14-year-old Madhav Gopal Kamath of Delhi has become the first Indian to win the World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC). Madhav won the championship in the final round with 21 brilliant wins out of 24 rounds in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

14-year-old Madhav Gopal Kamath has won the World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) 2025. Thus, he has become the first Indian to win a major global Scrabble title.

Host country

Current national champion Madhav won the 20th edition of this annual tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, among 218 under-18 players from 18 countries. Madhav won the championship in the final round with 21 brilliant wins out of 24 rounds.
15-year-old Suyash Manchali of Bengaluru, who was the runner-up in last year’s edition held in Sri Lanka, secured the fifth position with 17 wins.
The Indian team, consisting of 12 of the country’s best young Scrabble players, was supported by Essar Foundation in partnership with the Scrabble Association of India (SAI) and Wordholics.

Beginning of Scrabble

Scrabble began in the year 1931 when architect Alfred Mosher Butts invented a word game called “Lexico” (later “Criss-Cross Words”), but it was redesigned and renamed Scrabble.
Scrabble is a classic board game in which 2-4 players compete to score points by forming words with letter tiles on a 15x15 grid in crossword style. Players draw seven letter tiles and take turns placing words that must connect to existing words on the board.

Madhav Gopal Kamath

Madhav Gopal Kamath, who is currently ranked 8th worldwide across all age groups, also became the youngest national champion this year by winning India’s 25th National Scrabble Championship held in Mumbai. He is trained by Mumbai-based coach Neeta Bhatia.
This 14-year-old player from Delhi won in the penultimate round of the championship organized by the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) and won 21 out of 24 rounds. He ended his last game of Scrabble with the word ‘Bae’.
A 10th grade student of Sanskriti School, Chanakyapuri, Kamath was first introduced to this board game at the age of five at home by his father and uncle.

Scrabble Association of India (SAI)

In the year 2004, the Scrabble Association of India (SAI) was established in Mumbai. Major developments include the first All India tournament in Goa in 2004, which resulted in the formation of the Goa Scrabble Association (SAG).
SAI membership is growing and has strong branches in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, and Pune.