aphis99

Nationals 2013 final day

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:28:08 GMT

Final day, and I had drawn the soaring Carmel Dodd to start. I would generally expect to beat her – she had defeated me twice in twenty Australian games (ignoring a couple of other overseas encounters including a memorable comeback on my part in Bangkok involving OOMPAHING), and indeed I got off to a great start. Holding Q and blank together, I started trying to massage the board to my advantage, e.g. here…

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Carmel Dodd     ???????   196 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   AEEPQX?   274 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    -       '   '     R -    |
 4|'     -       '     N O     '|
 5|        H O A       A W      |
 6|  B O R I N G S   " I     "  |
 7|    '       ' O U T V I E D  |
 8|=     '   F R U G   E ' H A O|
 9|    '       '   '   T   '    |
10|  "       "   G U " E     "  |
11|      I N K L I N g S        |
12|W E E N Y     '       -     '|
13|I   -       '   '       -    |
14|F -       "       "       -  |
15|E     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

…I went for EX/NOX, which restricts Carmel a little but permits QUARE, QUATE, QUALE etc at 2J if I get the right tile, then here…

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Carmel Dodd     ???????   216 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   AEEEPQ?   306 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    -       '   '     R E    |
 4|'   L O A D   '     N O X   '|
 5|        H O A       A W      |
 6|  B O R I N G S   " I     "  |
 7|    '       ' O U T V I E D  |
 8|=     '   F R U G   E ' H A O|
 9|    '       '   '   T   '    |
10|  "       "   G U " E     "  |
11|      I N K L I N g S        |
12|W E E N Y     '       -     '|
13|I   -       '   '       -    |
14|F -       "       "       -  |
15|E     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

…it was EPEE C12, which proffered the additional QUEME B10 if picking M or U. These all sim strongly, but it went horribly wrong when Carmel found OPIATED 2I for 99, I was forced to spend blank and S in EQUALS 15C, she grabbed a cheap ZA play on top for 64 and it was virtually all square. Holding CCDERST I pretty much had to cover row 1 with CRED/DO, then she drew the bloody M herself to make BREME at B10 for 49, taking the lead and turning all my plans tooth-achingly sour. Now I was sitting on CLRSTTV, and after a couple more moves I was in this woeful position:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Carmel Dodd     AIIJNTU   452 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   CLMORST   423 
 1|=     '   C R E D     '   V =| 
 2|  -       "     O P I A T E D| 
 3|    -       '   Y A   R E T  |
 4|'   L O A D   '     N O X   '|
 5|        H O A       A W      |
 6|  B O R I N G S   " I     "  |
 7|    '       ' O U T V I E D  |
 8|=     '   F R U G   E ' H A O|
 9|    '       '   '   T   '    |
10|  B       "   G U " E     "  |
11|  R   I N K L I N g S        |
12|W E E N Y     '       -     '|
13|I M P       '   '       -    |
14|F E E     Z A     "       -  |
15|E   E Q u A L S       '     =|
   ------------------------------

The only salvation was that Carmel was very low on time. There are out-in-twos such as CR(AW) then MOLTS, but after deep thought I opted to prevent her deadly TAJ 3B with CLOOT. She could then have attempted a setup with something like BUT B6, but after further cogitation JA 10D was too seductive:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Carmel Dodd     IINTU     477 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   LMRS      439 
 1|=     '   C R E D     '   V =| 
 2|  -       "     O P I A T E D| 
 3|    C       '   Y A   R E T  |
 4|'   L O A D   '     N O X   '|
 5|    O   H O A       A W      |
 6|  B O R I N G S   " I     "  |
 7|    T       ' O U T V I E D  |
 8|=     '   F R U G   E ' H A O|
 9|    '       '   '   T   '    |
10|  B   J A "   G U " E     "  |
11|  R   I N K L I N g S        |
12|W E E N Y     '       -     '|
13|I M P       '   '       -    |
14|F E E     Z A     "       -  |
15|E   E Q u A L S       '     =|
   ------------------------------

