The Canadian National Scrabble Championship (CNSC) is the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

national

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

competition in the

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, open by invitation and special qualification only to the top rank of Canadian players. All CNSC events have been held in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

History

In 1975 the Toronto Scrabble Club was registered and is now the oldest and largest club in North America. In 1996,

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

Canada recognized that Canadian players, who had already won the top American and World titles, needed an opportunity to test their mettle against each other. Hasbro asked Mike Wise, a founding member of the Toronto Scrabble Club, to organize and direct the first Canadian Championship. The first CNSC was won by

Adam Logan Adam Logan (born 1975 in Kingston, Ontario) is a research mathematician and a top Canadian Scrabble player. He won the World Scrabble Championship in 2005, beating Pakorn Nemitrmansuk of Thailand 3–0 in the final. He is the only player to hav ...

, then a 21-year-old mathematician and reigning

American Champion American Champion Aircraft Corporation, is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft headquartered at the Rochester, Wisconsin airport. Founded in 1988 on the acquisition of the Champ, Citabria, Scout, and Decathlon The decathlon is a com ...

, who defeated English literature specialist Peter Morris, 1991 World Champion, in the finals to become the first Canadian Champion. The second CNSC was held in 1998 directed by John Chew.

Joel Wapnick Joel Wapnick (born 1946) is a Scrabble player from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, best known for winning the 1999 World Scrabble Championship (WSC). Wapnick reached the WSC finals in 1993 and 2001. Wapnick also won the US National Scrabble Championshi ...

, a music professor at McGill and 1983 American Champion, defeated

Albert Hahn Albert Pieter Hahn (17 March 1877 – 3 August 1918) was a Dutch political cartoonist, caricaturist, poster artist and book cover designer; well known for his socialist and antimilitaristic viewpoints. Some of his drawings, especially those of ...

, a truck driver from Calgary, in the finals. Wapnick went on to become World Champion in 1999, and is one of only two players (along with

) to have won all three titles. The third CNSC was held in 2000, again directed by John Chew. The finals matched 32-year-old expat accountant Ron Hoekstra of Michigan against 1996 champion

, and Hoekstra surprised many observers by easily defeating Logan. The fourth CNSC was held in 2003, directed by John Chew. The finals saw 1995 World Champion David Boys, a programmer analyst, win confidently against student Dean Saldanha by 3-1 (scores 465-304, 336-418, 402-291, 414-344). The fifth CNSC was held in 2005, directed by John Chew. The finals saw maths lecturer and 2005 World Champion

beat education coordinator Tony Leah by 3-1 (scores 475-278, 402-385, 405-407, 438-403). The sixth CNSC was held in 2008, directed by John Chew. The finals saw two former World Champions (and Canadian Champions)

and David Boys play a full five-game final. Logan became the first three-time Canadian champion defeating Boys 454-308, 448-383, 337-404, 342-464, and 492-354. The seventh CNSC was held in 2011, directed by John Chew. The finals saw two former World Champions (and Canadian Champions)

and

play three final games, all won by Wapnick, 432-398, 501-312, and 423-394. The eighth CNSC was held in 2013, directed by John Chew. In the finals,

defeated computer analyst Ross Brown 401-274, 455-364, 438-381 to become the first person to win the title four times. The event demonstrated the growing strength of players from the Ottawa region, who comprised five of the top ten players, including both finalists. The ninth CNSC was held in 2016, directed by John Chew. In the finals,

defended his title by beating James Leong to become the first person to win the title five times. The tenth CNSC was held in 2018, directed by John Chew. In the finals, Eric Tran, a law student from Calgary, narrowly prevailed over statistician John Stardom by 3-2 (scores 467-417, 227-509, 384-362, 361-523, 413-392). This year's event was the first where the finals did not feature a player who has won the World or North American championship.

Results

References

External links

2005 CNSC Home Page2008 CNSC Home Page2011 CNSC Home Page2013 CNSC Home Page

2016 CNSC Home Page

2018 CNSC Home Page
{{Scrabble Scrabble competitions Scrabble, Canadian National Scrabble Championship Recurring events established in 1996

History

Results

See also

References

External links