Choose your words carefully

Four Indian logophiles will compete This month in the Scrabble World Championship

Come November 9, and a majority of the nation will be glued to their TV sets (if at home) or in front of their computer screens (if at work) following the progress of our cricket team, when it clashes with India's arch-rivals and neighbour Pakistan. But for a few there is a small matter of a world championship. Yes, we know that the hockey world cup is not scheduled for another two years and we just won one at cricket (so what if it was T20), while let's not even talk about the football one as far as India is concerned. Then which world cup are we talking about? It's the Scrabble World Championship, organised by Mattel, the toy manufacturer, which begins on November 9 in Mumbai.

Four men will be representing the country and BS caught up with them to find out how they became professional scrabblers (if that's even a word!) and how they rate their chances at the world championship.

Ranganathan Chakravarthy is 35 years old and a lawyer by profession. Yet he was once ranked number two in the country and has been taking part in international level tournaments. "This is probably one game where oldies like me do get a chance to do well for the country." A logophile by nature, Ranga has been playing Scrabble professionally for over nine years now. It was his passion for words that made him take up the game professionally. "There is no routine practice for Scrabble but I target learning about 100-150 new words every day, starting from two-letter words to nine-letter words."

Sherwin Rodriguez from Mumbai is another contestant who will be trying his luck this time around. Rodriguez, who is 18 years old, is also "crazy about learning new words" and sees this as the perfect opportunity to do well. "If I win something it would be great, but I am looking at it as a fantastic learning experience."

Rodriguez, who attends college in Mumbai, makes it a point to play Scrabble almost two hours a day. Something which Ranga can't afford to do; he says that being pressed for time has made it difficult for him to play but yet he keeps learning new words.

What makes a good Scrabble professional player? "First, you need to love words and then you should be good at jumbling them," says Ranga. Having either can help you while playing at home with your friends, but at a professional level you need to be good at both.

Scrabble is one of the most mentally stimulating games, and Ranga is astonished that schools have not made it mandatory for children. "When Russia can do that for chess, why can't we do the same for Scrabble?", he asks. After all, we are an

English-speaking country. Citing the example of Thailand, which is not an English-speaking nation, producing a world champion, Ranga feels that India could dominate at least this game, if the right initiative is taken.

One of the pioneers of professional Scrabble in India is Mohan Chunkath from Chennai. Chunkath, who attained a world ranking of 21 in the game, is all geared up to take part in this championship as well. As with most scrabblists, Chunkath took up the game for the love of words. For this year's edition, he is looking to test his skills against the best and "hope to do well". Ranga too credits Chunkath for promoting the cause of Scrabble in the country. "It's a highly competitive game and one that needs you to be alert, and the margin of error is minimal," says Chunkath. Concentration is the key for Chunkath in the game.

While being the host country, this is the first time India has got a quota for seats at the championship, and Ranga's main aim is to break into the top 50. "By doing so, we will get an additional seat for the next edition and hopefully the game would gain more popularity," he adds. Rodriguez, meanwhile, is looking at the championship as more of a learning experience. Ranga feels that someone from Canada or a European country could probably be the favourite and Asians have an outside chance at winning.

Scrabble will continue to be played in homes, but it still has miles to go at a professional level. But it would be a shot in the arm for this game in India if any of these contestants do well this time. More power to word power then.