Brian Cappelletto
Encyclopedia
Brian Cappelletto is a Scrabble
player who represents the United States
in international competition. He was the runner-up at the inaugural World Scrabble Championship
in 1991
and won the event in 2001
. He also won the American National Scrabble Championship in 1998, and was the runner-up in 2008 and 2010.
Cappelletto appeared in Stefan Fatsis
's book Word Freak
, which follows the stories of several of Scrabble's top players in North America. Fatsis calls him "Scrabble's first child prodigy". The documentary Scrabylon, about the 2001 World Championship, also features Cappelletto as a central character.
Cappelletto first appeared as a Division 1 player at the 1987 National Scrabble Championship, winning 16 of his 21 games and finishing with a winning spread of 1300. He has since appeared at the Championship ten more times, finishing in the top 3 on three occasions in addition to his 1998 victory. He has not appeared at the World Championship since winning it in 2001. As of June 2010, his NASPA (North American Scrabble Players' Association) rating was 2047, making him the top-rated player in Illinois and the second-highest rated player in the United States. Since beginning his career in 1985, he has played at least 2,600 tournament games, winning about 70%, and earning over $158,000 in prize money.
Cappelletto lives in Chicago
, Illinois
. Outside Scrabble, he works as an options trader and lists his interests as golf
, impersonations and fantasy baseball
.
Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
player who represents the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in international competition. He was the runner-up at the inaugural World Scrabble Championship
World Scrabble Championship
The World Scrabble Championship is the most prestigious title in competitive English-language Scrabble. It has been held every second year since 1991. The current World Scrabble Champion is Nigel Richards...
in 1991
World Scrabble Championship 1991
The World Scrabble Championship 1991 was the first World Scrabble Championship. The winner was Peter Morris, a Canadian, representing the United States....
and won the event in 2001
World Scrabble Championship 2001
The World Scrabble Championship 2001 was the sixth World Scrabble Championship. The winner was Brian Cappelletto of the United States.The event took place at The Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip, USA. The eighty-eight players played eight games on each of the first three days, in a Swiss tournament...
. He also won the American National Scrabble Championship in 1998, and was the runner-up in 2008 and 2010.
Cappelletto appeared in Stefan Fatsis
Stefan Fatsis
Stefan Fatsis is an author and journalist. He regularly appears as a guest on National Public Radio's All Things Considered daily radio news program and as a panelist on Slate's sports podcast Hang Up and Listen. He is a former staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal.-Biography:Fatsis grew up...
's book Word Freak
Word Freak (book)
Word Freak is a non-fiction narrative by Stefan Fatsis published in 2001 .The book is subtitled Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive SCRABBLE Players...
, which follows the stories of several of Scrabble's top players in North America. Fatsis calls him "Scrabble's first child prodigy". The documentary Scrabylon, about the 2001 World Championship, also features Cappelletto as a central character.
Cappelletto first appeared as a Division 1 player at the 1987 National Scrabble Championship, winning 16 of his 21 games and finishing with a winning spread of 1300. He has since appeared at the Championship ten more times, finishing in the top 3 on three occasions in addition to his 1998 victory. He has not appeared at the World Championship since winning it in 2001. As of June 2010, his NASPA (North American Scrabble Players' Association) rating was 2047, making him the top-rated player in Illinois and the second-highest rated player in the United States. Since beginning his career in 1985, he has played at least 2,600 tournament games, winning about 70%, and earning over $158,000 in prize money.
Cappelletto lives in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Outside Scrabble, he works as an options trader and lists his interests as golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, impersonations and fantasy baseball
Fantasy baseball
Fantasy baseball is a game where participants manage an imaginary roster of real Major League baseball players. The participants compete against one another using those players' real life statistics to score points...
.