A man who can only speak a handful of words in French has won the French Scrabble World Championships.
Nigel Richards, from New Zealand, can't speak the language beyond saying bonjour and counting - but has beaten the finest French players with remarkable ease after deciding to memorise the French Scrabble dictionary.
Richards, known as the 'Tiger Woods of Scrabble' learned off the entire French Scrabble dictionary in just nine weeks, to win the French-speaking Scrabble world tournament in Belgium.
He plays the game with a mathematical approach, assessing which letters make which combinations, according to French journalist Jean-baptist Morel.
“He doesn’t speak French, but he learned to play in our language by reading the words of the ODS (Official Scrabble book) as if it was just a sequence of letters to learn. The man, as well as having a perfect command of the vocabulary, possesses an impressive game tactic that allows him to leapfrog the competition,” Morel said.
Despite a tough draw of letters, Richards won the final with “ridiculous ease” Morel said.
“He has learned no language logic, just a succession of letter sequences giving rise to words. In his head it’s binary: what draw (of letters) can make a scrabble, what draw can’t”.
He got a standing ovation for his win, but needed a translator to express his gratitude to the crowd.
Richards has also won the English world scrabble title twice, and won five US national titles and is generally regarded as the greatest scrabble player of all time.
Fantastique ! #NigelRichards, Néozélandais ne parlant pas français, est champion du monde de Scrabble francophone. pic.twitter.com/zL35G3uf3x
— Dzibz (@dzibz) July 20, 2015
