Man wins Spanish Scrabble Championships without knowing how to speak Spanish

A renowned speller known as the “Tiger Woods of Scrabble” took the top spot at the Spanish World Scrabble Championships in Granada, Spain, despite not speaking Spanish.

Nigel Richards, a New Zealander currently living in Malaysia, came out ahead of 145 opponents after winning 22 consecutive matches.

Richards, the No. 1 ranked player in the World English-language Scrabble Player’s Association, has been nicknamed the “Tiger Woods of Scrabble,” with nearly 200 tournament victories to his name.

His latest title was earned despite his reportedly not even speaking the Spanish language.

“This is someone with very particular, incredible abilities; he’s a gifted guy,” second-place finisher Benjamín Olaizola told Spanish broadcaster Cadena Ser.

Olaizola said Richards’ strategy involves a lot of complex words, and unusual choices that throw off opponents.

“He had a hand that was the most obvious one, the one that a computer would give to you, and he didn’t use it,” Olaizola said.

Richards previously won the French-language title in 2015 and 2018, despite not speaking or understanding French. Liz Fagerlund, a longtime friend, said Richards spent nine weeks memorizing the nearly 400,000-word French-language Scrabble dictionary.

“It’s most likely that he’s wired differently; he doesn’t even study the pages word by word,” Fagerlund told CNN. “He can look at a page full of words and absorb them all.”

She said he studies the words and their spellings, but not their meanings.

“He won’t know what they mean, wouldn’t be able to carry out a conversation in French,” she told the New Zealand Herald.