Kenyan Tobias Outi was crowned the champion of the 2023 British Matchplay Scrabble Championships on Monday.
Now based in the United Kingdom, Outi became the first kenyan to win the title that started way back in 1987 where top players like Grand Masters (GM) and Experts (EXP) compete for the crown.
In the three day tournament that started on Saturday to Monday evening, Outi the winner of Scrabble Kenya title in Kisumu won 18 matches winning six in the 24 matches played.
With Division one recording the highest entrants of 48, the seed 21 at the tournament was elevated with the victory that also had Division B with 18 players and division C having 16 players for a total of 82 players facing off on the board game.
The lanky man has also had a good run in the Scrabble Kenya tournaments after facing off with top seed Allan Oyende, Gitonga Nderitu, Michael Gongolo among others.
“The tournament was great. Playing with Experts, Grand Masters and all the awesome players at the tournament was very competitive and particularly enthralling.,” said Outi.
He started off by losing the opening game against Colin Northmore, Outi recovered with back to back wins before losing game four to GM Lewis Mackay. He then went ahead to lose game 10 to Nick Deller, game 14 to Wayne Kelly (GM), game 15 to Craig Solomons (Exp) and game 18 to Brian Po.
“The experienced players give you a great game, and it’s all part of the learning curve for me. I started on a low note but the finish was perfect,” added Outi.
He also noted and lauded the growth of the game among the youth in Kenya.
“Scrabble Kenya has good structures for the youth to develop in the game, which is a great opportunity that needs to be tapped into further,” said Outi.