Night on the tiles! Jewish scrabble genius misses out on being crowned UK champ

A Jewish scrabble player from London has come within a whisker of winning this year’s National Scrabble Championship, with the final of the 78-player tournament coming down to just one letter.

Elie Dangoor, 63, narrowly lost in a tense match to Brett Smitheram, 43, a scrabble grand master and reigning UK national scrabble champion who is already one of the most successful players in the history of the game.

Dangoor, whose brother David is a well-known Jewish philanthropist, galloped into an early lead with words such as ‘blowiest’, ‘pricier’, and ‘encave’ – a triple word score – but a Smitheram recovery meant that it all came down to the last letter.

“He needed an E – a one-in-eight chance – and he got it,” said Elie, who also plays backgammon, chess, and bridge. “It was most unfortunate! Still, it was a very satisfying tournament, as I was only seeded 11th.”

Elie, a real estate director who chaired the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association until two years ago, has played scrabble all over the world, including in Thailand, India, Germany, and Ireland.

“I actually beat [Smitheram] earlier in the tournament,” he said, speaking to Jewish News this week. “Yes, it was heart-breaking to lose at the end, but I can’t complain at my luck throughout.

“It’s a shame because I would have been the oldest national champion if I’d won. But that’s OK, it just means I’ll be an even older champion when I do eventually win it!”

Players play 16 games throughout the tournament, and each player has 25 minutes per game, equating to roughly one move every minute. “Lots of Jewish people play scrabble,” said Elie. “I don’t know why but we seem to like it!”