2008 - A Retrospective (Part 1)

The year began very well for me. I started with a 6-0 +577 record at Leicester, averaging 468 in the process. I had mostly pleasant racks throughout, although after two early bonuses against Russell Byers (TRAYNES and CEN(O)BITe) I was plagued with five vowels per rack thereafter. Luckily the board remained reasonably closed, so I was able to eke out a 3pt win. Words of the day included the aforementioned CENOBITE, plus playing eMEERAT(E), RIP(I)ENOS, (G)RACIOsO and PLAyBUS in other games. I failed to see the only seven in EEINSU?, sadly :(

My BEST quest(!) began in what was effectively Round 2 of the Northern Region, since I'd been handed a bye in Round 1. My opponent was Jason Carney. I was able to extend my winning run to 22 games (I had gone 12-0 in the Four Nations in December 2007, followed by the Leicester result) by winning 4-0. It was far from straightforward, though - I had some really clunky racks, and did not see a blank until the final game; which I failed to make full use of! Despite this, I was pleased to average 450 on the day. Early bonuses of (E)PISOMAL as a 4x and RECTORY, both scoring 90+, gave me a lead in game one that proved insurmountable even after Jason's 9x of ETOU(R)dIE.
A first move 4x of BEA(U)FET for 48, followed soon after by EXORDIA for 88, gave me a reasonable lead in game two, but Jason's bonuses of OLEARIA (90) and TYRONeS (76) should have given him the game. However, he played a move that involved forming (HIC)S* - he had the K on his rack, to make matters worse - and the lost turn was enough for me to score with the J and take the win. Game three saw me play the easy bonuses of OTARIES and TEATIME, plus decent scores with the J, Z and Q, allowing me a reasonably comfortable win, despite Jason's double blank bonuses. I missed SEAKALE (grrr) in the final game, but O(V)ERsPIN and MALTASE(S) proved enough to counter Jason's three bonuses of IRONIES, SAUTERN(E) and gROANER. A decent Z score proved crucial between Jason's bonuses.

I started my round three BEST match, against John Hardie, knowing that a clean sweep would equal Mark Nyman's record of 27 consecutive rated game wins. It started with a cracking game - my three bonuses of LOAMIER, FINGERE(R) and STARKES(T) outrunning John's TWiNTER, TA(B)ASHiR and COAEVAL (103); but not by much (489-441). My final move of GAMY (61) was critical. Game two saw me changing first up, then bonusing twice with RESINEd and VINEYAR(D) to give a healthy lead. From then on, I stayed in control - John managed no bonuses, while I always had a decent score to call upon. I got away with PUGHS* at one stage - missing UPGUSHED in the process - but it proved not to matter. Game three was a comfortable 467-268 win to me, although I didn't play my two bonuses of LONGEST and (C)ONSuMED until right at the end. So far, so good. Game four, however, halted my streak at 25 games - John had bonuses of ENDNOTe, (D)eLAYING and RIV(E)TERS, plus healthy scores with X, J, Q and Z. I could only manage ARSENAL and CORNETS. Playing the former instead of A(D)RENALS proved costly, as it handed John 50 for the X. Game five saw me suffer from double-blank blindness again - I thought for well over five minutes before playing the pretty lousy TiPpLES for 67 (admittedly, the board was not very open). My earlier bonus of VI(T)RAINS as a 4x for 94 saw me keep apace with John, who had played CALZONE (92). However, John threw away the endgame by playing a move that involved forming (SPATE)D*, when any out-in-two would have won for him. The let-off saw me take the game by a mere 9pts. Game six was very tense - I had RYO(T)WARI and SEZ for 54 early on, plus a later bonus of AREOLEs. John's bonuses of YE(R)SINiA and ENDITES saw us into another close endgame. Luckily, my out-in-two from a final rack featuring only one vowel scored enough to win, 427-421. I was thus through to the final of the Regional.

The next tourney up was Warrington. I started with a comfortable win against Chris Harrison (592-387), with bonuses of A(U)TOCRAT, AROUSED and REFLATE, plus a score of 106 with OYEZ. However, I then ran into Mikki Nicholson, who started with EPATANT, gRILSES and DORADOs, whilst I had clunky consonant racks. I managed a solitary bonus of DETRACT, and was able to keep the spread down to a reasonable 51 (442-493). Martin Harrison then started with sOREDIA, WAFTURE and BITEA(B)LE in the first five moves of the next game, meaning I was cooked long before the game finished. My solitary bonus of EnTICER was far from optimal, but again I kept the spread to reasonable levels (399-474). This was the first time in the past 21 games that I'd scored under 400.... From then on, I fought back with more clunky racks, including a nice 523-339 win over Paul Thomson, thanks to KITHE (65), SEAWALL, UN(R)OOTED, D(E)RIDERS and PhONYiN(G). I racked up 613 against Robert Richland, thanks to LAm(E)NTED (82), EUGEN(I)CS, TANGLER, TAKINGS and ZOOEY (81). I missed (T)ENACULA in the process... :( A narrow win over Darryl Francis gave me third place, having averaged 481(!) over the course of the day.

More to follow soon, hopefully...