The Mumbai Scrabble Club will hold its first international Scrabble tournament from January 10 through 12 at the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana.

The club has been organising an all-India open tournament every year for the past three years. This year it will conduct the fifth national open tournament and the first international tournament in India.

"Two years ago the members suggested that since we have been holding national tournaments successfully, it is time to hold an international tournament," Dr Varisht Hingorani, MSC president, said.

The groundwork for the tournament started in March last year. International players were contacted and asked for suggestions as to what might interest them to attend a tournament in India. "They said we should have a minimum prize money of at least US $1,000 for the winner," Hingorani said.

The club was presented with a budget for the tournament with prize money totalling Rs 120,000 and organisational costs of Rs 100,000, which was accepted.

The idea behind conducting the tournament is to ensure international exposure for the undoubted talent in India. Hingorani pointed out that it is cheaper to bring international players to India. "For us to participate in tournaments abroad, we would spend 10 to 20 times more than what it would cost us to hold a tournament here," he explained.

"There are a lot of ways to attract foreign players for tournaments in India," he said. For example, if the tournament had been held in Goa, 30 to 40 players would have agreed to come. But with the tournament being held in Bombay, only 16 foreign players have confirmed their participation. On the other hand the total number of players from India is 60.

But for the tournament to be valued in the international ratings, the total number of local players must not exceed the total number of foreign players. "For that reason," said Hingorani, "we have decided to select the top 16 from the Indian players and pit them against the international ones. So there will be a qualifying round on Friday to select the 16." 

Of these, eight players will get automatic entry by virtue of having played continuously for the last few years, participating in most of the national tournaments, and on the ranking they currently enjoy according to the Mumbai Scrabble Club.

Hingorani said this would also help popularise the MSC ratings. "If someone makes the effort of attending national
tournaments and does well, we want to recognise their efforts and encourage them. Thus, preference is given for their entry into the international round."

Hingorani pointed out, however, that selecting the best Indian players for the international round does not necessarily mean that the foreign players who are participating are top-ranked players. "We are not aware of their calibre and experience. Our idea is to judge our performance and potential," he said.

"We have exceptional talent among us," he continued. "Akshay Bhandarkar was ranked eighth in the world in the 1997 world championship and Mohan Chunkath, the reigning national champion from Chennai, was ranked 21st. These are no mean achievements considering that we have hardly any infrastructure."

Hingorani said foreign players get to play many more tournaments. They also have the support of their governments and corporates and their clubs are recognised all over.

But Indians do have an inherent edge over the rest. The education system in the country conditions students to learn and memorise. "Indians take very naturally to something like learning," he said. "We have proved that whenever we have gone abroad, especially where English is the primary language. We have the largest number of English-speaking people in the world. There is no reason why, with this combination, we cannot produce world champions in Scrabble."

The Mumbai Scrabble Club was formed in January 1998 by Dr Bhupendra Dutia, Jose Pulikothil and Varghese M as a forum where people who love the word game could play regularly.