By newsfirstusa 
WELLINGTON, Pristine Zealand — A Pristine Zealand guy taking part in his first-ever aggressive Scrabble sport in Spanish, a language he doesn’t discuss, has received the board sport’s Spanish-language global identify — in spite of the language barrier that blocked him from chatting along with his fighters.
Nigel Richards, a qualified participant who holds 5 English-language global titles, received the Spanish global Scrabble championships in Granada, Spain, in November, dropping just one sport out of 24. Richards speaks deny Spanish and began memorizing the language’s Scrabble promise record a future in the past, his good friend Liz Fagerlund -– a Pristine Zealand Scrabble respectable -– advised The Related Press.
“He can’t understand why other people can’t just do the same thing,” she stated. “He can look at a block of words together and once they go into his brain as a picture he can just recall that very easily.”
In 2d playground used to be protecting champion Benjamín Olaizola of Argentina, who received 18 of his video games -– and does discuss Spanish.
Richards has accomplished this ahead of. In 2015, he changed into the French language Scrabble global champion, in spite of now not talking French, then finding out the promise record for 9 weeks. He took the French identify once more in 2018.
Identified in global Scrabble over his three-decade profession as the best participant of all era, Richards’ Spanish language victory used to be remarkable even by means of his requirements, alternative avid gamers stated. Pressured to regulate his gameplay to make amends for other tile values in English and Spanish Scrabble, Richards additionally needed to take care of hundreds of alternative seven, 8 and 9 letter phrases within the Spanish language -– which call for a distinct technique.
However what problem rest for a participant who has ruled the sport in his local tongue? Richards in 2008 used to be the primary participant ever to book the arena, U.S. and British titles concurrently -– in spite of having to “forget” 40,000 English phrases that don’t seem within the American Scrabble promise record to triumph within the U.S.
His victories are mythical within the Scrabble family and his video games analyzed in YouTube movies watched by means of tens of hundreds. Scrabble does now not require avid gamers to grasp the definitions of phrases, best what combos of letters are allowed in a rustic’s model of the sport, however local audio system have “a huge leg up,” American Scrabble participant Will Anderson stated in a video summarizing Richards’ Spanish win.
His mom, Adrienne Fischer, advised a Pristine Zealand newspaper in 2010 that Richards didn’t excel at English at school, by no means attended college and took a mathematical way to the sport instead than a linguistic one.
“I don’t think he’s ever read a book, apart from the dictionary,” she stated.
Fagerlund stated Richards inspired her when he arrived at his first Scrabble membership assembly in Christchurch, Pristine Zealand, elderly 28. Two years upcoming, in 1997, he cycled 220 miles (350 kilometers) from Christchurch to the town of Dunedin, received the Pristine Zealand identify on his first try and cycled house once more.
What motivates Richards, who now lives in Malaysia, is a thriller as a result of he by no means speaks to newshounds.
“I get lots of requests from journalists wanting to interview him and he’s not interested,” Fagerlund stated. “He doesn’t understand what all the hoo-ha is about.”