Graduate Student Wins Scrabble Championship

How many points in the word "winner?"

Adam M. Logan should know. The Harvard mathematics Ph.D. candidate last week won first place in the North American Scrabble Championships.

"Naturally I'm happy about it," said Logan, a native of Ottawa, Canada.

Logan won 24 of 27 games at the five-day tournament to finish a full five matches ahead of the second place competitor.

As if the honor of proving himself the top Scrabbler on the continent weren't enough, Logan also took home a silver bowl and $25,000 for winning the tournament.

Ranked fifth in North America before the tournament, Logan said he thought he would be rated first or second when the championships have been factored in. Logan said he can't remember being ranked higher than third previously.

The Harvard student competed in the expert level, the highest division of the tournament, which boasted 112 competitors.

So Much Experience

Logan, 21, said he started playing Scrabble at a young age.

"I think I played my first tournament when I was nine," he said. "I played with my family for a year or two before that."

A Somerville resident, Logan normally plays the game with the Lexington Scrabble club.

Jeremiah P. Mead, a fellow member of the club who also competed at the North American championships, praised Logan's skill at the game, saying that he plays "from a different set of thoughts than the rest of us."

"Like anybody else who's played him, I've been impressed with his word knowledge, with the rapidity with which he makes decisions," Mead said.

Other players who know Logan also said he was an excellent player as well as a friend.

"When you play with him he's just so fast that it's incredible," said Hilda L. Siegel, co-director of the Allston-Brighton Scrabble Club. "He'll play with anybody, he's not a snob about it."

Michael S. Wolfberg, another member of the Lexington club, recalled a game with Logan.

"One game when I played him it was an absolute clobber," said Wolfberg. "I think he used all his letters six times. I'd never seen that done before."

Mead described Logan as "soft-spoken," saying that he was modest and reserved about winning.

He added that Logan often wears math T-shirts and plays Scrabble with his shoes off "cause that's how he's most comfortable."

Logan said he enjoys Scrabble because "it's really an aesthetic experience very much."

"I never really took to chess very much which is more traditional," he said.

Logan said he likes "putting a few letters between words to make other words," and that he has made many good friends playing Scrabble.

Logan said he plans to continue competing, possibly entering the Canadian championship this fall.

Logan went to Princeton University at the age of 16 and graduated in 1995.

He hopes to teach a tutorial on the arithmetic of elliptic curves this fall

Michael S. Wolfberg, another member of the Lexington club, recalled a game with Logan.

"One game when I played him it was an absolute clobber," said Wolfberg. "I think he used all his letters six times. I'd never seen that done before."

Mead described Logan as "soft-spoken," saying that he was modest and reserved about winning.

He added that Logan often wears math T-shirts and plays Scrabble with his shoes off "cause that's how he's most comfortable."

Logan said he enjoys Scrabble because "it's really an aesthetic experience very much."

"I never really took to chess very much which is more traditional," he said.

Logan said he likes "putting a few letters between words to make other words," and that he has made many good friends playing Scrabble.

Logan said he plans to continue competing, possibly entering the Canadian championship this fall.

Logan went to Princeton University at the age of 16 and graduated in 1995.

He hopes to teach a tutorial on the arithmetic of elliptic curves this fall