In 2011, Mack Meller went to Stamford, Connecticut, for a Scrabble tournament. In the first round, as he was settling in, the tournament director interrupted play for an announcement. This was highly irregular. But the news warranted it: Joel Sherman, a forty-nine-year-old former world champion from the Bronx, had just finished a game with 803 points - a new world record in tournament play and the first time a tournament player had ever broken 800.
It was a feat for the ages, but Sherman didn't win the tournament. Meller did. He was eleven years old.