Next Causeway Challenge is in 2028 in Kuala Lumpur.
The competition
Causeway 2026 in Thailand was amazing with 440 players from more than 30 countries playing a gruelling 36 games over four days. Michael Tang is sure that it can get even bigger. In 2028, there will be 1000 players from more than fifty countries playing 45 games over five days when Causeway 2028 is held in Kuala Lumpur. There will be ten divisions with one hundred players in each division.
Prize Money
The prize pool is US 200 000. Additionally, at the end, one randomly drawn name per division will win return airfare to the 2030 Causeway wherever it is held.
The venue
Genting Highlands is a hill resort not far from Kuala Lumpur, with a refreshingly cooler climate. Skyworld Hotel where the Causeway Challenge will be held has accommodation options for players and their families. There is an amazing theme park adjacent, and Causeway guests at the hotel will have exclusive access.
The vision
Michael Tang started the Causeway Challenge in 2002 as a competition between elite teams from Singapore and Malaysia. Later there were seven international Causeways at Johor Bahru, each bigger and better. Players from around the world were delighted, and Michael was dubbed the Alchemist (an anagram of St Michael). An apt name for one who turned each event into gold. Aftr a gap of ten years, in 2026, an astounding Causeway Challenge was held in Bangkok, booking the entire 270 rooms of the Miracle Grand Convention Hotel for 5 days. Each round, three tables were live streamed by the team at Lets Play Scrabble and ten tables were annotated to be seen on Woogles. Michael has plans to make each subsequent Causeway bigger and better, with exciting innovations.
Key dates
- Open for stage one. You tell us that you plan to come. No financial commmitment yet, but you can start checking any visa requirements and making preliminary searches for flights. Tell us that you are coming here.
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Open for stage two. You commit by paying registration fees (5 days play)
Tournament fee 300 USD (non refundable), Lunch and coffee breaks an extra fee to be announced. Accommodation deals (choose your room) - Stage three, allocation to divisions. Each player must at that date have an established (ie non-provisional) WESPA rating which happens when a player has played at least 50 WESPA rated games in their career. Some players may need to plan to get these 50 games in prior events.
- Stage four, the big competition, five days, 45 rounds. Of course you may plan to see more of Malaysia before or after. See Tourism
Who's coming
Watch this space for a daily count of players coming, and links to detailed lists. For Stage Open, this will be a count up, with no upper limit. But in Stage Two, it will be a count down of available places, strictly limited to 1000 players.