Anyone who has mastered a specific field to perfection faces new challenges. This is what the world champion in Scrabble did, who, after winning several dozen recognized titles in the game in English, decided to try his hand at playing in French, although he did not know this language.
He is a record holder in many tournaments
Originally from New Zealand, Nigel Richards has devoted most of his life to playing Scrabble. In 2007, he won his first title of Scrabble World Champion, winning the most prestigious, worldwide tournament dedicated to this game, organized since the 1990s. He repeated the success in 2011, 2013, 2018 and 2019, to this day remaining the only man who managed to win in these championships more than once (five times!). He also won the Scrabble Players’ Association Championship (WESPAC) in 2019. He has triumphed eight times in the United Kingdom, eleven times – in the tournament in Singapore, and as many as 15 times – in the World Cup in Bangkok, being the record holder of each of these competitions. All the games were played in English, and since Richards had mastered it to perfection, it soon became too much for him.
He studied the dictionary for several months
Nigel decided to read the French dictionary regularly to learn the right amount of words that would allow him to take on French opponents. Before he started playing, he studied it for 9 weeks. However, this did not involve fluency in French – the master learned thousands of words without even knowing their meaning.
He doesn’t speak French at all, he just learned the words. I don’t think he can hold a conversation in that language.
said his friend and former president of the New Zealand Scrabble Association Liz Fagerlund. This did not prevent him from winning the French Scrabble World Championship. It should be added that in the French version of the game you can create much more words – 386,000. There are 187,000 in the English version.
Where did such skills come from?
Fans of his achievements wonder if they are possible due to possible diseases. Added to this is the fact that a man makes a living almost exclusively from an exceptional gift. In New Zealand, he worked for a water company for a period, but resigned.
Memorizing an entire French dictionary in nine weeks may suggest that he has Asperger’s. In this case, it may be difficult to keep a job.
Speaking French, which he can’t, is much more than memorizing a French dictionary, just as doing well in math requires much more than just being able to memorize formulas or numbers. As someone who has been part of the autism diagnostic team for many years, I will not comment that Mr. Richard probably has Asperger’s just because he has a good memory. Things are a little more complicated.
– Internet users discuss on one of the forums. Although it has not been confirmed that the man suffers from a specific ailment that allows him to remember words and numbers in an above-average way, it is known that he is a loner. For this reason, he rarely gives interviews.
Source: Gazeta
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
