COLOMBO: The Colombo Scrabble Festival began at the Bandaranaike Memorial Conference Hall in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Friday.

The first of the three international scrabble tournaments -- the 6th Sri Lanka Open International Scrabble Championship — began with 80 of the finest scrabble players from around the world participating.

The star attraction is of course the reigning world champion Nigel Richards of New Zealand.

A 17-member Pakistani contingent is also taking part in the championship including 13 youngsters who are taking part in the World Youth Scrabble Championship which begins on 29th. The youngsters are hoping to get valuable practice playing against some of the best players from across the world.

Waseem Khatri of Pakistan shot into an early lead and was on top of the tables till the fifth round. He notched a memorable win against arguably the greatest player of all times: Nigel Richards.

At the end of day one however, Richards recovered and climbed to number one spot. He has seven wins in eight rounds; his only defeat was at the hands of Waseem.

Reigning world youth champion Moizullah Baig showed the world how much he has improved in recent times. Moiz was on the sixth spot at the end of day one with six wins.

Waseem is currently ninth with five wins and a tie.

Four of the young Pakistani players — Hassan Hadi Khan, Arham Abidi, Ahmad Abdullah Abbasi and Yash Gandhi — have five wins out of eight.

Even the nine-year-old Hasham Hadi Khan managed to win three matches against much older and experienced players.

Another 17 rounds will be played over the next two days.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2014