Recapping 1-days in Sterling, VA and Somerville, MA

For much of the calendar year 2026, the mantle of running CoCo Scrabble events in North America has largely been carried by two factions of people. There's been one team running tournaments in Northern Virginia, led by Zach Dang and a few others; there's been another in New England, where Niel Gan and Matthew O'Connor have been running the show. Between the two of them, these two groups have been responsible for running the majority of the tournaments on our calendar. These guys have been putting in some serious work.

So it's only fitting that this weekend, we had both groups in action simultaneously. On Saturday, Zach hosted a lively group of 12 players at his home in Sterling, VA; then, on Sunday, Matthew welcomed a cohort of 6 for a daylong tournament in Somerville, MA. As always, these two local Scrabble contingents each enjoyed a day of spirited competition over the board.

Let's dive right in.

On Saturday, a crowded field of competitors in Sterling fought through 8 rounds of action. There were plenty of ups and downs, but eventually what began to materialize was a four-player race at the top of the standings. With six rounds down and two to go, it was Sam Rosin atop the field at 5-1, Joshua Castellano at 5-1 with a weaker spread, and two players - Tim Weiss and Nitya Chagti - a game back at 4-2. This set up an exciting finish.

In round 7, Tim put up a 500 game and bested Sam, while Josh outdid him with a whopping 565 in a big win over Nits. This put Josh in the driver's seat for the final round, as he controlled his own destiny to win the tournament. And win it, he did. With a 512-468 victory over Sam in round 8, Josh was able to lock down first place; meanwhile, Tim won his final game to clinch second. The final standings featured Josh at 7-1, Tim at 6-2, and both Sam and a late-surging Carson Ip at 5-3.

Pivoting now to Sunday...

Somerville featured a bit of a smaller field, but nonetheless no shortage of excitement. Like in Sterling the day before, the pack was crowded at the outset but a small group of contenders began to emerge toward the end.

With five games down at one to go, it was director Niel who led the pack - he was 4-1, and a crowd of Jamie Ryan, Brad Whitmarsh, and Matthew O'Connor were all just a game back. This meant that all sorts of outcomes were possible up until the very end - conceivably, any of the four could have won the tournament.

Ultimately though, Niel finished the job. He bested Jamie in the final round, 512-431, guaranteeing him first place. Brad then took down Matthew in the battle for second. It was Niel all alone atop the standings with 5 wins in the end, Brad with 4, and the other two guys at 3-3.

Thus ends another weekend of East Coast Scrabble action! Congratulations to everyone who shined over the board - especially Josh, your champion in NOVA, and Niel, top dog in Somerville. And thanks as always to Zach, Niel, Matthew, and everyone else who's played a role in continuing to make these tournaments happen.

And the Scrabbling goes on. For both the NOVA and New England cohorts, the next date on the calendar is still TBD - we'll try to get all of those details ironed out and update you when we can. In the meantime, though, there's a third local Scrabble community that's looking forward to some 1-day tournament action - that would be Portland, OR, where we've got a pair of tournaments coming up in just a few days' time. We'll check back in with you all then.