A major International Open tournament is taking place in Malta on 2, 3 and 4 May at the Topaz Hotel in Bugibba. A total of 18 games will be played over the three days. With over 50 participants, it promises to be one of the largest international tournaments of its kind and will hopefully become an annual event.

A competition on this scale has never been held in Malta before, and it has attracted no less than 32 highly rated foreign players hailing from England, Ireland, Scotland, Israel and Romania.

One of the contestants from England, Simon Rosenstone from Leeds, is nearly blind and yet is coming to play Scrabble!

It promises to be an exciting tournament as an equivalent number of Maltese players will be pitching their wits and word knowledge at this event.

Maltese players such as Theresa Camilleri, Jojo Delia and David Delicata who represented Malta at the World Scrabble Championships in November last year, will be taking part, as well as Cecil Muscat, an England-based Scrabble player with great experience, and Mario Saliba, President of Malta Scrabble Club and a Malta representative at previous World Championships.

Theresa’s performance at the last World Championships is worthy of a mention as she placed 26th in a field of 104 of the world’s best Scrabble players.

Meanwhile the Scrabble Calendar in Malta has been very busy.

The National League, which runs from February till May, is under way, with Theresa Camilleri leading the pack in the First Division, but with David Delicata hot on the trail. Alfred Xuereb is leading in the Second Division with Albert Zammit also in contention, whilst Lilian Spiteri and Dominic Borg are jointly leading in the 3rd Division.

Three One Day tournaments were also held at the Marsa Sports Cub, Irrera Restaurant in Ta’Xbiex, and the Bayside restaurant in Bugibba respectively.

The next One Day tournament will be held on Saturday 7 June. Anyone wishing to take part will be welcome and can find out more by contacting Club Secretary Charles Micallef on telephone number 99290209 or emailing him on [email protected]