Here I blocked ETUI with LEHR M6, Carmel settling for TI/GIT 12H and going nearly a minute over:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Carmel Dodd     INU       488 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   MS        447 
 1|=     '   C R E D     '   V =| 
 2|  -       "     O P I A T E D| 
 3|    C       '   Y A   R E T  |
 4|'   L O A D   '     N O X   '|
 5|    O   H O A       A W      |
 6|  B O R I N G S   " I   L "  |
 7|    T       ' O U T V I E D  |
 8|=     '   F R U G   E ' H A O|
 9|    '       '   '   T   R    |
10|  B   J A "   G U " E     "  |
11|  R   I N K L I N g S        |
12|W E E N Y     T I     -     '|
13|I M P       '   '       -    |
14|F E E     Z A     "       -  |
15|E   E Q u A L S       '     =|
   ------------------------------

Rather than playing out I opted to surprise Carmel with JINS/IMPS, thus sending her more than sixty seconds over. Luckily in the time pressure she didn’t spot UNCI 3A, and after her UN 3F I was able to drop the M at 9E for nine points, enough for an astonishing one-point win after her twenty point penalty. An amazing, unexpected outcome, one of those 1% shots that sometimes come off.

Anand faced me very soon thereafter. Obviously he’s a great prospect and still coming up the ratings, but he really plays too quickly. I’m sure he’s a very quick thinker, and he makes some bold plays including setups, but when you make a move, record the details and draw tiles only to find that his next is already on the board, that’s a sure sign that he is not weighing up the position sufficiently. It might fluster some and get a couple of cheap wins here and there, but I was able to play fairly quickly myself to combat it. In this game he spent three or four minutes on his first ten moves, then seven or eight minutes trying to work out how to salvage the losing spread. A bit like a young Alastair, who realised a while back that you have to think about this game rather than making kneejerk plays. REALLOT, KIRPANS, HALIDES vs GREETED, INSPIRED, WATERIER, SAVANTE. Anand, if you read this, please try and weigh up two or three alternative plays at every juncture, especially with a difficult or unclear rack. Admittedly your strategy got four bingos in this game, but it wasn’t enough.

Game 20 was with Chris May, who had had rather a nightmarish couple of days in his effort to guarantee WSC qualification, but was back among the top boards. My opening rack EFIINOT should have given me FINITO but I missed it, selecting the weak IF instead; played impeccably thereafter, except for failing to find a bingo from GIINRSY with floating G and N on offer. He had the better tiles for the board including a 75-point SLEWED hooking DISLOIGN and won by 40; DISLOIGN, INTRIGUE vs SUDAMEN, NEROLIS.

As we headed towards the end of the tourney I was keen to get back to winning ways, with Eldar about three games and a huge spread differential ahead. I was up against Edie Mueller, again an opponent I have usually been able to beat. All was looking good until she shocked me with a late ASTHENIA 86 onto a terminal A; I then had to weigh up whether to score 56, leaving myself almost certainly with five consonants, or to go more conservatively and keep one back. I went for the score, ending with BNPTV while she held ILMMRTT, and fortunately I was able to cling on by a meagre nine: AIRBOUND, LURRIES vs SOAPIEST, ASTHENIA.

A low-scoring encounter with Michael McKenna ensued, involving a fifth missed bingo on my part (COLLEGIA), but fortunately I had the better tiles on a very tight board. SUNBEAM, SNOWIER vs 0. In round 23 I faced Peter again, and the generous run of tiles let me deliver further misery to him. I was up by 108 points after two moves, Peter having changed, then kept piling on the hefty scores assisted by a phony that left him unable to break 300. AERIFIES, ANDIRONS, NACARATS vs ISOTHERE.

So we were at the final game, and remarkably David had lost his last two to Peter and Edie (I was next to him, and he had few resources to deploy). I was still about 550 behind him on spread, so a tourney win was the slimmest of slim chances. Bob Jackman greeted me, and I clawed about 100 in front with OUTLEAD only for Bob to underlap five tiles making VERSION for 98. I still had the tempo to outrun him, winning by 30: TREASON, OUTLEAD vs GRINDERS, VERSION. David lost again in another unwinnable encounter, and I had locked in second place on 18/24.

The presentation dinner was pleasant, but couldn’t match the bounty of Hobart 2012. Prizes were in the form of grotesque ceramic owls, perhaps appealing to some but not destined for display in my home. Second place was a strigine cookie jar with a detachable head, and as mine was handed to me at an oblique angle, the head started to come away. I tried to catch it as it came loose, but my hand-eye coordination has never been a strong point and it fell to the wooden floor, smashing into a hundred pieces. The crowd loved it, and I was quite happy with the cheque.

