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2023 WESPA SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIP

Selecting Australia's team for 2023

The 2023 WESPA Scrabble Championship will be held in Las Vegas. The North American Scrabble Players Association has announced :
The 2023 WESPA Championship (WESPAC) marks the first time since 2001 that the world championship will be contested in North America. It commences with the Last Chance Qualifying Tournament on Friday July 21 and continues with the invitational Main Event from Saturday July 22 through Wednesday July 26. For those not competing in the invitational, there will be both open Collins and NWL events concurrent with WESPAC. Both events will take place at the Westgate Las Vegas Resorts & Casino at 3000 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA. For the benefit of international travelers who must obtain visas, registration will open earlier than usual for both Championships. A special room rate has been negotiated for event participants.
See NASPA
Former World / WESPAC Champions are given automatic qualification, independent of any country's quota. So David Eldar is automatically selected by WESPA ♔.
WESPA policy for country quotas means that CASPA will select 13 more. You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident on 30 June 2023, and be a financial member of ASPA on 30 June 2023.

The team

Australia's team has now been finalised as David Eldar, Andrew Fisher, Cameron Farlow, Trevor Halsall, Anand Bharadwaj, Russell Honeybun, Bob Jackman, John Holgate, Adam Kretschmer, Jane Taylor, Karen Richards, Paul Richards, Graeme Lock Lee, Sally Martin. Congratulations to all of them and and chookas* for Las Vegas. There will be 125 players in all, see NASPA's registration list.

Selection by major titles

A maximum of two eligible players are selected by tournament success, namely

(1) The winner of the 2022 Australian Masters. ♚ Naween Fernando
(2) The highest placed eligible Australian in the 2023 Australian Championship.♛ Naween Fernando

Players who qualify this way must also play 40 games recognised by ASPA during the qualifying period.

If any of these berths is unfilled for any reason, the place is taken by another player selected via ratings as described below.

Selection by ratings

The primary criterion for ranking candidates is the Q statistic
Details
  • Subperiods are Jun to Sep 2022, Oct to Jan and Feb to May 2023.
  • The Qstat: The qualifying statistic is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 , which is a weighted average of peak ratings in the three subperiods.
  • Third peak: You cannot earn the peak in the third subperiod until you have played 40 games rated by ASPA in the qualification period.
  • Penalty: If you do not earn a peak in a subperiod , your peak in that subperiod is equal to the last rating minus 200. This may be applied more than once.
  • Incomplete tournament: If you miss a game for any reason other than an assigned bye, you cannot count a peak attained in that tournament for any qualification purposes. Games played will count towards games quotas. Ratings will be calculated as usual, with byes and forfeits not rated.
  • Games: You must have played at least 40 games in the qualifying period.
  • Tie breaker: If two players have the same Q statistic, the one with the greater number of games in the qualification period is ranked higher.

Players may appeal to CASPA for a special dispensation in exceptional circumstances. Anand Bharadwaj has been given special dispensation.
In the event of any unforeseen issue the decision of CASPA is final.


The Qstat is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 where P1, P2, P3 are peaks from Jun to Sep 2022, Oct to Jan and Feb to May 2023. Qstat is shown, together with the peak(games) in each period. 40 games required.


