NATIONAL Scrabble championships fifth-place finisher Leon Belony returned to winning ways after championing last Sunday’s Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) Open scrabble tournament that was held at the Malteenoes Sports Club.

Belony accumulated a positive spread of 380 points after straight wins in the six-round competition, to finish ahead of national scrabble championships finalist Moen Gafoor.
Gafoor settled for second place with five wins and a positive spread of 806 points, his only loss being when he came up against Belony in the third round when he lost 15 points. His loss was offset by wins against Wayne Cave, Grace Hercules, Ovid Williams, Julian Cadogan and Robert Williams.
Belony had wins against Cave, Robert and Hercules, with byes in the fourth and sixth rounds. Third place for the competition went to Cave who ended with four wins and a positive of 107.
Last Sunday’s competition was the first  since the hosting of the COURTS-sponsored National Scrabble Championships over three weeks ago. The competition was won by defending champion Abigail McDonald.
McDonald did not play in last Sunday’s matches. The competition was also void of the participation of top-scoring players such as James Krakowsky and former Caribbean champion, Fred Collins.
Robert, who had finished fifth at the national championships finished fourth on Sunday.