html) said Richards' qualification for the competition had seemed like "an amusing attraction on paper".
Despite a "pretty rotten" draw of letters, Richards won with "ridiculous ease", thanks to a "perfect mastery of [French] vocabulary", Morel wrote.
Indeed, Richards used many words most French people never knew existed.
He took only four seconds to come up with the "very difficult" word ANATROPE - anatropous in English.
READ MORE:
* Profile: Scrabble star's way with words (http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/3778594/A-way-with-words)
* Kiwi Nigel Richards: The non-French speaking French Scrabble star (http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/70433346/kiwi-wins-frenchlanguage-scrabble-world-champs-without-speaking-french)
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, it means "having or being a plant ovule inverted so that the micropyle is bent down to the funiculus to which the body of the ovule is united".
Pretty obscure.
"He has learned no language logic, just a succession of letter sequences giving rise to words," Morel said.
"In his head it's binary: what draw (of letters) can make a scrabble, what draw can't, Impressively simple."
A key moment in the game came when Richards successfully challenged his rival's use of a form of the verb "fureter" (to snoop).
He might not have won without this challenge, Morel said.
Other obscure French words Richards used in the competition included COLOBE (colobus - a slender leaf-eating African monkey with silky fur, a long tail, and very small or absent thumbs), AKENE (achene - any small, dry, hard, one-seeded fruit.) and CANIDE (canid any animal of the dog family Canidae, including the wolves, jackals, hyenas, coyotes, foxes, and domestic dogs).
Christchurch Scrabble club president Shirley Hol said the French win was "incredible".
Richards was a member of the club from 1997 to 2000, she said.
"Even though we knew how good he is, we were amazed because the distribution of vowels and consonants is different in French," she said.
He started out as an "average player" at age 28, but "very quickly improved" with "a very good feeling for words".
FiveThirtyEight last year reported (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-makes-nigel-richards-the-best-scrabble-player-on-earth/?ex_cid=538fb) Richards was ranked first in North America.
The difference between his official rating and the second-place player's was about the same as the difference between second place and 20th, the article said.
Richards had held the first or second ranking on the continent since 2002, the year of his first National Championship.
He held the record for the highest Scrabble rating ever achieved.
Richards will take part in another francophone championship in Belgium on Wednesday, in which the players compete against a computer.
It will be one of his first competitions in this format, but the French now take him seriously. Meanwhile, following his success in France, the Iceland Scrabble Club has issued its own challenge to Richard:
http://static.stuff.co.nz/1437530046/920/12262920.jpg
- Stuff
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/70441615/kiwi-scrabble-star-masters-french-vocabulary
Last updated 13:57, July 22 2015
http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/5/x/n/c/0/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349. 15xt3j.png/1437536789845.jpg REUTERS
Nigel Richards, from Christchurch, used obscure words to win the French-language Scrabble world championships even though he does not speak the language.
Kiwi Scrabble star Nigel Richards was unknown in French Scrabble circles.
French journalists thought he was an "amusing" participant in the French-language world championships of the word game this week.
After all, he did not even speak French.
Yet Richards achieved the remarkable feat of winning the competition (http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/70433346/kiwi-wins-frenchlanguage-scrabble-world-champs-without-speaking-french.html) by memorising all possible words in the official French Scrabble dictionary in only nine weeks.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/5/x/v/e/w/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349. 15xt3j.png/1437536789845.jpg Le Nouvel Obs
A re-enactment of Nigel Richards' Scrabble board at the French-language world championships.
French journalist Jean-Baptiste Morel, analysing Richards' feat for the NouvelObs, (http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/1399587-scrabble-francophone-un-neo-zelandais-champion-du-monde-ses-10-meilleurs-coups.html) said Richards' qualification for the competition had seemed like "an amusing attraction on paper".
Despite a "pretty rotten" draw of letters, Richards won with "ridiculous ease", thanks to a "perfect mastery of [French] vocabulary", Morel wrote.
Indeed, Richards used many words most French people never knew existed.
He took only four seconds to come up with the "very difficult" word ANATROPE - anatropous in English.
READ MORE:
* Profile: Scrabble star's way with words (http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/3778594/A-way-with-words)
* Kiwi Nigel Richards: The non-French speaking French Scrabble star (http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/70433346/kiwi-wins-frenchlanguage-scrabble-world-champs-without-speaking-french)
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, it means "having or being a plant ovule inverted so that the micropyle is bent down to the funiculus to which the body of the ovule is united".
Pretty obscure.
"He has learned no language logic, just a succession of letter sequences giving rise to words," Morel said.
"In his head it's binary: what draw (of letters) can make a scrabble, what draw can't, Impressively simple."
A key moment in the game came when Richards successfully challenged his rival's use of a form of the verb "fureter" (to snoop).
He might not have won without this challenge, Morel said.
Other obscure French words Richards used in the competition included COLOBE (colobus - a slender leaf-eating African monkey with silky fur, a long tail, and very small or absent thumbs), AKENE (achene - any small, dry, hard, one-seeded fruit.) and CANIDE (canid any animal of the dog family Canidae, including the wolves, jackals, hyenas, coyotes, foxes, and domestic dogs).
Christchurch Scrabble club president Shirley Hol said the French win was "incredible".
Richards was a member of the club from 1997 to 2000, she said.
"Even though we knew how good he is, we were amazed because the distribution of vowels and consonants is different in French," she said.
He started out as an "average player" at age 28, but "very quickly improved" with "a very good feeling for words".
FiveThirtyEight last year reported (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-makes-nigel-richards-the-best-scrabble-player-on-earth/?ex_cid=538fb) Richards was ranked first in North America.
The difference between his official rating and the second-place player's was about the same as the difference between second place and 20th, the article said.
Richards had held the first or second ranking on the continent since 2002, the year of his first National Championship.
He held the record for the highest Scrabble rating ever achieved.
Richards will take part in another francophone championship in Belgium on Wednesday, in which the players compete against a computer.
It will be one of his first competitions in this format, but the French now take him seriously. Meanwhile, following his success in France, the Iceland Scrabble Club has issued its own challenge to Richard:
http://static.stuff.co.nz/1437530046/920/12262920.jpg
- Stuff
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/70441615/kiwi-scrabble-star-masters-french-vocabulary