Saturday, July 21, 2012

Scrabble Nationals 2012 (Day One)

This year's Nationals is held at Bishan CC and it is the first time that division B had to play 16 games. I met Bee Tiang, Aloysius and Valli at the food court for a drink before the actual registration.

Game 1: vs Catherine Tong
Catherine was the only female player in division B and I was quite impressed by how she could multi-task by reading a Chinese novel in between moves! Lost to her even though she was not fully paying attention to our game.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: TINDERS(70) Opp Bingos: STEWING(82), REaLIsED(74)
My Phoneys: PERTY* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: - Opp High Moves: HODS(36)
L 333-439, -106. 0W 1L (Accum spread -106).

Game 2: vs Gabriel Cheang
I could have won if I knew the bingo to a ADEIMT? rack that had to end with "TED". Decided to try MIrATED* but I should have known that it was the anagram for READMIT that had no other anagrams.

New words learnt: MIcATED
My Bingos: GIDDIES(92) Opp Bingos: TREASON(71), CANNIER(84)
My Phoneys: MIrATED* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: JAB(31), XU(31) Opp High Moves: ZAIRE(58), QIS(40)
L 327-426, -99. 0W 2L (Accum spread -205).

Game 3: vs Winston Gwee
Had two blanks early in the game and was able to bingo with CoIFfED(76). The scores might have been closer if Winston did not phoney twice.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: CoIFfED(76) Opp Bingos: -
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: PRIVE*, FYE*
My High Moves: QUA(32), ZINC(30) Opp High Moves: GRAPE(43), LASH(42)
W 363-285, +78. 1W 2L (Accum spread -127).

Game 4: vs Neo Wei Sheng
Wei Sheng had superb bingo power! Would have lost even more if he did not also phoney a lot to offset the overall margin.

New words learnt: ORIOLES
My Bingos: - Opp Bingos: URINATE(85), ORIOLES(75), SOUTANE(73)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: TRIAGER*, UNTRAIN*
My High Moves: HIKES(36), LEY(34), XU(50), FATWA(38) Opp High Moves: ZOL(36)
L 350-449, -99. 1W 3L (Accum spread -226).

It was around 1.30pm when I finally had time to go for lunch with Winston and Valli. The food court was just across the street and was much more convenient than at Toa Payoh West CC! Heard that there was a famous Chicken Rice stall but did not try as it had a very long queue.

Game 5: vs Shahrul
This was a bingo pack game where both of us had three bingos each! Won as I scored well with the J and the X and gained 34 points with his GLITZES when he tried in vain to bingo out.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: MODERATE(69), OUTLIER(72), ISATINE(74) Opp Bingos: SOREDIA, BOUNCED(77), CLEARING(82)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: SOREDIAS*, GIPE*
My High Moves: JAP(41), WEX(51), POM(31) Opp High Moves: KAB(30)
W 538-372, +166. 2W 3L (Accum spread -60).

Game 6: vs Ng Ming Wei
I managed to keep my lead after scoring one bingo as my opponent phonied several times.

New words learnt: FAERIE
My Bingos: INTERNS(69) Opp Bingos: -
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: VIZ*, DINTY*
My High Moves: JOTS(32) Opp High Moves: TUX(30)
W 376-260, +116. 3W 3L (Accum spread +56).

Game 7: vs Tan Wei Jie
I out-bingoed my opponent two to one and won rather easily. I think he made a similar mistake as Shahrul when he tried to finish first but ended up phoneying and allowing me to finish first instead.

New words learnt: SORBATE
My Bingos: GROANED(73), LINTERS(65) Opp Bingos: SORBATE(77)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: SORBATED*, GLINTERS*
My High Moves: CUZ(35), KIN(35), WAI(30), CAB(32) Opp High Moves: HEATY(30), EREV(31)
W 466-303, +163. 4W 3L (Accum spread +219).

Game 8: vs Low Bee Tiang
I could have won by a bigger margin if I had not tried to prevent Bee Tiang from bingoing but ended up letting him score big with the Q and the Z instead.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: GODETIA(77), KARITES(89), AWNIEST(88) Opp Bingos: TOASTING(68)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: JA(38) Opp High Moves: HOE(31), QAID(47), LUZ(47)
W 481-400, +81. 5W 3L (Accum spread +300).

Finished day 1 with 5 wins and 3 losses. I won all my games after lunch! Hope I could maintain such good form for the second day!

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