Word Cup Day 1: The tournament starts hot and heavy

Welcome to sunny Williamsburg, Virginia, where Word Cup 2026 got underway this morning.

Well, "sunny" is an understatement. It's hot here. Sweltering hot. Humid, too. It was difficult to leave the building for lunch and not come back drenched in sweat.

Incidentally, the action inside the playing room is heating up, too.

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. A host of others are a game or two (or 1.5 games, in a couple of cases) off Nits' pace.

Here's the top 10:

1. Nitya Chagti (6-1, +202)

2. Will Anderson (5-2, +504)

3. Matthew O'Connor (5-2, +475)

4. Ben Schoenbrun (5-2, +241)

5. Rob Robinsky (5-2, +199)

6. Matthew Bernardina (4.5-2.5, +273)

7. Enoch Nwali (4.5-2.5, +62)

8. Erickson Smith (4-3, +235)

9. Edgar Odongkara (4-3, +206)

10. Mohammad Sulaiman (4-3, +179)

A fantastic start for Nits, who came in as the #22 seed and stands for now at #1.

Will she retain the lead? Or will another one of these strong experts make a run at the top spot tomorrow?

Tune in and find out.