The WSC race is interestingly poised now; Chris underperformed, but still has a reasonable qualifying statistic. By my quick calculations, Michael Cameron needs to reach 1892 by 30 June to overhaul Chris, while Trevor Halsall needs 1914 to do likewise, or 1892 to get past Michael as things stand. Both are in the low 1800’s at the moment, so it seems unlikely that the two of them will beat Chris; but whatever else happens, one will be awarded a slot.

Aussies day 2

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 05:58:19 GMT

Prior to commenting on day 2, a bit more This Easter we were in Southport, a not terribly appealing seaside town in Queensland’s Gold Coast. Having arranged a shared apartment originally with Chris, we ended up accommodating three overseas visitors as well (Cheah, Michael and Henry, variously from Singapore and Malaysia) – it was a tight squeeze but at least we all found a place to rest our heads. Evening activities involved some Clabbers games including a memorable 609-609 draw, and a thorough tablet-based review of this year’s Eurovision entries.

The tournament venue was the RSL club, a large venue, but bursting at the seams with our total of 188 competitors. The top few tables had to be placed on the stage in order to fit us in, and a stage location was something extra to aim for despite the extra heat and gloom up there. The field was exceptionally deep including the overseas contenders, the only notable absentees being Edward O, and the SA guys who never travel anyway; Chris had returned from the UK with the prime aim of securing enough games and rating points to qualify for the WSC, and with another slot guaranteed to the winner it was sure to be a tough campaign.

In this spot during game 9, the first of the second day, Cameron Farlow had changed five then played VINT, so there was a higher chance of vowel problems. What to play?

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Andrew Fisher   GIJOPR?   318 
   ------------------------------     Cameron Farlow  ???????   281 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    H A O M A   E       -    |
 4|'     - F E N U R O N S     '|
 5|    M U T E D   O   Y I D    |
 6|  "       "     T "       "  |
 7|    '       Q   I       '    |
 8|A W A '   H U I S     '     =|
 9|    P       A   E A     '    |
10|  " L     " G     U       "  |
11|B R E T O N S     D -        |
12|O   N -       ' V I N T     '|
13|L   T       '   ' T     -    |
14|I - Y     "       O       -  |
15|X     '       Z A R I B A   =|
   ------------------------------

JOG or JIG at 6B net 34 points, but I went for JOG 14M 31 without much hesitation. As it turned out, Cameron had to dump three more consonants elsewhere, but drawing ELS I had to settle for SPERLING rather than a nine-timer. My win – EROTISE, AUDITOR, SPERLING (and ZARIBA) vs FENURONS, BRETONS. Strange to think that he has a shot at qualifying for the WSC if his rating climbs to over 1952 by the end of June – he’s good, but I’m not sure he’s quite ready for it.

Next up was Alastair. Interesting early game with a few setup attempts or feints – his AUAS almost certainly didn’t retain the P, but my best score hindered it anyway; I chose OGIVE rather than VOGIE to set up the Y, which worked, then OTARY to set up the R, which fizzled as he had the N. What’s best at this point?

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Alastair Richards ???????  347 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher     CDEFIRS  318 
 1|G N A W   J E W I E   '     F| 
 2|  O       "   I   D I E B - O| 
 3|  T -       ' M '       -   U|
 4|Q A T S       P R O c A I N E|
 5|  R     -           A       T|
 6|O Y       "       " R     "  |
 7|G   '     M E G A T O N '    |
 8|I     ' Z I T I     L '     =|
 9|V   '   O   '   '   E   '    |
10|E H     U H       " R     "  |
11|  E     K A         S        |
12|' A U A S     '       -     '|
13|  V -       '   '       -    |
14|B Y       "       "       -  |
15|I     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

Quackle loves low-scoring fishes here such as FAD 5J, but with this score differential that puts you on a one-track path reliant on a bingo. I went for the best score, BRIEFS M2, and Alastair responded with the intriguing CLEEP. Holding ACDDIN?, I balanced with CADI/JA only for him to dump a single E in BYE 14A:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Alastair     ???????   362 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew       DILNNX?   354 
 1|G N A W   J E W I E   '     F| 
 2|  O     C A D I   D I E B - O| Unseen DELNNOORTU  9
 3|  T -       ' M '       R   U|
 4|Q A T S       P R O c A I N E|
 5|  R     -           A   E   T|
 6|O Y       "       " R   F "  |
 7|G   '     M E G A T O N S    |
 8|I     ' Z I T I     L '     =|
 9|V   '   O   '   C L E E P    |
10|E H     U H       " R     "  |
11|  E     K A         S        |
12|' A U A S     '       -     '|
13|  V -       '   '       -    |
14|B Y E     "       "       -  |
15|I     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

The inference is very clear that he holds the final E (having also engineered the CLEEPE opening earlier), and he is close to a bingo. A cunning move on his part, making my course of action very unclear. I went with EN C14, but dropping the X at 5L was also an option; I guess I had to preserve one in the bag, with a prospect of counterplay if he bingoes.

