Division 5 Winner: Doug Szymkowiak

by Troy Thompson

Dan Stock and Doug Szymkowiak

Doug Szymkowiak, 39, was the home-state winner of Division 5 with a 22.5-8.5 +1440 record. Doug is from North Ridgeville, Ohio (in the greater Cleveland area) and has been playing competitive SCRABBLE for about a year and a half. This was his first tournament win.

After years of occasional play, Doug purchased a Hasbro SCRABBLE game for his computer in 2008 — and he has been hooked ever since.

“I played six straight hours the day I bought the game.”

Doug then looked for a local club and is now a part of Dan Stock’s Rocky River Club #454. While playing in Dayton at his first-ever National SCRABBLE Championship, Doug enjoyed the support of his home club, as well as its sister clubs (Independence Club #164, Montrose Club #653, and Sandusky Club #635). Doug had played in eight tournaments prior to Dayton, with his best result a second-place finish at the Pittsburgh Tournament on June 13.

Doug’s very first two plays of the whole tournament were bingos (COURTED and RECOUNTS), and he remembers thinking, “This might be a good tournament for me.” Among his other bingos was the nice play CARBOLIc. The most important win for Doug was in round 22 against David Meredith, which stopped a 3-game losing streak and started the 9-game winning streak that eventually propelled him to the division championship. He clinched the top position by winning game 30 over Andy Murphy 397-274 and was Gibsonized for the final game 31 (which Murphy won to finish second over Tristan Vanech).

Apart from anagramming, Doug works as an engineer for Energizer Battery and enjoys golf, softball, and photography.

Troy Thompson is an attorney from central Indiana and a regular at the Indianapolis North Side SCRABBLE Club #444.