Scrabble Australia
The Causeway Challenge 2008
Contenders

The event

The 7th Causeway Scrabble Challenge will be held from 3rd to 7th December 2008 at Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Bahru. A total of 45 games will be played over the 5-day period. The following 10 teams will be invited:

Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, Thailand, UK, USA, International

The International team is by invitation of the tournament organiser, Michael Tang. His selection process for this team is to invite the top rated player from The Philippines, India and The Gulf, and then fill the remaining 2 placings at the sole discretion of the Organiser, where only players with at least 1900 International rating may be invited.

Each player will play all 45 players from the other teams.

Prize Money:

The prize money for the Individual placing is as follows:

Champion: US$10,000
2nd: US$5,000
3rd: US$2,500
4th: US$1,000
5th placing: US$700
6th placing: US$600
7th placing: US$500
8th placing: US$400
9th placing: US$300
10th placing: US$200

Registration Fees: US$150

There will also be an Open Division at the same time.

Qualification criteria

The Australian team of five will be selected as follows. The qualification criteria are essentially the same as for the Australian Masters event, but with no concession for being top of one's state:

1. A player must be a financial member of ASPA for the entire qualifying period.
2. A player must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Temporary visa holders are not eligible.
3. The method of ranking candidates is by the three peak statistic (the Q statistic) described below.
4. Players may appeal to CASPA for a special dispensation in exceptional circumstances.
5. In the event of any unforeseen issue the decision of CASPA is final.

The three peaks Q statistic

The primary criterion for ranking candidates is the Q statistic calculated like this:

• The qualification period is July 1 2007 to June 30 2008 inclusive.
• Subperiods are July to Oct 2007, Nov 2007 to Feb 2008 and Mar 2008 to June 2008.
• The qualifying statistic is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 , which is a weighted average of peak ratings in three subperiods.
• If you play no rated games recognised by CASPA in a subperiod, your peak is zero in that subperiod.
• You must have played at least 60 games in the qualifying period before the last peak.

The secondary criterion is number of rated games within the qualification period. If two players have the same Q statistic, the one with the greater number of games in the qualification period is ranked higher.

Dispensation

CASPA has reviewed the individual case of Chris May as he will play zero rated games in Australia in the first subperiod. Due to the circumstance where he has during this subperiod actively played 75 rated games under a recognised rating system (as at 25 Sept 2007 he is ranked 5th in the UK), CASPA has determined that special dispensation be given to Chris and that he be recognised as having qualified in the first subperiod, with the following provisos -

1. His peak for the first period is 1965, his last recorded rating before he left.
2. His 75 rated games in the UK are not shown in his tally.
3. He is still obliged to play 60 games rated by CASPA before his last peak.

The contenders

The table below shows the notional team as at 12.05.2008 plus 8 more who are almost in.

More details revealed as you move your mouse over the table.

THE TEAM	Rank	Q Stat 12.05.2008	Games	Peak (games) Jul-Oct	Peak (games) Nov-Feb	Peak (games) Mar-Jun
David Eldar (VIC)	1	2020.50	117	2037 (19)	2059 (59)	1993 (39)
Edward Okulicz (NSW)	2	1991.50	152	1989 (99)	1987 (36)	1995 (17)
Chris May (NSW)	3	1972.75	85		1988 (35)	1969 (50)
Naween Fernando (VIC)	4	1963.75	83	1947 (26)	1960 (25)	1974 (32)
Andrew Fisher (VIC)	5	1939.50	81	1962 (32)	1928 (18)	1934 (31)
ALMOST IN
Joanne Craig (NSW)	6	1844.25	195	1928 (79)	1841 (52)	1804 (64)
Michael Cameron (SA)	7	1838.50	84	1818 (25)	1840 (21)	1848 (38)
David Lowden (SA)	8	1836.50	31	1871 (18)	1802 (13)
Bob Jackman (NSW)	9	1835.50	256	1819 (114)	1837 (78)	1843 (64)
Trevor Halsall (VIC)	10	1826.50	142	1774 (38)	1846 (59)	1843 (45)
Esther Perrins (NSW)	11	1819.25	78	1824 (43)	1813 (18)	1820 (17)
Michael Hornung (VIC)	12	1815.75	111	1830 (25)	1833 (37)	1800 (49)
Peter Kougi (VIC)	13	1798.50	169	1721 (55)	1821 (71)	1826 (43)

Recently processed:
19.04.2008 Blacktown (NSW), 26.04.2008 KALGOORLIE 2008 (WA), 27.04.2008 ANZAC Tournament (NSW), 27.04.2008 MATCHPLAY KICKOFF (VIC), 03.05.2008 Queensland Championships (QLD), 03.05.2008 Sydney West (NSW), 12.05.2008 Xiao-ting Box (VIC)