Let's acknowledge everyone who helped make Word Cup what it was. We've got a lot of people to congratulate; we've got a lot of people to thank. So let's dive right into it.

It wasn't without a little bit of drama at the end - but ultimately, Will Anderson held on and finished the job on Wednesday morning. With a final record of 21-10, +1516, Will is your Word Cup 2026 CSW champion.

There's nothing quite like a dramatic final day at a major Scrabble championship. High drama at its finest. And, come tomorrow, it looks like that's exactly what we're going to get.

Coming into Day 3 here at Word Cup in Williamsburg, this tournament looked like it was Will Anderson's to lose. At day's end, 7 games later, one thing is clear - he hasn't lost it yet.

We're just about halfway through Word Cup 2026 here in Williamsburg, which means we're reaching that point where the leaderboard really starts to take shape. And right now, there's one guy shaping it - Will Anderson, who stands alone in first place at 11-3.

We had an exciting first day of Scrabble here at the Williamsburg Lodge, and at the end of it, one player stands all alone atop the field - Nitya Chagti, who took down a veritable murderer's row of big-name opponents en route to a 6-1 start.

Everything is in place; everything is lined up and ready to go. All that's left now is to get down to it and play this thing.

We are now six days out from the deadline to register for Word Cup. So, for anyone out there that's still sitting on the fence, mulling that final decision, now is the time to hop off the fence and act. It's this week or never.

Let's run through some of the key things you need to know about the upcoming Word Cup. This is the tournament of the summer, so let's take a deep dive and explore it from every angle.

It feels like some version of this happens pretty much every year - the first few months on the calendar go flying by, you lose track of time, and the summer championship season arrives before you even know what hit you.

In November, we announced that the NACC would return next fall, in Minneapolis, MN; in January, we followed up with news that we were teaming up with our friends from WGPO to host Word Cup over the summer in Williamsburg, VA. For the first time, we're poised to do both.

On behalf of our whole team, I'm excited to announce that Word Cup 2026 is open for registration. This championship event will be held the week of July 31 - Aug. 5, 2026 at the 4-star Williamsburg Lodge.