Ep 2: Scrabble across a generation: Mohan Chunkath, 69, & Suyash Manchali, 15

“Scrabble is my life, the rest is a game,” says 69-year-old Mohan Verghese Chunkath, retired IAS officer and national Scrabble champion many times over, in conversation with 15-year-old Suyash Manchali, himself a top-rated player. Their love for Scrabble shines through as they discuss words like “doomer”, “quoil”, “madafu”, and hizzoner, their rigour of practicing an hour daily, and sparring against players across age-groups in tournaments around the country and internationally. Both also advocate for recognising Scrabble as a professional sport.Chennai-based Mohan was the first player to represent India at the World Scrabble Championship held in 1999 at Melbourne, Australia. He also represented India in the World Scrabble Championship Tournaments in 2001, 2005 and 2016. Bengaluru-based Suyash has won many laurels, such as becoming the Under-12 world champion in WYSC 2019 (Malaysia), U-14 world champion in WYSC 2021 (Online), U-16 second runner-up in WYSC 2023 (Thailand), 10th place in WYSC 2023 (Thailand), U-16 world champion in WYSC 2024 (Sri Lanka), Runner-up of 2024 World Youth Scrabble Championship (Sri Lanka). He has also been the 2nd runner up at the Asia Youth Cup 2024 and U-14 runner-up at Asia Youth Cup 2022.For more information, visit: Scrabble Association of India Host Anuradha Varma, co-founder of Gen Seasoned, is a journalist and Mindset Coach. Email: [email protected]: 01:16 Mohan Chunkath’s introduction05:15 Suyash’s initiation into Scrabble06:23 Mohan’s initial days in Scrabble12:48 Probability vs playability23:11 Suyash on why chess scores over Scrabble25:28 Suyash’s preparation routine; never picked up a dictionary; online apps & tools27:50 Mohan on how Scrabble is a proprietary game, but needs to be treated as a professional sport30:40 On Nigel Richards, world Scrabble champion33:37 Mohan on Ganesh Ashirvadam, now retired, as superior to Nigel37:48 How the World Youth Championship works42:54 Mohan on evolution of dictionaries51:30 Suyash balancing Scrabble practice with homework51:42 Mohan on being active in the Scrabble circuit56:53 Studying and playing across generations01:01:05 The case for promoting Scrabble as a sportDisclaimer: Views are personal. Listener discretion is advised.