Peter Schwartzman, mayor of Galesburg since 2021, just finished competing in the U.S. National Scrabble Championship, held in the Baltimore suburbs over the course of six days (Aug. 9-14). The tournament, the 34th in history, had over three hundred participants from around the world, though most are from the United States and Canada.
Peter finished 35th (out of 53 playing in the top division, and thus playing for the title of National Championship). He also won the “late bird” tournament which took place the day after the main tournament.
All in all, he moved up to 73rd highest rated of current players and #3 in the state of Illinois.
Peter has been playing in competitive Scrabble tournaments for 30 years and has published six word game books, a few that are for sale at the local Galesburg bookstore, Wordsmith Bookshoppe. In 2024, he started co-directing rated Scrabble tournaments (with Darla Krejci) in Galesburg, IL. The third of these will occur the weekend of Sept. 13-14, 2025. Interest folks should go to the website www.cross-tables.com to learn more about upcoming tournaments throughout the continent.
***Courtesy of Peter Schwartzman***
