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Brett Smitheram is a British Scrabble Grand Master and one of the most successful players in the history of the game. Smitheram was 2022 UK National Scrabble Champion, defeating a high-calibre field in June that year. He won the 2016 World Scrabble Championship, and has been ranked in the World top 5, and as a UK Scrabble Grand Master for nearly 20 years. Originally from Camborne, Cornwall, and a former pupil of Truro School, he lives in London and is Head of HR for the Pozitive Energy group, including PE Dot Solutions, Pozitive Water, Pozitive Payments and Pozitive Payments.

Smitheram won the UK National Scrabble Championship in 2000 and 2022, the ABSP Masters invitational event in 2005 and the British Matchplay Scrabble Championship in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2010. He is three-times Northern Ireland Champion, having won in 2011, 2017 and 2018. Entering only 2 UK majors in 2019 (SIMPLE, which replaced the Spring Matchplay for that year, and the British Elimination Scrabble Tournament/BEST) Smitheram won both ahead of large and high-calibre fields. Smitheram has won the award for UK highest rated player a record 5 times (most recently, the last time it was awarded in 2019) and is current UK number 1.

In 2016 he defeated Mark Nyman at the MSI World Scrabble Championship 2016 3 games to 0 to become the World Scrabble Champion for the first time, in the process playing the word BRACONID for 176 (+5 for a failed challenge) which was reported on widely by global media. Following his World Championship win, Smitheram has continued to compete locally and globally, winning multiple tournaments, and narrowly missing out on his second World Championship Final in 2018, losing to Nigel Richards, the eventual winner, in the semi-final. He remains an active contributor and spokesperson to the global media on Scrabble and gaming topics.

Throughout 2024 Brett has been extremely active on television, radio and print media during a resurgence in public interest in Scrabble. He played various celebrity opponents, including famous YouTuber and influencer, maxklymenko and won (despite playing with headphones, blindfold and having his hands tied behind his back)

In 1997, Smitheram won six episodes of the gameshow Countdown, qualifying him for the finals stage of Series 37. In 2017 Smitheram appeared on the Micky Flanagan TV show Thinking Aloud, and has been the subject matter for questions on multiple quiz shows including The Chase and Have I Got News For You. On 17th December 2024, Brett appeared on How To Win At Boardgames, playing against Martin Lewis (financial journalist), himself a keen Scrabble addict.

References

1. "Brett Smitheram wins World Scrabble Championship". BBC News. 4 September 2016.
2. "Truro School Former Pupils October 2016 Newsletter" (PDF). 2 October 2016.
3. "Majors".
4. "Brett Smitheram - Countdown". 10 December 2016.

• British Scrabble players
• World Scrabble Championship winners
• Living people
• 1979 births