Saturday, July 23, 2011

Scrabble Nationals 2011 (Day One)

This year's Nationals is once again held at Toa Payoh West CC.

Here's my match report, with quizzes marked with [number] and the answers given at the end of the report.

Game 1: vs Chua Wei Yang
Wei Yang is a student from St Joseph's Institution. I won pretty easily despite his two bingos as he was fishing and exchanging tiles frequently. He looked quite disappointed after the game. Hope he would still continue to play in future tournaments!

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: - Opp Bingos: STEADIED(59), SEARING(62)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: TOX*
My High Moves: YEP(37), PIQUED(84), JUT(38) Opp High Moves: -
W 477-297, +180. 1W 0L (Accum spread +180)

Game 2: vs Tan Mun Ri
Mun Ri is the top rated player in this division. Her word knowledge was very good and she played many words that I did not know like BIALI and ETAPE. I played TAPE just below the triple word score lane as I thought there were no front hooks and she scored with REGO(30) front hooking her E to it!

New words learnt: BIALI, ETAPE
My Bingos: DEASOILS(73) Opp Bingos: SAILORS(67)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: QUIOT*
My High Moves: GOX(32), ZO(31) Opp High Moves: BIALI(32), UNLIKE(30), HM(30), REGO(30)
L 365-377, -12. 1W 1L (Accum spread +168)

Game 3: vs Gavin Ng Teck Boon
Gavin is a student from Victoria Junior College. He claimed to be out of practice with his heavy school workload. I had two bingos early on with TROOPERS(76) and LOANINGS(70) but he kept scoring consistently to be not far behind. Saw the third bingo out of a EIINSTU[1] rack but chickened out of it and played UNIT instead.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: TROOPERS(76), LOANINGS(70) Opp Bingos:
My Phoneys: BROM*, BROMS* Opp Phoneys: YEE*, TENCE*
My High Moves: HOY(30), VIED(41) Opp High Moves: NEW(30), AFLAJ(30), CITY(32), RAIDS(32), HUIA(30), OX(56), WIZ(35)
W 436-344, +92. 2W 1L (Accum spread +260)

Game 4: vs Arul
Arul is a masters player whose rating recently dropped for him to play in division B. I had two bingos, one more than him, but he scored consistently to be always just a few points ahead. I think the turning point came when I got rid of the Q and scored with my Z with BEZ(33). Was very happy with my BEZ find as I had a terrible rack in the end: BEUVZ and two other one pointer tiles.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: ROTATES(68), RESITES(72) Opp Bingos: RECANTER(74)
My Phoneys: UNSWIRL* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: BEZ(33) Opp High Moves: GRAM(30), HAJ(32), NIX(44)
W 382-370, +12. 3W 1L (Accum spread +272)

Game 5: vs Serene
Serene is a masters player who was famous for her defensive style. I was leading at the start with an early bingo, so her usual tactic did not work too well. Towards the end of the game, I chickened out of two potential bingos as I was unsure of them: one with a GGINRSU rack that had to end with the S[2] and another with a AEGINOS rack that had to make use of a floating B on the board[3].

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: BAITERS(76) Opp Bingos:
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: BEENO*
My High Moves: AWA(33), ZIP(58), EASING(32) Opp High Moves: JOR(40), SOH(36)
W 375-324, +51. 4W 1L (Accum spread +323)

Finished day 1 with 4 wins and 1 loss.

Quiz answers (highlight to see clearly)

[1] UNITIES, UNITISE
[2] URGINGS
[3] BEGONIAS

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