Nigel Richards (Scrabble player)

Nigel Richards (born 1967) is a New Zealand–Malaysian professional Scrabble player. He represents New Zealand in World Championships but often represents Malaysia. He is one of the world's most dominant players in the history of the international Scrabble tournament scene and is widely regarded as the greatest Scrabble player of all time.

Richards is the most successful World Scrabble Champion, having emerged at the World Scrabble Championship in 2007 and 2011 and the then-renamed Scrabble Champions Tournament in 2013. He is also the only player to have been World Champion more than once. He is a five-time U.S. national champion, an eight-time UK Open champion, an 11-time champion of the Singapore Open Scrabble Championship and a 13-time winner of the King's Cup in Bangkok, the world's biggest Scrabble competition. Upon winning the French World Scrabble Championship in 2015, he made headlines by becoming the first player to be World Champion in both English and French, despite not speaking French fluently.

As a player, Richards is renowned for his superior photographic memory of words and mathematical skills. An avid cyclist, he is rarely interviewed, often saying very little when answering questions.

Richards started playing competitive Scrabble at New Zealand's Christchurch Scrabble Club. Since beginning his competitive career in 1997, he has won about 75% of his tournament games, collecting an estimated USD200,000 in prize money. In 2000 Richards moved to Malaysia.

Richards won the World Scrabble Championship and earned USD 15,000 by winning a playoff, 3 games to 0, against Ganesh Asirvatham of Malaysia. The two qualified for the playoff by leading a field of 104 international experts after 24 rounds of a tournament held 9–12 November in Mumbai, India.

Richards won the USA National Scrabble Championship and earned USD25,000 by winning his last three games against the runner-up, 1998 champion Brian Cappelletto, for a record of 22 wins and 6 losses, with a cumulative spread of 1340 points.

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