Selection has now finished.
Thanks to those who have indicated their intention to go or not.
CONTENDERS
13 quota 		Q (games)
30.06.2023 		Peak (games)
Jun to Sep 		Peak (games)
Oct to Jan 		Peak (games)
Feb to May
David Eldar (VIC)♔Y 2089.50(106✓)2099(0)2075(0)2092(0)
0.Chris May (NSW) 1996.50*(57✓)1844(0)2052(0)2045(0)
1.Andrew Fisher (VIC)Y 1984.50(88✓)1971(0)2017(0)1975(0)
1.Naween Fernando (VIC)♚♛ 1978.00(130✓)1949(0)1961(0)2001(0)
2.Cameron Farlow (QLD)Y 1943.50(148✓)1975(0)1927(0)1936(0)
2.Edward Okulicz (VIC) 1929.25(144✓)1930(0)1931(0)1928(0)
2.Peter Kougi (VIC) 1900.00(57✓)1903(0)1905(0)1896(0)
2.Esther Perrins (NSW) 1894.00(145✓)1888(0)1904(0)1892(0)
3.Trevor Halsall (VIC)Y 1840.00(111✓)1803(0)1821(0)1868(0)
4.Anand Bharadwaj (VIC)Y 1832.00**(16+24)1982(0)1782(0)1782(0)
4.Joanne Craig (NSW) 1828.00(294✓)1783(0)1825(0)1852(0)
4.Daniel Piechnick (SA) 1818.00(111✓)1824(0)1816(0)1816(0)
5.Russell Honeybun (WA)Y 1798.50(114✓)1745(0)1765(0)1842(0)
5.Victor Tung (NSW) 1774.00(125✓)1682(0)1840(0)1787(0)
6.Bob Jackman (NSW)Y 1764.75(252✓)1776(0)1783(0)1750(0)
6.Rod Talbot (NSW) 1762.50(261✓)1806(0)1766(0)1739(0)
6.David Vanzyl (WA) 1759.25(66✓)1789(0)1764(0)1742(0)
7.John Holgate (NSW)Y 1743.75(227✓)1780(0)1719(0)1738(0)
8.Adam Kretschmer (SA)Y 1730.00(88✓)1705(0)1733(0)1741(0)
8.Ryan Sutton (NSW) 1705.00*(154✓)1581(0)1777(0)1731(0)
8.Nick Ivanovski (VIC) 1686.25(72✓)1650(0)1723(0)1686(0)
9.Jane Taylor (SA)Y 1674.25(290✓)1658(0)1679(0)1680(0)
9.Ronnie Bennett (ACT) 1674.00(90✓)1633(0)1663(0)1700(0)
9.Tony Hunt (NSW) 1673.25(293✓)1727(0)1624(0)1671(0)
9.Rocky Sharma (NSW) 1657.50(132✓)1635(0)1659(0)1668(0)
9.John Spaan (ACT) 1643.25(69✓)1671(0)1618(0)1642(0)
9.Rael Hayman (NSW) 1632.75*(168✓)1397(0)1724(0)1705(0)
9.Noel Barrett (ACT) 1631.75(236✓)1602(0)1649(0)1638(0)
9.Geoff Wright (VIC) 1617.00(166✓)1632(0)1684(0)1576(0)
10.Karen Richards (QLD)Y 1616.75(330✓)1626(0)1611(0)1615(0)
11.Paul Richards (QLD)Y 1610.00(280✓)1577(0)1597(0)1633(0)
12.Graeme Lock Lee (NSW)Y 1601.50(138✓)1471(0)1567(0)1684(0)
13.Sally Martin (WA)Y 1600.50(86✓)1597(0)1597(0)1604(0)
ALMOST IN
14.Carmel Dodd (SA) 1593.25(220✓)1563(0)1568(0)1621(0)
15.Ian Ting (WA) 1585.50(101✓)1564(0)1586(0)1596(0)
16.Nat Podesser (VIC)Y 1583.50*(80✓)1616(0)1416(0)1651(0)
17.Dianne Brumby (TAS) 1562.50(152✓)1559(0)1553(0)1569(0)
18.Jane Brown (QLD) 1548.75(105✓)1593(0)1550(0)1526(0)
19.Chris Hall (WA) 1547.50(120✓)1600(0)1506(0)1542(0)
20.Antony Kimber (SA) 1535.00(184✓)1545(0)1555(0)1520(0)
21.Howard Rayner (WA) 1534.75(83✓)1585(0)1564(0)1495(0)
22.Dianne Ward (WA) 1529.00(42✓)1553(0)1499(0)1532(0)
23.Dianne Davis (VIC) 1516.75(127✓)1531(0)1562(0)1487(0)
24.Liz Blanch (QLD) 1514.75(174✓)1523(0)1534(0)1501(0)
25.Norma Fisher (VIC) 1511.00(198✓)1543(0)1509(0)1496(0)
26.Edie Mueller (WA) 1501.75(66✓)1532(0)1501(0)1487(0)
27.Greg Pinchbeck (NSW) 1497.50(230✓)1447(0)1475(0)1534(0)
28.Martin Rose (TAS) 1495.00(100✓)1515(0)1461(0)1502(0)
29.Michael Vnuk (SA) 1493.75(102✓)1571(0)1440(0)1482(0)
30.Carol Johnsen (VIC) 1475.00(157✓)1478(0)1452(0)1485(0)