Scrabble Australia
The Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2009
Contenders

The event

The 8th Causeway Scrabble Challenge will be held as a 45 round event from Wednesday 2nd December till Sunday 6th December 2009 at the Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The Masters section is a selective event with ten teams of five from Australia, Canada, Causeway (a hybrid of Malaysia and Singapore), New Zealand, Nigeria, Thailand, UK, USA plus two invitational teams based on international ratings.

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 2008 to June 30 2009 inclusive.
• Subperiods are July to Oct 2008, Nov 2008 to Feb 2009 and Mar 2009 to June 2009.
• 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.

The contenders

The table below shows the notional team as at 01.07.2009 plus 8 more who are almost in.
Selection has concluded

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

THE TEAM	Rank	Q Stat 01.07.2009	Games	Peak (games) Jul-Oct	Peak (games) Nov-Feb	Peak (games) Mar-Jun
Andrew Fisher (VIC)	1	2154.00	120	2029 (25)	2157 (30)	2215 (65)
David Eldar (VIC)	2	2082.50	110	2101 (19)	2095 (34)	2067 (57)
Edward Okulicz (NSW)	3	1984.25	204	1999 (72)	1946 (66)	1996 (66)
Chris May (NSW)	4	1980.75	123	2040 (71)	1991 (37)	1946 (15)
Naween Fernando (VIC)	5	1978.00	141	1983 (31)	1909 (54)	2010 (56)
ALMOST IN
Alastair Richards (NSW)	6	1923.00	214	1910 (90)	1944 (54)	1919 (70)
Trevor Halsall (VIC)	7	1918.75	223	1882 (60)	1921 (67)	1936 (96)
Peter Kougi (VIC)	8	1916.25	159	1902 (35)	1919 (79)	1922 (45)
Joanne Craig (NSW)	9	1871.25	214	1883 (84)	1810 (40)	1896 (90)
Esther Perrins (NSW)	10	1868.50	124	1915 (63)	1875 (20)	1842 (41)
Bob Jackman (NSW)	11	1860.25	295	1856 (119)	1857 (65)	1864 (111)
Michael Hornung (VIC)	12	1834.75	146	1906 (32)	1819 (60)	1807 (54)
Joan Rosenthal (NSW)	13	1819.00	106	1847 (40)	1809 (34)	1810 (32)