A Scrabble update, since I haven't done one for a while. As well as the London Scrabble League, I've also joined the Essex League, playing four rated games a month. Most of the players in that league are rated above me. I won three out of four at last month's fixture, which pushed my rating up to an all-time high of 144.
Yesterday was the latest New Malden one-dayer. From the list of entrants posted the night before, I had thought my rating would just about qualify me to play in the A division. But in fact I just missed the cut, and was instead one of the highest rated in B division. In order to protect my rating, I would have to win four or more likely five games out of six.
Game 1
A blank on my opening rack gave me the easiest of possible starts, as I played dENOTING for 60. My opponent soon whittled down my lead though. I'd picked the second blank but, very frustratingly, I held the racks ADINSS? and ADEINS?* and yet couldn't actually fit a bonus in on a very tight board. Eventually, my opponent cracked and opened up the board a bit, and down went PiNNIES for 84 to restore my lead. The board closed down again. I knew my opponent had the Q, with nowhere to get rid of it, and I made sure it stayed that way. A 421-316 win.
Game 2
That win put me on to the top table for Division B. I struggled with a lack of vowels for the first five moves of this game. Even changing tiles didn't help, but I was able to play the one-vowel bonus STRINGS, for 70 points. My opponent came back strongly though, with scores of 37, 39 and 41, and I was soon behind again. I had a blank and, holding the rack AEFIRT?, there were plenty of bonus options, if I was prepared to open a triple lane. Playing an eight letter bonus through a floating E was safer though. I thought for a while and was very pleased to remember FEATlIER, for 80. I was rewarded by promptly picking up the second blank, along with an X. I was delighted to be able to play RELAXIn for 114, not least since I'd only learnt the word a few days earlier at an Essex League fixture. It was game over really after that and, although I foolishly tried to play the phoney PID, I still won comfortably by 460-381.
Game 3
My opponent's early play of YEX/XI for 54 was countered by my ANODISE for 71. Yet another blank and I played AEROsOL for 72. My lead continued to build, and it became very apparent that my opponent was tile-fishing for a bonus. I'd picked the other blank tile though, and beat him to it with sNARIER for 69. His nice play of ARTLESS for 71 was not enough, and I won by 469-369.
Game 4
Things were going well, but then having picked every single one of the blank tiles so far, I would expect them to. My opponent this time broke that run though, starting with ORDErED for 70 on his first move, then ROMPING for 74 on his third. I was able to score in the 20s and 30s myself, but my opponent was matching me. I had three Ss though, and was able to use two of them to play KISS/ZAGS/NOS for 62, but I was still down by 377-319. In desperation, more than anything else, I played ROPE for 12 to open up a bonus lane near the top. I was pretty sure my opponent held the second blank, and would be able to use it himself. Much to my relief, that didn't happen, and nor did my opponent block it. I had managed to pick the rack ADENRTU. Down went UNRATED/TROPE for 77 to finish the game and give me a 414-385 win. My opponent told me he had only picked the second blank right at the very end.
Game 5
My opponent was the only other undefeated player left in the division. Such games are rarely classics, I find. I managed an early bonus of SOLATINg for 61, but my opponent replied a few moves later with WAITERS. She sought to block a triple lane ending in E by playing HOPE, but unfortunately for her this created a space for my bonus of BAILEES which hadn't existed before. My opponent then used the second blank for just 39 points, and I began to feel my lead was looking secure. I made a couple of silly errors which allowed my opponent to reduce the spread by quite a bit, but I had done enough to win 366-322.
Game 6
The final round was 'king of the hill', with repeats allowed, and so I squared off against the same person I played in game 4. I was on five wins, he was on four. The difference in our spreads meant that he had to beat me by 65 points or more in order to overtake me at the top of the table. I picked an early S but couldn't see an immediate bonus, whereas my opponent was scoring in the 20s and 30s to open up an 80 point lead. Finally, though, I was able to play the bonus DROSERA for 81, and then soon after I had LAX/XI for 53. Because my opponent knew he needed to win and win big, he was perhaps keeping the board more open than he otherwise would have. This only benefitted me though, as I played another bonus, DELETES for 73. My opponent replied immediately with a bonus of his own, TENDRILs for 70. But I'd picked the second black, and could fit in the non-bonus play of dJINNI for 66. In the end I won quite comfortably by 470-326.
So I won division B with a perfect 6/6 record, the second time I've won a B division in the past few months and the first time I've ever come away from a tournament with a perfect record. My rating is now 148! Apart from rated Essex League games, my next tournament will be the 24 games in 24 hours craziness. Very exciting!
-x-
*The best mnemonic I can come up with for describing which letters go with SANDIE to make a seven letter word is 'SCOTSMAN GROWS V. FEARSOME RED BEARD FROM KELP'. That's rubbish, I know. Can you do any better?
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