As it turned out he had TONSURED 11H, and the best I could do in response was XENIAL N10 losing by five. Good endgame from Alastair giving himself the best prospects. CAROLERS vs MEGATON, PROCAINE, TONSURED (he told me that he held the last three E’s before playing CLEEP).

Round 11 turned into a bit of a rout against Peter Kougi. With scores close he had slotted a C in second place for a nine-timer, allowing me SCRAWLER for 194, and I went on to nab three more bingos in five moves that also involved a hefty X play. Sadly he had purloined one of the blanks so my high game of 638 didn’t quite survive the tourney. SCRAWLER, DECIARE, NUTRIENT, FLAMENS vs WINERIES.

Then Peter Shaw, who tried FLOWIN(G)S* early on; I had to block with DEADBOLT in case he tried something valid, spurning a 108-point DOUBTED. Got lucky with a follow-up SQUEG for 86 and it was all over. DEADBOLT vs SMARTER.

This landed me against Eldar again. I didn’t really get the tiles, but it was a fun game with some interesting words played – here it is on cross-tables: http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=14149

On to Naween. Three main choices here following his ARIETTA, though there are seven plays which score more than 40:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Naween   ???????   118 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew   EEMPORW   113 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    -       '   '       -    | 
 4|'     U V A E '       -     '|
 5|        A I A       -        |
 6|  "   R E D R A W S       "  |
 7|    '       ' Z A       '    |
 8|=     '     B O G     '     =|
 9|A R I E T T A   '       '    |
10|  "       "       "       "  |
11|        -           -        |
12|'     -       '       -     '|
13|    -       '   '       -    |
14|  -       "       "       -  |
15|=     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

I chose the adventurous EMPOWER 9I rather than 10F, and refusing the blocky MEOW 8A. All sim much the same. Naween phoneyed in response, so despite my poor FIIINOO pickup I was able to dump with FIORIN and win fairly comfortably. REDRAWS, EMPOWER, AMBLERS v ARIETTA, HUITAINS, THINGIES.

Henry again in game 15. This time I got the better of him in a solid game. PRANCER, EXPLAINS, SIENITE v REVOLVER. The good run continued against Alastair, with two 90+ bingoes in succession giving me an unassailable lead; the only oversight was CIVILIAN for 40 round two floating I’s, but my move killing the TWS was safer – whereupon Alastair used the same spot for the cute WH(I)N(I)ARD. BRIERIER, ERYNGOES, OXLANDS v GYPSIED.

Last of a long day was against Esther Perrins. She has always played a canny defensive game, but has picked up the word study lately and is reaping the rewards. I fell behind and was forced to open with EGAD just before the TWS (actually, it sims best but is easily blocked by a human). My pickup including JZ was interesting, but she was able to bingo anyway and my consolation-prize ZONES/EGADS put me over fifty behind after the dust settled. QUADRANS vs RELOCKED, RATTIER, MEASLIER, MATTERED. 6-3 for the day left me handily placed, and better play on my part with no missed bingos.

Aussie Nationals day 1

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:32:53 GMT

We had eight games on day one. Played pretty well on the whole against Trevor Tao in game 1, overlooking a higher-scoring SYLLOGE but my YELLOWS was a lot safer (the insurance cost 6 points). Otherwise TRACTATE and AULNAGE vs his SIDENOTE. Nothing much of note against Trish Brighton except that I learned in retrospect that CALLANT does take an S, despite sounding a bit adjectival. My opening rack was ?EILLOW and I toyed with OWLLIKE before finally plumping for LOWLIFE, only to learn later in the day that owl-themed words would qualify for spot prizes; the avian symbol of Queensland is some sort of owl (more on the owls later). LOWLIFE, INERTIA vs 0 – CALLANT wasn’t a bingo, just played round LA for 36.

