EEAST Quinta Essentia: Ghana, Uganda Internationals Land In Lagos For Scrabble Showdown At Eko Hotel
Ghana’s duo of Charles Tachie-Menson and Segun Mudi with Uganda’s Dorothy Marion are already in Nigeria and will take to the field for honours at the 5th Emmanuel Egbele Annual Scrabble Tournament (EEAST) tagged ‘Quinta Essentia’ holding this weekend in Lagos.
Tachie-Menson, a familiar force in the Nigerian scrabble circuit will be full of confidence as he brings his trickery into a domain filled with Nigerian rivals.
The Ghanaian Master player stunned many last year at the Lekki Scrabble Classic as he was crowned in the presence of his more illustrious hosts.
Just in June, he made his mark at the inaugural Dr Ralph Owusu Scrabble Tournament in Ghana before strutting his stuff into the EEAST for this weekend’s fireworks on the board.
His compatriot Segun Mudi will seek his fortune at the Challenger Division where he hopes to make his presence felt in the finicky game dominated by his West African ‘Brothers’.
From the Eastern part of Africa comes Dorothy Marion of Uganda who will also be adding some spice to the mix as she searches for her first title on the rugged Nigerian playing terrain.
Marion who has been in Nigeria to under-study the style of the West Africans will be banking on her relationship, skills and luck to shock all and sundry on Sunday as the race to the top at the 2-day tournament begins this Saturday.
Their presence has once again shown the expanding status of the EEAST as an international championship.
Day One will witness 12 rounds of games.
The Elite Division takes on a fresh format where the top four players will proceed into what the organisers called the ‘Final Four’ as the others continue with the remaining 6 round of games.
The knockout phase will see the 1st go against the 3rd and the 2nd facing off against the 4th in a ‘Best of Three’ games.
Losers in both ties will meet over three games to determine the 3rd and the 4th while the winners will clash in a ‘Best of 5’ where a champion will emerge.
In the Challenger Division, the format employed according to the organisers is the Lagged Swiss and King -Of-The-Hill (KOTH) while the Collins Scrabble Word (CSW 24) dictionary will be the guiding book.
About 90 players will search for honours at the glamorous 18- round tournament where over five million naira in prize-money is guaranteed.
