At the main event of the annual ASTAR Scrabble Challenge International (ASCI) in Malaysia, Singapore’s stars put up a strong performance, with many of our players competing for top positions in the main event amongst a plethora of strong players. Leading the way in the Open division was Hubert Wee, who attained an impressive second place with a commanding 12 wins and a spread of +1160. Hubert’s tournament included victories over high-rated opponents such as Thacha Koowirat and fellow countryman Toh Weibin, managing a win against the great Nigel Richards in Round 16 as well. However, in a tense final-round rematch, Hubert fell short against Nigel by a scoreline of 480–484, missing out on the championship marginally. See Will Anderson’s video covering the final game between these two in dramatic detail.
Ryan Wee joins Hubert in the top three, with 12 wins and a spread of +780. Toh Weibin and Jeremy Khoo also put up solid performances with 10th and 12th placings respectively while Tony Sim (15th) and Wolfram Poh (17th) rounded off the Singapore contingent’s placings in the top half. Marten Bjorkman also attained a 28th place, attaining a 3rd place finish in the Plate category as a result.
In the U18 Youth category, Cyril Xavier Hong delivered a strong performance as well, finishing second overall with 12 wins out of 15 and a +1039 spread. Cyril began the tournament with a five-game winning streak before falling in Round 6 to eventual champion Lord Garnett Talisic with a close 454–487 scoreline. He went on to win matches against top seeds Alexis Koh and Vyasa Dheva, and kept his title hopes alive until the final rounds. However, a third defeat to Talisic in Round 15 proved decisive in the title race. Nevertheless, Cyril’s performance in the U18 event resulted in a 148 point gain in his WESPA rating, a testament to his steady growth in his playing ability.
WESPA tournament results, including the results for ASCI 2025 can be found on the official WEPSA website .