Malaysia - my heart for Asia

Exactly to the day - 2 years after I left Malaysia I'm coming back there again.
My registration for the last ever Causeway tournament has been confirmed.

Just like on the occasion of WSC 2009 I'll be flying to Singapore via Munich on exactly the same flights. The good news is the plane ticket cost 30% less than in 2009 thanks to Asia special offer from Lufthansa.

What I'm also excited about is that when coming back I'll be flying an Airbus A380 from Singapore to Frankfurt. I booked the window seats and am hoping for great outlooks.
Meanwhile I finally got back to consistent studying. I set myself a goal of finally learning all the JQXZ words up to 8 letters. I'm confident with the Js and Qs and am currrently studying the Zs and Xs.
I hope that in 61 days (WSC 2011 start) I'll know them all and maybe something more too :)
I wonder why no Thais have signed up for the WSC...

it's anybody's game

An interesting situation unfolded in the National Scrabble Championship in the US.

After 27 rounds the first 5 players are on 19 wins, the next five players are on 18 wins, the next five are on 17 wins and the next 10 players are on 16 wins. 

This means that with 4 rounds to go any of the 25 players still stands a chance of becoming the US champion.
UPDATE:
1. As Wojtek pointed out to me this last sentence cannot hold true because top players will always be matched against each other in the final rounds in accordance with the rules of king-of-the-hill system.
Nevertheless the situation was very interesting :)
2. Nigel Richards won the NSC 2011:)
3. Zbigniew Wieckowski took 4th place in Division C.

Here are the contenders:

(http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/tourneys/2011/nsc/build/standing/1/27.html)

1	Jesse Day	Berkeley, CA	19.0-8.0	+1272
2	Nigel Richards	Malaysia	19.0-8.0	+1085
3	Jim Kramer	Roseville, MN	19.0-8.0	+956
4	Kenji Matsumoto	Aiea, HI	19.0-8.0	+954
5	Brian Bowman	Villa Hills, KY	19.0-8.0	+625
6	Nigel Peltier	Seattle, WA	18.0-9.0	+1385
7	Scott Appel	Trenton, NJ	18.0-9.0	+1071
8	Peter Armstrong	Milwaukee, WI	18.0-9.0	+1038
9	Orry Swift	Houston, TX	18.0-9.0	+722
10	Scott Jackson	Minneapolis, MN	18.0-9.0	+168
11	Ian Weinstein	Coral Springs, FL	17.0-10.0	+1367
12	Trey Wright	Sierra Madre, CA	17.0-10.0	+919
13	Joey Mallick	Cape Elizabeth, ME	17.0-10.0	+733
14	Chris Cree	Dallas, TX	17.0-10.0	+568
15	Joe Edley	Port Jefferson, NY	17.0-10.0	+105
16	Will Anderson	Croton, NY	16.0-11.0	+1216
17	Kevin Rickhoff	Saugus, CA	16.0-11.0	+1096
18	Carl Johnson	Beaverton, OR	16.0-11.0	+911
19	Jason Keller	Highland Park, NJ	16.0-11.0	+888
20	Brian Cappelletto	Chicago, IL	16.0-11.0	+757
21	Joel Sherman	Bronx, NY	16.0-11.0	+667
22	Rod MacNeil	Cambridge, MA	16.0-11.0	+295
23	Tony Leah	Ajax ON	16.0-11.0	+269
24	Kate Fukawa-Connelly	Kittery, ME	16.0-11.0	+194
25	Dave Wiegand	Portland, OR	16.0-11.0	+151

me, Marych and my medal :)

(2011) This is the third photo in the series. This time Stary Marych is wearing my silver medal.

(2009) This second photo was taken two years ago. It was the gold medal.

(2007) Photo taken after the first Polish Scrabble Championship I've taken part in winning the bronze medal.

Ivan

I was very happy to learn that after Romania and Poland third country from the former Soviet bloc will have its representative in the World Scrabble Championship.
This time it's Slovakia - Poland's southern neighbour.

Ivan Pastucha is a 40-year-old technician from Ruzomberok and has won all three Slovak qualification tournaments thus assuring a place in the WSC 2011 taking place in October in Warsaw, Poland.

Veľa šťastia, Ivan! 

I'll be happy to meet you in Warsaw!