Nigel's wins SCT

Again!

Game 30: I'm out

Max had a dream game. I can no longer finish top half

Game 29

Game 28

Made a few mistakes and gave Odette a massive 50 point play in a close endgame. She was smart enough to allow my phony to stay

Game 27

With 9 tiles left in the bag I had a 64 point lead. Both blanks were unseen so I assumed Taewan would have at least 1. I decided to eliminate the highest scoring bonus line because ANTIQUER would score over 130. I played PATY so that whatever he did would score quite low and/or open a triple for me. Lo and behold, I picked both blanks on move 10 and thus secured my second win for the day. I have to now win 3/4 of the last 4 games to get a top 50 finish.

Game 26

Game 25

Fascinating endgame

Game 24

Game 21: Dan Sandu (Romania) 315 vs Dylan 436

Game 20: Nuala O'Rourke (315) vs Dylan 527

I had everything!

Game 18: Muhammad Shahbaz (Pakistan) 301 vs Dylan 422

Hoping my form is returning. Need to win a lot of games from this position. I was pleased with HISTRIONIC and JAROSITE.

Game 17: Nick Cavenagh (New Zealand) 378 vs Dylan 393

Nick cleverly gave himself a chance to win by playing BREAD. He was hoping to extend it to BREADLINE which I did not think to block. Luckily for me he did not have the last I

Game 16: Orlet Bullock 419 vs Dylan 336

On move 8 I was about 70 behind and figured if I am going to win it has to be now. So I tried HANGWIRE which came off immediately. It was over from there.

Game 13: Evan Cohen (Israel) 306 vs Dylan 457

Good letters and a good win for me. Was pleased with NUNDINES and BOUNTREE. Trevor is maintaining form, he is winning his current game! After 13 I'm on 6 wins. Trevor will be on 9, only 2 off the leader.

Game 12: Gunnar Andersson (Sweden) 444 vs Dylan 433

Game 11: John O'Laughlin (USA) 312 vs Dylan 599

Probably my best game so far. Never beaten John before, the inventor of Quackle. 5/11 wins for me so far.
Meantime, Trevor is busy winning his game against Tim Adamson from USA, winner of the last chance qualifier.

Game 10: Theresa Brousson (Malta) 437 vs Dylan 377

Down 4-6. SURANCE did not play anywhere so I tried CESUREAN. It came off, I got confused with CESAREAN which is good. I could have just played UNCRATES or RECUSANT instead for a 100 point lead against Maltas best. Derserved to lose this game.

Game 9: Simon Gillam (Scotland) 472 vs Dylan 350

Game 8

Link to SCT website

http://event.poslfit.com/2013/sct-me/build/

Game 7: Terry Kirk (England) 393 vs Dylan 322

Tough way to end the day. I think I played we'll here. Even after Terry played RINGLESS I was still in the lead with RUCTION. Then he came with ATOPY 48 and FIZ 54 while I had racks like AAEEEIL, EEEEAIJ, AAABEIL. I thought his play of BOHEMIA was apt since we are in Bohemia (this area of the world was once called Bohemia). That's the end of day 1. Lying somewhere in the bottom half with 3/7. I need a big day tomorrow. Trevor has won 5/7!

Game 6: Jesse Day (USA) 412 vs Dylan 497

Jesse played 3 bonuses on his first four scoring moves. I was 75 behind but made a good comeback. 3-3

Game 5: Chris Cree (USA) 394 vs Dylan 412

Good win for me. Had only 6 vowels in my first 6 turns. Was trailing by 100. Engineered a good endgame outplay. 2/5 wins. This tourney is killer tough

Game 4: Peter Sinton (NZ) 420 vs Dylan 385

I doubted the bonus with ENURRTY on my first move and played ARY instead. I had no chance after that. 1/4 so far, depression starting to set in.

Game 3: Rik Kennedy (Ireland) 439 vs Dylan 411

I let his ANTIVERT (non word) stay on the board, got mixed up with ANTEVERT. I had to block his bonus outplay so made PILEAE, also a non word. He had CHESNUT at the end but played SORTINGS/SCUTCH to win. Nothing I could have done, other than play better and challenge more of course.

Game 2: Alistair Richards (Australia) 437 vs Dylan Early 506

First time I've beaten Alistair, had brilliant letters though.

Game 1: Postmortem

Close, uneventful game for Trev. He lost to David Webb.

I missed a few words in game 1 that would have made a difference: DGILNSU, ABDLLORS. I was behind holding ABIRTT and a blank. There was a floating E so played TITRABLE and thought the game was mine but Evans responded with TRUSTEE and emptied the bag. If had played BATTERIE or BRATTICE instead of TITRABLE I had a good chance of winning. I en had to find a win with ZIONPQR which was not possible.

