Nigel Richards

Who is Nigel Richards?

Nigel Richards is a Scrabble player who represents New Zealand in international competition. He is the reigning World Champion and a five-time U.S. National Champion, the only player to have held both titles concurrently. He is an eleven-time champion of the Singapore Open Scrabble Championship, and a ten-time winner of the King's Cup in Bangkok, the biggest Scrabble competition in the world.

Richards started playing competitive Scrabble at New Zealand's Christchurch Scrabble Club before moving to Malaysia in 2000. Since beginning his competitive career in 1997, he has won about 75% of his tournament games, collecting an estimated USD 200,000 in prize money. Richards now lives in Kuala Lumpur and plays for Malaysia.

Richards won the 2008 USA National Scrabble Championship and earned USD 25,000 by winning his last three games against the runner-up, 1998 champion Brian Cappelletto, for a record of 22 wins and 6 losses, with a cumulative spread of +1340 points.

Richards was the runner-up in the 2009 USA National Scrabble Championship in Dayton, Ohio, losing to Dave Wiegand but still winning 25 of the 31 matches.