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KARACHI, May 15: Ishtiaq Ahmed Chishty also known as Baba-e-Scrabble passed away after a protracted illness here on Saturday evening. He was 76.
Known for popularising scrabble in the Arab countries and later in Pakistan, Chishty himself first discovered the joys of the board game when some friends brought him a scrabble set from the US 51 years ago. He was 25 years old then and stationed in Dhahran as an employee of the Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco.
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The scrabble movement in Asia has its origins in Dhahran as it wasn’t long before Chishty formed a playing group of nine people initially, which is also the oldest organised scrabble unit in the world because in England too the game took off as a proper indoor sport not until the 1970s, whereas proper competitions in Dhahran started in 1966.
Later, he also set up branches in Riyadh and Jeddah to earn the title of Baba-e-Scrabble or a patriarch of the game.
Moving to Karachi after his retirement in 1994 he also served as vice president and secretary of the Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) and was its executive committee member at the time of his death.
Chishty also had a hand in coining the name for the world scrabble body when he attended a meeting in Malaysia where the name World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) was suggested.
The love for the game took him all over the world. In 2003, he created a record of becoming the oldest playing member in the World Scrabble Championship held in Malaysia where he ended up 83rd.
In the earlier editions in 1993 in the US, he bagged the 46th position and the 42nd in Australia in 1999.
Another record attributed to the Baba-e-Scrabble is the playing of three generations in two tournaments when he along with his son Sohail Kamal Chishty and grandson Ashhab Chishty featured in a competition twice.
His wife Malika Ishtiaq, too, played scrabble and is a world record-holder for putting together the longest word of 14 letters — ‘COMPTERIZATION’ — that anyone can ever make in the game.
The inventor of scrabble, an American gentleman by the name of Alfred M. Butts, also wrote a letter to Chishty appreciating his great contribution and efforts in promoting the game in the region, which the late Baba-e-Scrabble had preserved as a cherished heirloom just like the hundreds of trophies, shields, cups and certificates that adorn the living room of his home.
Ishtiaq Ahmed Chishty, who was suffering from a liver problem for a while now, had to suddenly be rushed to a hospital in January after throwing up blood. Although he did recover to some extent to also get discharged from the hospital later, his health kept deteriorating until he lost the battle at 9.00pm on Saturday.
He was buried at the Defence graveyard on Sunday afternoon. He leaves behind a wife, two sons and as many daughters.
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