Craig Beevers

In the World Championship, or Scrabble Champions Tournament (SCT) as it was dubbed that year and in 2013, Beevers defeated Alastair Richards 2–1 in a best-of-three quarter-finals.{{cite web|publisher=WESPA|url=http://www.wespa.org/aardvark/cgi-bin/scorecard.cgi?tou=2014/GBR/msiqf14.tou&name=Craig%20Beevers|title=22.11.2014 SCT Semi-finals: Craig Beevers|accessdate=22 November 2016}} He went on to beat Dave Wiegand 3–2 in a best-of-five semi-finals.{{cite web|publisher=WESPA|url=http://www.wespa.org/aardvark/cgi-bin/scorecard.cgi?tou=2014/GBR/msisf14.tou&name=Craig%20Beevers|title=22.11.2014 SCT Semi-finals: Craig Beevers|accessdate=22 November 2016}} After securing a 3–1 win against Chris Lipe in a best-of-five finals, Beevers became the 2014 World Scrabble Champion, and only the second Englishman to do so after Mark Nyman (1993).{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11248965/Craig-Beevers-becomes-second-ever-English-world-Scrabble-champion.html|newspaper=Telegraph|title=Craig Beevers becomes second-ever English world Scrabble champion|first=Tom|last=Brooks-Pollock|date=24 November 2014}}

Beevers won the UK National Championship,{{cite web|publisher=WESPA|url=http://www.wespa.org/aardvark/cgi-bin/scorecard.cgi?tou=2015/GBR/nsc2015.tou&name=Craig%20Beevers|title=20.09.2015 NSC 2015 : Craig Beevers|accessdate=22 November 2016}} and hit a peak rating of 2161 (World No. 7),{{cite web|publisher=WESPA|url=http://www.wespa.org/aardvark/cgi-bin/rathist.cgi?name=Craig%20Beevers|title=Craig Beevers: Rating History|accessdate=22 November 2016}} but failed to defend his title at the 2015 World Scrabble Championship, at which he finished 9th.{{cite web|publisher=WESPA|url=http://www.wespa.org/aardvark/cgi-bin/scorecard.cgi?tou=2015/AUS/wsc2015.tou&name=Craig%20Beevers|title=07.11.2015 WESPAC {{endash}} Perth: Craig Beevers|accessdate=22 November 2016}}

Beevers finished in 57th place (amongst a field of 72) at the MSI World Scrabble Championship 2016.{{cite web|publisher=WESPA|title=02.09.2016 MSI WSC Lille: Craig Beevers|accessdate=22 November 2016|url=http://www.wespa.org/aardvark/cgi-bin/scorecard.cgi?tou=2016/FRA/msiwsc16.tou&name=Craig%20Beevers}} He also lost his title of National Champion to Phil Robertshaw at the 2016 National Scrabble Championship in October, ending up in 14th place.{{cite web|title=Event Coverage Index|url=http://www.centrestar.co.uk/tsh/16nsc/html/index.html|publisher=Centrestar|accessdate=22 November 2016}}

Beevers is a former contestant of the television programme. Countdown.{{Sfn|Beevers|2015|p=9}} He won series 57 of this game show, which involves finding anagrams up to 9 letters and calculated mathematical problems. He is also the webmaster for the websites of both the World English-Language Scrabble Players' Association (WESPA){{cite web|url=http://www.wespa.org/index.shtml|title=Home|publisher=WESPA|accessdate=22 November 2016}} and the Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP).{{cite web|publisher=ABSP|title=The ABSP Committee|url=http://www.absp.org.uk/absp/committee.shtml|accessdate=22 November 2016}} He and fellow Scrabble player Ray Tate attempted to break the world record for most points scored in 24 hours of Scrabble in 2012, but the effort had to be shelved after Tate "keeled over with dehydration after 15 hours of play".{{cite news|newspaper=Metro|url=http://metro.co.uk/2012/04/15/scrabble-player-collapses-during-24-hour-bid-to-break-world-record-388995/|title=Scrabble player collapses during 24-hour bid to break world record|date=15 April 2012|last=Radnedge|first=Aidan}} The duo "unofficially" broke the record a year later, according to GazetteLive.{{cite news|newspaper=GazetteLive|url=http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/norton-wordsmith-craig-beevers-beats-3664740|title=Norton wordsmith Craig Beevers beats world Scrabble record|first=Mike|last=Morgan|date=13 May 2013}} In May 2015, Beevers guest-wrote an oped for The Guardian titled "As world Scrabble champion, I think new words are obvs lolz", in response to the addition of some 6,500 new words to the official lexicon used in competitive Scrabble, Collins Official Scrabble Words published by HarperCollins.{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|title=As world Scrabble champion, I think new words are obvs lolz|first=Craig|last=Beevers|date=21 May 2015|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/21/world-scrabble-champion-new-words-lolz-collins-official-words|ref=none}} Beevers authored a book on how to "(p)lay like a Scrabble world champion" titled Word Addict; it was published by HarperCollins in 2015. The same year, as part of World Scrabble Day celebrations, Beevers took part in a 24-hour Scrabble marathon that was streamed online.{{cite news|newspaper=Telegraph|title=Scrabble tips: the world champion's tips for how best to find the words|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/scrabble-tips-the-world-champions-tips-for-how-best-to-find-the-words-10172351.html|date=13 April 2015}}

Craig Beevers was born and raised in Norton, County Durham, England. He attended the University of Sheffield.{{Sfn|Beevers|2015|pp=9{{endash}}10}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|first=Craig|last=Beevers|isbn=9780008146474|title=Word Addict|year=2015|publisher=HarperCollins}}

• [http://craigbeevers.me.uk/aboutme.shtml Official website]

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Category:British Scrabble players

Category:Living people

Category:People from Norton, County Durham

Category:Sportspeople from County Durham

Category:World Scrabble Championship winners

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Alumni of the University of Sheffield