Napanalunan ni Nigel Richards ng New Zealand ang 2024 Spanish-Language Scrabble World Championship noong November sa Granada, Spain.
Ito ay kahit hindi siya marunong ng naturang lengguwahe.
Si Nigel, 57, ay itinuturing na isang Scrabble phenom.
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Noong 2015, siya rin ang nagwagi sa French-Language Scrabble Championship kahit hindi siya nagsasalita ng French.
Marami ang nag-assume na nakatsamba lang si Nigel noong 2015.
Pero nakuha niyang muli ang kampeonato noong 2018.
Nang maulit niya ang katulad na tagumpay ngayong taon—at sa panibagong language na hindi niya sinasalita—napatunayan niya ang kanyang husay.
Siya lang ang may taglay na ganitong katangian kaya itinuturing siyang “The Tiger Woods of Scrabble.”
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WHO IS NIGEL RICHARDS, THE SCRABBLE PHENOM?
Ipinanganak si Nigel sa New Zealand noong 1967.
Naging world champion siya sa Scrabble noong 2007.
Naulit niya ito noong 2011, 2013, 2018, at 2019.
Noong 2019, nakopo niya ang kanyang ikatlong World English-Language Scrabble Players’ Association Championship.
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Bukod dito, si Nigel ay five-time U.S. national champion (four times consecutively from 2010 to 2013), eight-time UK Open champion, at 11-time champion ng Singapore Open Scrabble Championship.
Fifteen times din niyang napanalunan ang King's Cup sa Bangkok, Thailand—ang itinuturing na world's biggest scrabble competition.
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SCRABBLE PHENOM MEMORIZES SPANISH WORDS
Sa kanyang pinakahuling panalo, naisagawa iyon ni Nigel sa pamamagitan ng pagme-memorize ng Spanish words.
Hindi na niya inaalam ang kahulugan ng mga salitang iyon sa English.
Nang una siyang magwagi noong 2015 sa French language na hindi naman niya kabisado, ipinaliwanag ni Yves Brenez, vice president ng Belgian Scrabble federation, kung paano iyon nagawa ni Nigel.
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Ani Yves, “The challenge was a bit crazy, but Nigel learned French vocabulary in only nine weeks.
“He’s a fighting machine.
“To him, words are just combinations of letters.”
Dagdag pa ni Yves sa pambihirang katangian ni Nigel, “I’m perhaps exaggerating a bit, but he comes up with scrabbled words with more than seven letters that others take 10 years to know.”
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MIXING LETTERS
Ganito rin ang naging paliwanag ni John Baird, secretary ng Christchurch Scrabble club kung saan unang naglaro si Nigel ng Scrabble.
Ani John, “Nigel Richards is capable of learning hundreds of thousands of words by heart and then using them effectively against his opponents.
“He can look at a page and retain the whole thing; it sticks like a photograph.”
Dagdag pa ni John, “On top of that, he’s obviously got a very good ability to mix up letters and see the word possibilities.”
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SCRABBLE PHENOM’S TOTAL EARNINGS
Nagsimula si Nigel ng kanyang competitive career sa Scrabble noong 1996.
Napanalunan niya ang 75 percent ng mga kumpetisyon na kanyang nilahukan.
Tinatayang nakapagbulsa na siya ng US$200,000 premyo, o PHP11,580,400.
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Kilala si Nigel na may abilidad magmemorya ng mga imahe, tunog, at mga bagay kahit saglit lang ang exposure niya sa mga ito.
Mahusay rin siya sa mathematics.
Noong 2020, sa Malaysia na nanirahan si Nigel.
Hindi siya mahilig makisalamuha sa mga tao, at mas gustong laging nag-iisa.
Ayaw na ayaw rin niyang magpa-interview.
Sa ngayon ay inaabangan ng mga sumusubaybay sa career ni Nigel kung anong lengguwahe naman ang sasabakan nito sa susunod niyang paglahok sa Scrabble tournament.