Aiea man, 26, leads national Scrabble competition

A 26-year-old Aiea man is leading the national Scrabble championship in Dallas.

Kenji Matsumoto had the best record and point spread Monday after 20 rounds and three days of playing Scrabble.

He is ahead of Nigel Richards, former world and national scrabble champion from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Nearly 350 players from 40 states and four countries are competing, according to the National Scrabble Association.

Some of the unusual words played today are bortz — a low quality diamond, ganof — a thief, uvea — a layer of the eye, and woorali — an arrow poison.