Isn't it reassuring ....

[Jonathan Rogers]

...to see that competitors in some other games are even crazier, even more lampooned by the mainstream press, and even worse rewarded, than chess players?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 71616.html

[Paul Sanders]

The trophy and $20,000 (£12,700) prize was claimed yesterday by New Zealander Nigel Richards, who assured his 3-2 win over Australian Andrew Fisher by taking 95 points with "omnified" – to have rendered something universal.

Worse rewarded???? 12 grand for 5 rounds!

[Jonathan Rogers]

world championship, though!

[John Upham]

I can see the Sun headline now:

"Letter G put on the Spot!"

I tried my best...!

How would have Sesame Street dealt with this?

[David Robertson]

"This game is not about words", Mr Smitheram says without any irony. "The vast majority of the top players are mathematicians or computer programmers. This game is about the probability that a set of symbols will come together in such a way that you can play them on the board"

I was quite taken by this insightful self-reflection, obvious to some perhaps, but not commonly observed among enthusiasts of kindred activities. Mr Smitheram happily distances himself from any mystique attaching to Scrabble, and heads directly for its neurological basis.

It begs the question of whether, one day, we'll be in a position to know the neurological components of successful chess, demystifying the game (alas?) in the process. I suspect Jonathan Rowson is on the right track with his idea of fluency which, if I understand him correctly, can be applied to extraordinary performance in language, numbers, chess, and presumably much more, like music. Quite what mix of 'fluencies' is involved, and how fluency is acquired and/or developed, remains beyond us currently, I think. But neuroscience is the coming field. We'll know more, much more, in 50 years time - or someone will anyway.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

A strong scrabble player I spoke to told me that a very well known British scrabble player was once banned for three years for concealing a tile up his sleeve.

[David Robertson]

Y?

[PeterTurland]

Well If I really wanted an objective comparison, I would try to teach both to a great ape, a creature like Kanzi would be a good candidate.