Game 1 Evans Clinchy lost 363 to 405 (0-1)

Opening speech

Mayor of Prague 5 declaring the event open.

About to start

4 winners of the last chance qualifier

In finishing order, from first to fourth: Tim Adamson, Piotr Andrnowski, Sammy Okosagah, Elie Dangoor. They qualify for SCT

Table 1 hots up

As Ray and Tim battle for first place

Last chance standings with 1 game to go

World Scrabble Champs Website

The event will take place over 5 days: here is the link to the website that will be used for updates (it is still being built)

Potential winner

Runner up last time, one of my favorites this year - Andrew Fisher

Youngest contestant

8 years old! Taking part in the pre match qualifier

Table 1

Where Nigel Richards spends most of his time. This board cost nearly R500k (see http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20121120/expensive-scrabble-board/) 

Last chance qualifier

Tough competition in progress. Top 4 places will make it into the SCT. Currently 6 people on 3/3 with Tony Sim leading the pack

Test

I'm hoping to publish each game as it happens. This is a test of a game against Trev last week in which I played my best word ever - TELEMETRIC through EME.

Pre-match activities

It's getting exciting now as Scrabblers start arriving at the hotel. Most of the British team is here, many Australians and this morning I met some of the Americans at breakfast. Glad to see John Chew arrived safely because he is the uber-tournament organizer without whom the SCT would not be nearly as awesome. Enjoyed a game with Andrew Fisher - he played PRALINE, HAZELNUT, GODWITS, AGNOMINA and ESCRIBE so it was a walkover but still good to get my "feet wet".

Went to the Old Prague Square and took in the sights of their massive Christmas market. It was quite amazing. Will try to see the Castle today and maybe get in a game or two.

Greetings from Prague

Hi guys

I'm here in Prague and, despite a broken hand, ready to do battle with the world's best. I will post my games here and some of the pre-tournament activities.

Cheers
Dylan

Quiz - Top 20 Toughies (15,000)

1) EMORSUV (a woman)
2) AHIKORS (Japanese term meaning death caused by overwork)
3) KINOOST (green seaweed)
4) EIIILRV (projection of figures from a flat background)
5) DENOOSS (a homeopathic remedy)
6) AKIOPST (a New Zealand spider)
7) AADGHOR (an Indian manager)
8) EEHILPS (a freckle)
9) AEEHSST (behest)
10) AAMNOOS (a New Zealand shrub)
11) EEEGNPR (a centrepiece for a table)
12) ACKIORS (of sandstone, not AIR SOCK as I thought)
13) AAGMORS (a tree yielding nim-oil)
14) AACEPRU (a combination of martial art and dance)
15) AAEHNPS (a large vein in the leg)
16) ADEHIKS (a loose shirt)
17) AAGOPRU (the groper in Chinese cookery)
18) AAILNSS (a pond)
19) ACINOQU (a small clam)
20) AAGIOSS (an Intalian cheese)

Quiz - Top 20 Toughies (16,000)

Elise is a new Scrabble programme that has impressed even the inventors of Quackle and received many compliments from the wider Scrabble playing community. I'm busy downloading the 160MB application and will let you know how it plays.

Meantime, I've fallen behind in my studies but nevertheless, I'm forging ahead bravely. If you're in for a challenge, check out these words from the probability group 15,000 to 16,000. I missed them all. And then I missed them again. And again. If you get even 1 correct I will be impressed.

1) AAHIKOR
2) AAGKORT
3) AHINTUU
4) ACDIMOO
5) CDEKNOR
6) AAEIMMT
7) AACLNST
8) AEEKMNS
9) ALLOSTU
10) AAEGPRR
11) AAEGMTT
12) CEGIRRS
13) ACISTTU
14) EEHLLOT
15) EEEMSTU
16) ACOOPRT
17) ACCINOT
18) ACIILSU
19) DEEGRSW
20) ACFINOV

Killer Quiz - Top 20 Toughies (14,000)

I found these words horrendously difficult from the probability group 13,000 to 14,000. Hope you enjoy the quiz.

