London:  Australian-born wordsmith David Eldar has been crowned the new world Scrabble champion thanks to his knowledge of classroom furniture.

Eldar beat his opponent Harshan Lamabadusurilya 3-0 in a best of five final - placing the word "carrels", a cubicle desk, to score 74 points.

The 27-year-old from Melbourne, who now lives in London, claimed victory at the Old Museum, Nottingham Conference Centre, on Sunday after competing against players from more than 26 countries and across three rounds of the MSI World Championships.

As well as the title, Eldar, who has been playing the board game for 14 years, took home £7000 ($11,400) in prize money.

He is ranked second in the world and works in real estate in London.

The runner-up, who is ranked 16th in the world and has been playing Scrabble for two decades, will take home £3000.

Some of the words the pair managed to produce during the final included Obvs, slang for obvious, scoring 10 and Asinicos, meaning stupid fellows, scoring 64.

PA