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...

2008 - A Retrospective (summary)

Since I have now finished playing in tournaments for this year, I thought it might be worthwhile to cast a glance back at the events of 2008. A more complete look will follow in several parts; for now though, here is a brief summary, along with some of the more interesting bonuses I played over the course of the year.

A few stats:

- Games played: 156 (W104, T1, L51)
- Average score for: 439
- Average score against: 401
- Number of bonuses: 336
- Best winning streak: 13 (part of the 25 game streak that began in late 2007)
- Worst losing streak: 3 (this occurred three times in the year: at the Masters, end of Nomads/beginning of English Open, and at the Four Nations)
- Best score (self): 613 (vs. Robert Richland at Warrington)
- Best score (opp): 586 (vs. Harshan Lambadasuriya at Masters)
- Highest spread: +330 (in the 613 game above)
- Lowest spread: -228 (vs. Nick Deller at Nomads)

Some of the nicer words I played this year (in puzzle form):

- ACIOOR? + G
- ABLPSU?
- AILMOPS + E
- AIORRWY + T
- AACROTT + U
- ADLOPV? + O
- AAEGPRT + EN
- CDLUNS? + I_E
- BEGLTY?
- AFILNU? + N
- DOPTW?? + I
- CEHOOT? + E
- AAHORT?
- ACESTX?
- AAEFNR?

There are more, but those will appear in a later post :)

Four Nations 2008

In the end, it could scarcely have been any closer. Both England and Scotland finished on 27 wins from a possible 48, so it came down to spread. We edged it...by a mere 15 points! Ireland finished on 26 wins, so this must count as the closest Four Nations event in its short history. We were a bit guilty of thinking only ourselves and Ireland could win prior to the last couple of rounds, but an astonishing performance of 14-2 by Scotland against Wales pulled them well into contention.

The victorious members of our team each received a Collins English Dictionary, plus a souvenir mug. The dictionary is a massive tome - I will certainly have problems finding a shelf strong enough to support it! Transporting it home was no piece of cake either...

Anyway, a few comments about my games. Saturday was something of a disaster - I managed a solitary victory against the four members of the Welsh team, who were the weakest side on paper. The Q seemed to materialise on my rack at the most inappropriate times throughout Saturday, perhaps none more so when I drew CDQVW to join the IN I had kept! Two victories from three against Ross, Neil and Helen at least meant I had a few wins from very little to work with. My play of the day was undoubtedly OuT(PO)WERS as a four-timer for 102 against Ross - my only bonus of the game, as it would turn out.

After spending the extra hour granted by the clocks reverting to GMT in the hotel bar(!), Sunday started with perhaps the strangest game of tournament Scrabble I have ever played. My opponent was Allan Simmons (current BMSC and NSC champion). After his first four turns to my three, the score was 26-11 to him! All of a sudden, the game exploded into life, with the following remarkable sequence:

• Lewis: NIGELLA (74)
• Allan: AGISTER (87)
• Lewis: JEN(N)Y (45)
• Allan: ABATTOI(R) (62)
• Lewis: P(A)rANOID (149)
• Allan: FARADIS(E) (78)
• Lewis: QUIE(T)EN (64)
• Allan: (O)XY (59)
• Lewis: VUMs (60)

Allan finished the game with FRESHET for 91, taking the final scores to 551-522 in my favour. I will try to upload a board diagram at some stage - can't find a way to keep the formatting yet...

The rest of the day flowed in a similar vein for me. I won the first three games against Alex, Rik and Feargal from the Irish team, but then lost to Kevin in the final round - largely due to missing CUNEATE late on :( Kevin finished with an impressive 10-2 record - very well done to him!

My full list of bonuses:

• vs David Williams: SOLANIN, META(N)oIA, TONS(U)RED
• vs Gwynfor Owen: OUTE(A)RNS, CITROUS
• vs Chris Quartermaine: ANImATE
• vs Gareth Williams: (L)OAMiEST, RETRIES
• vs Ross Mackenzie: OuT(PO)WERS
• vs Neil Scott: THENARS, USTIONS
• vs Helen Gipson: DISSEAT, BORACIT(E), (T)RIPHONE (101)
• vs Allan Simmons: NIGELLA, P(A)rANOID
• vs Alex Balogun: CANCaNS, SEDILIA
• vs Rik Kennedy: GARTERS, (N)OnVALID, PE(A)RMAIN, AUREOLE(D)
• vs Feargal Weatherhead: ROPIEST, IDEAT(I)vE, POnDERS
• vs Kevin McMahon: TOREAD(O)R, bINIOUS

Overall, I was disappointed with finishing with a 7-5 record - only two games appeared to be genuinely unwinnable. It appears I only missed three bonuses over the whole weekend, including CUNEATE, which is not too bad.

Before I forget, I would like to thank Ross for organising the whole event, Amy Byrne for TDing with her usual aplomb and efficiency, and Ray and Julie Tate for their unstinting efforts with the computer and the running respectively. The atmosphere was very cordial throughout, but very competitive nevertheless! Many thanks to everyone who was there for making the event both memorable and enjoyable :)

First Post

This is the first post on my blog. I intend to put all kinds of Scrabble-related stuff on here, so stay tuned!

The final of the BEST 2008 knockout tourney will be played this weekend, between Harshan Lambadasuriya and Paul Allan - it should be a cracker. I lost 9-7 to Paul in the semi-final, largely thanks to chickening out of various valid bonuses. Here's a selection of them, in puzzle form:

a) IILTXY?

b) ABDEORS + R [ending with that R]

c) CCEIOPR + A [never heard of this - nice word though!]

d) DEILSTU + L

e) ADEIGLR + L

f) CEGINPS + I [not quite sure how you'd use this in a sentence...]

I did manage to play some nice words too - things like HACIEN(D)A for 106, BEsTRe(W)N for 158, MInIBAR, SOOGEED and the two nines D(OW)NTIMES and INTENSi(fY) in the final game. Sadly, this wasn't enough - I seem to have acquired the annoying habit of pulling dreck from the bag after each bonus I play at the moment...

Hopefully, coverage of the final will be available on the Internet Scrabble Club: www.isc.ro. In 2006 - the previous time the tournament was held - ISC hosted such coverage, which enabled observers to post comments and thoughts as the games were relayed on a tape-delay basis. It is both fascinating viewing and a great way to learn about the game.

Predictions? I think it will go right down to the wire. Paul has struggled a fair bit this year, but has regained confidence and form as the year has progressed. Harshan has turned in some terrific performances this year, including a 12-3 result at the Masters and winning his semi-final 9-3. I would give Harshan the edge, although there is almost nothing in it. Regardless of the result, we should see some topnotch Scrabble.

The following weekend is the Four Nations tournament, held in Glasgow this year. Each of the four home countries sends four players to compete against the other representatives. I will be looking to stage a repeat of my 12-0 performance from last year's event, although this will be a longshot(!) England took the trophy that time by 10 clear wins - let's see if we can do it again!