1) EHILOSS
2) AILSSTU
3) ABHIOSU
4) AAGIRSW
5) AEHKOOR
6) CILOOST
7) AILMOSY
8) CCEEIOR
9) EEGGIRS
10) BEIOSSU
11) BINOOSU
12) AEHNSWU
13) AELPRUY
14) BINORWU
15) HIOORSU
16) HIMORST
17) DEIMRSY
18) DEIMOSS
19) ADILMOP
20) AMNOPTU

Quiz - Top 20 Toughies (13,000)

In the probability group 12,000 - 13,000, my top 20 toughies in order of increasing difficulty are:

1) DDEEILS
2) EEILSSU
3) ABCENOW
4) AEHMOPT
5) AHIORSS
6) BCEHIOT
7) ABGNOOR
8) EGNNOOS
9) ACDENNU
10) ACIOSST
11)  ABDDEIL
12) AELRRSW
13) BDEERSU
14) AILLNOP
15) IIOSTUV
16) ABCEORV
17) CDIIORS
18) EGLNOOV
19) AHIIRTW
20) ABEEGRR

128 days to go

Have not been playing. Studying my ass off for SCT. Determined to get a top 30 result! Covered 15,000 bonus words since May. I started from scratch (from OTARINE onwards). It's depressing to see how much I've forgotten over time. I forget about 2%/month. So I've been looking at long-term memory techniques but that slows me down so I'm behind schedule. Need to do top 20,000 7s and 8s, all 3s, 4s and 5s in the next 128 days.

The US National Champs was won for the 4th time by Nigel Richards who narrowly beat Komol. The Collins Section was won by John O'Laughlin (inventor of Quackle). Great website thanks to John Chew. I downloaded some games. The standard is high but it's encouraging to see even the champs making mitakes.

I love Michael Thelen, inventor of Zyzzyva who brought us the meanings. It makes such a difference knowing the definitions. It has changed study from brute force rote memorisation to an interesting read. The abridged defitions can be humorous at times like "exciton" [n] the combination of an excited electron and a hole. That had me in stictches for days.

Pop quiz hotshot: find all 27 words with STEAMER+1. Hint: STEAMER goes with "MAGICKING HAPPILY INTO HOGWARTS"

Masters Quiz

I missed these words. Some of them were game changers. See how many you can get.

AADIQS;   AAHLLO;   AAHMS;   ABDLNS;   ACDEHIX;   ACEEOR;   ACGNOU;   ACINNT;   ADEHJLOT;   ADEHNPTU;   ADEHNRTU;   ADEHPSTU;   ADENR;   ADIILNSTW;   ADIILNSW;   AEEGNN;   AFHIOS;   AGINT;   AIKNS;   BDII;   CDEHIR;   CEIOPRTU;   DEEFGIRT;   DEFGIOOW;   DEOPU;   EEIILORS;   EFGIU;   EFINX;   EGIKLN;   EGILNRUY;   EGIMNRUY;   EIMPU;   EINT;   FIINX;   ILOR

Gauteng Masters 9 - Trevor

Going into the final game Trevor had already won the tourney with a game to spare. I was playing for second, competing against Steven. Trevor has had a good run against me of late and I was hoping that it was over. How wrong I was! I have seldom seen him play so well.

Trev opened with REtUNED for 64. I held EGIOOW? and missed GOODWIFE for 96. Instead I played WOODIER (40). From move 4-8 Trevor played NARASES (87), HETAIRAI (72), VINY (57), TOUCH (30) and CALIX (76). The best I could manage was ZINEB for 70. As my rack matured into a bonus, Trevor played diagonally to destroy the whole board and I was left watching my own execution as if somehow separated from my body. Dylan 324 vs Trev 554. Trevor was the deserving winner of the Gauteng Masters. Steven was a worthy runner up and I came in 3^rd which was lucky because I forgot my wallet at home and needed the prize money to pay for parking. Howard made a great return to form by coming 4^th. Clearly I have a lot of work to do before WSC. 3 of my losses may have ended differently if I had known/seen certain words.

Gauteng Masters 8 - Harry

With an opening rack of AHJLOOV I managed to find the best play, OVAL, which simmed 3 points better than HAJ. Harry took an early lead with TOLLY and DIATRONS. I missed JOLTHEAD (suspected it but wasn't sure) but came back with UNHATTED and never looked back. I played the nonword UNEARING, inferring it from UNEARED and luckily it remained on the board. Harry played SOSATIE and I responded with ROSACEA. Holding DIILNW? I missed a 9-letter bonus through A and S. I felt like a real WILI when I checked the answer afterwards. Final score Dylan 526 vs Harry 357. 5-3

Gauteng Masters 7 - Ros

Please don’t tell Ros that I played a nonword (JANNIE) on the first move of what was possibly one of her worst nightmares this tourney. We were equal after 3 turns but my next 4 moves were PASHA (60), AROUSED (64), OTARIES (81) and GLEAMERS (89) while Ros had to change 5 tiles. Her highest score the whole game was 50 for HEX. I was happy with CLINK on move 8 (which Quackle did not even suggest) as it gave me a 99,9% chance of winning. In desperation Ros used her blank for VIADUCT (26) and  I rubbed salt into her wounds by playing out with RETINOID through it. Final score Dylan 556 vs Ros 331. 4-3