10-year-old Indian boy Madhav Kamath finishes second in Scrabble World Youth Cup

Madhav narrowly lost out on the top spot to defending champion, 15-year-old Syed Imaad Ali of Pakistan in the Under-18 event

10-year-old Madhav Gopal Kamath, a native of Mangaluru, made India proud by securing second place in the 2021 Scrabble World Youth Cup.

The event, usually held in different parts of the world, was held online this time due to the pandemic. Madhav’s second-place finish in the main Under-18 event is the best performance by an Indian scrabble player in the history of the World Youth Cup. The prize comprises a trophy and cash award, a press release stated.

Equally impressive was 12-year-old Suyash Manchali from Bengaluru — studying in the seventh standard of MESKKPS, Vidyaranyapura — who finished eighth and was named the best Under-14 player. This was the first time that India had two players ranked among the world's top ten players. The Indian team also received the ‘Spirit of Scrabble’ award for being the team that played best in the true spirit of the game.

Madhav narrowly lost out on the top spot to defending champion, 15-year-old Syed Imaad Ali of Pakistan. Madhav and Imaad both had nine wins from 13 games, but Imaad won the title due to a better spread (difference between his scores and opponent’s scores). The annual global event was organised by World English-Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) and was hosted this year by Pakistan Scrabble Association. India's participation in the tournament was coordinated by the Scrabble Association of India.

Madhav, studying in sixth standard at New Delhi-based Sanskriti School, is the second son of Sudhir Kamath and Malavika P. His father Sudhir Kamath is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-founder of 9stacks. Madhav started playing scrabble when he was six. He had previously won the Under-8, Under-10, and Under-12 works titles held in Malaysia in 2017, Dubai in 2018 and Kaula Lampur in 2019 respectively.

This year, apart from finishing runner up (2nd rank) in the main Under-18 event, Madhav had won the Under-12 event too. He has participated and won prizes in adult tournaments as well, including top five finishes in two national-level tournaments for adults.

The 2021 Scrabble World Youth Cup tournament featured the top 72 Scrabble players aged under 18 from 14 countries, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, UK and the USA. Each of the players first played 36 games in a hard-fought preliminary round held over two weekends from August 7 to 15.