'Michael Jordan of Scrabble' humbled at Nationals

The Australian dubbed `the Michael Jordan of Scrabble' finished a humbling 16th while chasing his sixth title at the 25th National Championships held in New York.

The Malaysia-based Nigel Richards, 47, had won four successive titles but was brought back down to earth as Portland player Conrad Bassett-Bouchard took the top gong on Wednesday and $US10,000 prize that goes with it.

Bassett-Bouchard beat 29-year-old Jason Li of Montreal in the final round of the five-day event.

The tournament's second seed, Bassett-Bouchard said he knew luck was with him when he drew a wildcard blank tile and an "s" on his first seven-tile rack. He led for most of the match, winning by a score of 477-350.

"I was playing catch-up right to the end," said Li, the 18th seed, who had the letters to play an obscure but potentially high-scoring word but didn't see it, creating a buzz among experienced onlookers.

"He's going to be kicking himself for missing 'gramarye,"' tournament director John Chew said after the play.

Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association, the event's sponsor, called Li's presence in the final round the biggest surprise in the tournament, which saw an emerging group of younger players edge out the old guard, including Australia's pre-tournament favourite Richards.

"All these younger players are avid online players," said 29-year-old Will Anderson, who finished fifth, trying to explain the success of the tournament's 20-somethings at an old-fashioned board game.

"These guys have all played thousands of games on the internet to hone their skills and meet each other before they've ever met in person."

The tournament began days after the announcement that 5,000 new words had been added to "The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary," but players won't be able to use those entries - including much-anticipated two-letter words da, gi and po, along with selfie, hashtag and bromance - until after this year's championship.