David Eldar will face Will Anderson for the BlitzChamps title

When we first announced this tournament on Jan. 4 (holy cow, that was 15 weeks ago - where does the time go?!), I had no idea what to expect. To the best of my knowledge, no one's ever attempted a tournament of this magnitude before - the length, the number of games played, the worldwide sprawl of the whole thing. I wasn't sure whether people would go for it. They could have been scared off by any number of factors.

Fast forward to today, though, and I couldn't be happier with how everything has turned out. We've now been through three months of play, including 374 total matches, 146 of them live-streamed on Twitch. It's been a crazy ride. And here's the best part: It's now culminating in an epic showdown between two of the best players in the world.

On Wednesday night in North America (Thursday morning in eastern Australia), David Eldar and Will Anderson will do battle in a best-of-19 series for the title of World Blitz Scrabble Champion. Both players have put together dazzlingly impressive runs to get here, both in their 9 weeks of pool play and in the subsequent playoff bracket. David is now 11-1 in matches in this tournament, 82.5-22.5 in individual games; Will is 12-0, 86.5-25.5. They've both been positively beastly in this tournament from start to finish, and now they meet face to face. Only one can win.

Let's first recap the semifinal victories that landed David and Will in the final, then preview the championship match that lies ahead.

Semifinal: David Eldar 7, Janul De Silva 5

This was a thrilling match. Going in, this was seen as something of a David vs. Goliath matchup (though that's kinda confusing, because the Goliath was named David). Eldar is a former World Scrabble Champion, and the No. 2-rated player in the world by WESPA as of this writing; he's been dominating almost everyone in his path throughout this tournament. De Silva, on the other hand, entered BlitzChamps as a 5-seed and surprised most everyone by advancing this far.

But despite the on-paper mismatch, Janul quickly proved himself extremely capable of going toe to toe with the grandmaster. The two were even through the first six games - David won the first, blitzing out to a 457-321 lead before Janul ran out of time, and Janul took Game 2, surging to a 429-287 advantage and getting David to resign when he dropped ARETTED for 67 late. David won Game 3, turning a close game into a blowout when his last two plays were AEROLITH for 74 and ZEIN for 84; Janul got Game 4, as he led 380-229 and David resigned without a fight. David resigned again in Game 5, when Janul's bingo of DELOUSER for 58 put him ahead by an insurmountable 396-239; it was Janul's turn to give up in Game 6, as he fished for a bingo at the end and a rack of ADINNTV wouldn't cut it.

Suddenly, it was 3-3. What began as a best-of-13 series was now reduced to a best-of-7. In a short match, anything can happen.

That's when something crazy happened: Janul kept winning. Though not without some drama. Game 7 was an absolute classic - David led late in the game, 358-335, but Janul battled back. He found QUAKY for 50 to take the lead, then GEMOTE for 27 the following turn to take out an open triple-triple. Janul led, 412-382, but David had the J - and after JA for 36, leaving 1 tile in the bag, he had the lead again. It looked like David was going to steal this one - except oh wait, Janul's last rack is AIIORSV, and miraculously the one tile floating for a bingo is an L. Boom. RAVIOLIS for 62 comes down, and it's Janul's win. Then comes Game 8, and it turns out shockingly similar! Again David clings to a small lead late, but again Janul comes up with a late-game bingo through the one tile he needs. This time it's an open E for Janul's last rack of AGRSTY?, and STRATEGY for 62 is the winner.

At this point, Janul is up 5-3, and he's two wins away from eliminating the world champ. The Twitch chat is abuzz - is this upset really happening?

To no one's surprise, David refused to die quietly. Game 9 was another nailbiter, and it looked like Janul had a real chance to finish the job - he led by a little bit late, 417-395, and David drew into ADORSTW with 5 tiles left in the bag. Shockingly, he missed his natural bingo of TOWARDS, instead settling on TAWA for 28 - and after a heavy Q play of QUIET for 48, Janul had the lead in the endgame! But then it was Janul's turn to make a crucial mistake. His endgame rack was CCFOP - if he'd played a word using one of his two C's, like COIF for example, he could have won. But he played FOP instead, keeping CC - and David double-C-stuck him. David slowly one-tiled out and took the narrow win, 491-486.

Then came the final three games. David took Game 10 rather easily - Janul managed just 304 points, and he resigned in the endgame when the position was clearly losing. With the series tied 5-5, Game 11 was obviously crucial - and David took that one as well. He led by a bingo most of the way (thanks to a sweet find of LIPLINER for 76 early), and he held onto that lead late. Janul's desperate fish of HO for 5 at the end was unsuccessful, as David slammed him with GUILDER and RHO for 78 to put the game away. That set up a chance for David to finish the comeback win in Game 12, and indeed he did. Janul's opening rack was BURETTE, giving him a big early lead, but David gutted out the win eventually. He bingoed twice early (ROASTIE for 83, HAVERED for 75), dropped a big Z-bomb late with WAZ for 68, and had just enough flexibility in his endgame racks to score well and hold off Janul in the end. David took the game, 493-449, and the match, 7-5. Impressively done.

Congrats to David on reaching the finals - but much credit to Janul as well, as he put together an amazing run to make it this far. He's still young, and clearly rapidly improving his game. I have no doubt he'll be back in the mix in future tournaments against elite fields.

