Story perspectives

AI-Aided Parikh Faces Traditionalist Dharavane in Bee Semifinals

5/28/2026

Summary

Story summary

The May 27, 2026 semifinals in Washington featured 54 spellers, including Shrey Parikh and Sarv Dharavane.
Parikh used three coaches, paid word lists, and trained with AI tools Onyma and SpellPundit.
Dharavane studied only the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.
Coach Sam Evans warned that memorization stays essential because final-round words often lack clear patterns.
Former champion Dev Shah said mastering roots and patterns balances memorization with conceptual understanding.

1 of 1

Story summary

The May 27, 2026 semifinals in Washington featured 54 spellers, including Shrey Parikh and Sarv Dharavane.
Parikh used three coaches, paid word lists, and trained with AI tools Onyma and SpellPundit.
Dharavane studied only the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.
Coach Sam Evans warned that memorization stays essential because final-round words often lack clear patterns.
Former champion Dev Shah said mastering roots and patterns balances memorization with conceptual understanding.