Chess helps young Scrabble Champ

Ridgefield Scrabble champion to appear on ESPN Saturday
By Susan Tuz
STAFF WRITER

RIDGEFIELD — Ridgefield resident Aune Mitchell, 14, will be featured Saturday on ESPN as part of the winning team in the National Scrabble School Championship filmed in Providence, R.I., in May.

Aune has been playing Scrabble for five years. At first she played just for fun, but in the past two years she’s become serious about the game.

She knows the best words to spell using the “q” tile without having a “u.” She knows unusual two- and three-letter words, like adz — although “I don’t know what some of these words mean,” she admits.

Matthew Silver, 13, of Fairfield was on Aune’s team at the championship. The two have been practicing together since they were introduced by National Scrabble Association member Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy said the two complement each other.

…Aune’s mother, Cornelia Guest, got her daughter involved in the game. A member of the National Scrabble Association herself, she teaches children the game at Ridgefield Library and the library in North Salem, N.Y.

“A lot of kids who are good at Scrabble are also good at chess,” Guest said. “They have a board vision where they can look and see places on the board for gaining the best points quickly. Aune was a strong chess player when she played.”

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