Next Alchemist Cup is in 2028 in Kuala Lumpur.

First Announcement

On 18 July 2026. Michael Tang announced:

My fellow Scrabblers,

I am pleased to inform you that I have decided to bring back Alchemist Cup after a 10-year hiatus. It will be held from 31st May to 4th June in Genting Resort, Kuala Lumpur, the week before Causeway 2028.

In line with FIFA World Cup, Alchemist Cup 2028 is the World Cup of Scrabble. There will be 16 Nations with 5 players per Nation. The 16 Nations will be grouped into 4 Groups according to their World Rankings, based on the WESPA ratings of 5 players in each Nation.

Group stage will see each Nation playing 1 Round Robin against the other 3 Nations or 15 games over 31st May and 1st June 2028. Top 2 Nations in each group will proceed to Quarter Finals.

Quarter Finals will be based on 2 Round Robins (10 games) on 2nd June 2028. Semi Finals will see Final 4 Nations playing 2 Round Robins (10 games) on 3rd June 2028. Alchemist Cup 2028 Championship will see Top 2 Nations playing 2 Round Robins on 4th June 2028.

I shall release more details on Alchemist Cup 2028 in due course.

The Alchemist

History

Australian team 2018
David, Naween, Chris, Andrew and Edward
with Michael, 2018 Champions

In 2018, 10 teams of five played 45 rounds in the 2018 Alchemist Cup. Compettion was fierce until the very last round, with Australia clinching first place ahead of the United States.

One featured game was streamed each round and you can see these here. A teams event like this had also featured in the Premier section of earlier Causeway Challenges. The 2020 Alchemist Cup was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Streaming and annotation

The 2026 Causeway Challenge set new standards for live streamed games and annotated games. In 2028 the Alchemist Cup will have five live streams which will then be archived for later viewing and analysis. The expert team of annotators will also be there.

Causeway

The Alchemist Cup is just a few days prior to the Causeway Challenge which aims to have 1000 players from 50 countries. Competitors in the Alchemist Cup can look forward to another bout of world class Scrabble even if their team is eliminated in the knockout stages of the Alchemist Cup. And it may also be an opportunity for other players to come and root for their country while the Alchemist Cup is in progress.