Semifinal: Will Anderson 7, Edward Okulicz 5

The showdown between Will and Edward three days later was just as competitive. Edward drew first blood, winning Game 1 with a pair of big bingos midgame (RESCUEE, then ALERIONS) that put him ahead over 150. Will responded, though. He won Game 2 in a close one - both players had funky endgame racks (KRR? for Will, ELNRS for Edward), but Will had the endgame flexibility to outrun and win, 426-403. Game 3 was another close endgame that Will gutted out, as he drew EFHNORS and found a nice sequence under time pressure - FRONS for 28 setting up HE for 20 to win, 450-433. Then he dropped 489 points in Game 4 and won a barnburner. Suddenly, Will had a solid lead, 3-1.

Edward kept battling. He won Game 5 without much difficulty, turning a close game into a blowout when he dropped EOSINIC for 75 and immediately overlapped it with LAX for 42. Game 6 was similar - Edward won fairly easily, hitting big bingos like LENTOUS for 85 and VILAYET for 109 en route to a high-scoring win, 555-336. Just like the David/Janul series earlier this week, we had ourselves a 3-3 tied match after 6.

It was Will's turn to respond, and indeed he did. Game 7 began as a bit of a slog, but Will broke the game wide open when he hit ZINGERS for 90 midway through, and from there, he didn't look back. In Game 8, though, it was Edward's turn. The game was extremely close with 1 in the bag, with Edward ahead 397-395, but his endgame rack was far better - ABDEIPX to Will's ELLNQRT. Edward was able to score big with the X and play off his tiles with relative ease; Will was Q-stuck. Edward took the game, 495-441, and tied the match, 4-4.

We had ourselves a best of five. And it was Will's turn to notch a clutch win - he came up with OPACIFY for 99 from a rack of CFIOPY? late in a close game, and that would make the difference. This set up a crucial Game 10, with Edward down 5-4 and needing a win pretty desperately. But Will got him again in Game 10. Again, it came down to a nail-biting endgame, and Will had more scoring punch on his final rack. IJNSTTW yielded JEWS for 28 by Will, and Edward had ADIR, unable to do better than IRADE for 7. It was Will's win, 417-401, and Edward was on the brink of elimination.

He needed to win three games in a row. To his credit, he got the first one - the crucial moment came midway through, when Will led 190-179 and held ADEINRT. There was one place to bingo, so naturally Will took it, playing DETRAIN for 73. But the N dangling in the triple-triple lane proved deadly, as Edward slammed him right away with ARGUMENT for 158. From there, he won easily, and the second-guessers in the Twitch chat were all over Will - would TRAINED for 1 point less, slotting the D instead, have been better?

No matter. Will shook it off and moved on to Game 12, and he was able to finish off the match then and there. It was a close game for a lot of the way, but Will's bingos were just too much for Edward in the end - he got down ANTIDRUG for 70 and LATRINES for 59 midway through, and Edward struggled to fight back from behind. The board was too closed, and his draws were too awkward. Will kept scoring and plowing through to the finish, and when the dust settled, he had gotten his seventh win, 461-374.

This match was an absolute blast to commentate. Both players were phenomenal, and their blazing speed was really impressive. This was exactly the kind of competition you expect from a blitz Scrabble championship. These guys are both legit. Props to Will on reaching the finals, and well done Edward, also. Heck of a run.

Final: David Eldar vs. Will Anderson

I could not possibly be more excited for this matchup. These two guys are not only both world-class players - one's a world champion already, and the other's a good bet to win one sooner or later - but they're also both great for Scrabble. The phrase "ambassadors for the game" gets thrown around a lot, but David and Will really are both that. They're both talented, engaging, and personable - great personalities to have at the forefront of the Scrabble world.

They also both host popular Twitch streams, which goes to show that they both keenly understand the way gaming is evolving in the 21st century. For an event like BlitzChamps, that's as much about creating exciting content for a broad audience as it is about the actual Scrabble, David and Will are the perfect finalists.

Oh, and one other commonality: David and Will are both gung-ho about playing lots and lots and lots of Scrabble. They were both quite vocal about pushing me to allow matches longer than 9 games in the playoffs - it was Will who urged me two weeks ago to consider an 11-13-15 format for the final three rounds, and it was David who pushed back, saying even 15 wasn't long enough for the finals. After some negotiation among the three of us this weekend, it was decided that David and Will will play an even longer series for the championship - best 10 out of 19 games wins.

Anyway, that 19-game grudge match is coming up in just a few days. David and Will will do battle on Thursday morning at 12:30 a.m. GMT - this is 10:30 a.m. Thursday in David's time zone, in eastern Australia, and 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday night for Will, on the East Coast of the United States.

Wherever you are, I hope you're awake and able to tune in - it should be a fantastic match. To see an omniscient view of both players racks' and hear my commentary, you can enjoy the match at twitch.tv/cocoscrabble; if you want to see David's point of view, that too is available, at twitch.tv/deldar182.

And after the match, don't go anywhere - we'll have live postgame interviews with the players, so you can hear from both the champion and the runner-up. Excited for that.

That's it! That's all. We're just days away from the conclusion of this epic, months-long tournament. I hope you're all as psyched for the grand finale as I am.