![\"ConradCheck\"](\"http:\/\/www.bassettbranches.org\/newsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/ConradCheck.jpg\")
<\/a>\nDaily Herald, Thursday, August 14, 2014
\nHe begins with \u2018zilch\u2019, then wins Scrabble title
\nBy Carolyn Thompson (Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2013 Conrad Bassett-Bouchard started his championship Scrabble game Wednesday with the word \u2018zilch\u2019 and finished with the opposite \u2013 the $10,000 prize and the title of national Scrabble champion.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old player, from Portland, Oregon, beat 29-year-old Jason Li, of Montreal, in the final round of the five-day 25th<\/sup> National Scrabble Championships played at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.<\/p>\n Bassett-Bouchard, the tournament\u2019s second seed, said he knew luck was with him when he drew a wild-card blank tile and an \u201cs\u201d on his first seven-tile rack. He won by a score of 477-350.<\/p>\n Li, the 18th<\/sup> seed, said, \u201cI was playing catch-up right to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n Li had the letters to play an obscure but potentially high-scoring word but didn\u2019t see it, creating a buzz among experienced onlookers.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to be kicking himself for missing \u2018gramarye\u2019\u201d tournament director John Chew said after the play.<\/p>\n Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association, the event\u2019s sponsor, called Li\u2019s presence in the final round the biggest surprise in the tournament, which was an emerging group of younger players edge out the old guard.<\/p>\n Six of the top 10 finishers are in their 20\u2019s, and one, Mack Meller, from Bedford, is 14. \u201cAll these younger players are avid online players,\u201d said Will Anderson, 29, trying to explain the success of the tournament\u2019s 20-somethings at an old-fashioned board game. Bassett-Bouchard said his win seemed imminent when Li played \u201cjug\u201d, giving him room on the board to spell \u201cdocents\u201d and pull further ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom that point on,\u201d he said, \u201cit was going to be pretty hard for me to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n The tournament began days after the announcement that 5,000 new words had been added to \u201cThe Official Scrabble Players Dictionary,\u201d but players won\u2019t be able to use those entries \u2013 including much-anticipated two-letter words da, gi and po, along with selfie, hashtag and bromance \u2013 until after this year\u2019s championship.<\/p>\n The 25th<\/sup> National Scrabble Championships drew 525 players from 11 countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Conrad Bassett-Bouchard was recently named National Scrabble Champion. Conrad Bassett-Bouchard is descended from William Bassett of Plymouth as follows: William Bassett and wife Elizabeth William Bassett (b. 1624) and wife Mary Rainsford Nathan Bassett (b. 1667) and wife Mary Huckins … Continue reading
\nTournament favorite and five-time champion Nigel Richards, 47, described by one competitor as the Michal Jordan of the game, finished a surprising 16th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n
\nThe winning board contained the words florigen, trooz, venerate, contuse and barf.<\/p>\n