In game 3 I was up against Anand Bharadwaj. He’s doing pretty well but can’t make much headway against the really good players – his style at the moment is a little too reliant on fish & bingo, but no doubt he is still studying vocab. At this juncture I missed a cute little play:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Anand          ???????   93  
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher  EFIOQR?   75  
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    -       '   '       -    | 
 4|'     -       '       -     '|
 5|        -   V       -        |
 6|  "       J A P   "       "  |
 7|    '     A G E '       '    |
 8|=     B O W I E       '     =|
 9|    V I M   ' K '       '    |
10|  "       Z A S   "       "  |
11|        -           -        |
12|'     -       '       -     '|
13|    -       '   '       -    |
14|  -       "       "       -  |
15|=     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

Best is FORAGE 7C, which yields a subtle slot for QI.

More setups available here:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Anand           ???????   198 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   ABHRSTY   197 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    -       '   ' R     -    | 
 4|'     -       ' G U   -     '|
 5|        -   V   I T -        |
 6|  "       J A P E S       "  |
 7|    '     A G E D       '    |
 8|=     B O W I E       '     =|
 9|    V I M   ' K '       '    |
10|  Q       Z A S   "       "  |
11|  u   F R O E       -        |
12|H O L Y       '       -     '|
13|E A -       '   '       -    |
14|A D       "       "       -  |
15|P     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

The BRUTS hook can be utilised in a few ways, but it’s probably worth going for BRASH with its BRASHY hook.

Anand’s UH was a little bewildering, as it was hard to see what he was hoping for – perhaps setting up for XU, so I had to address it (choosing CENTO). Hereafter he went on a fishing rampage, scoring 57 in five moves before bingoing.

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Anand           ???????   228 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   CEINOTT   272 
 1|=     '       =       N O I R| 
 2|  -       "       B R A Y S  | 
 3|    -       '   ' R     -    |
 4|'     -       ' G U   -     '|
 5|        -   V   I T -        |
 6|  " U     J A P E S       "  |
 7|    H O M A G E D       '    |
 8|=     B O W I E       '     =|
 9|    V I M   ' K '       '    |
10|  Q       Z A S   "       "  |
11|  u   F R O E       -        |
12|H O L Y       '       -     '|
13|E A -       '   '       -    |
14|A D       "       "       -  |
15|P     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

My win, LINOCUTS vs ERASION.

I played two very bad moves against David Eldar in round 4, overlooking EXS(C)IND for 68 where he subsequently played the very nice STOCCADO. Then later on I was suckered into hooking LEKE, which is Spenser’s word for ‘leaky’ and takes no hooks whatever. Lost by 50 in the end – TUBICOLE vs STOCCADO, TAPERING.

Michael Tang had slain a couple of giants, but a phony put him on the back foot and he couldn’t gain any traction; SLEAVED vs STONIED. I then defeated Esther in game 6, benefiting from another phony (this one a three, the unexpected MOK*) albeit failing on a couple of superior sixes (VIDUAL not ULVAS, then WOADED not WADED would have been preferable). TUTORIAL, SERAFINS, CONVERSE vs BETAINE, PROTEIDE (I spotted a better out-bingo for her, namely PEREOPOD).

Some glaring misses against Joanne. Here’s one:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Andrew Fisher   LEHAIMS   149 
   ------------------------------     Joanne Craig    ???????   164 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    -       '   '       -    | 
 4|'     -       '       -     '|
 5|        -           -        |
 6|  "       "       "       "  |
 7|    '       '   ' C     '    |
 8|=     '       O B E   '     =|
 9|    '       ' F A D     '    |
10|  "       C       I       "  |
11|        - A   D I S T A I N S|
12|'     -   L   O       T O O K|
13|    -     L A G ' Q A T -   R|
14|  -       " X I   I N     - A|
15|=     '     E E   N I E     N|
   ------------------------------

Oh yes, OBEAHISM (d’oh). I also failed to see OBELIZES the following move, so that was a lot of equity foregone in short order. The endgame got fairly interesting, with Joanne’s WHIOS scoring a lot but leaving us both with tough racks and nothing in the bag:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Andrew Fisher   ENPTUVV   375 
   ------------------------------     Joanne Craig    BEFGJOR   367 
 1|=     '       = O R P h R E Y| 
 2|  - R E A L T O N E       -  | 
 3|    -   U   '   '       -    |
 4|'     - T     '       -     '|
 5|        E           -        |
 6|  " W   U "       "       "  |
 7|    I   r   '   ' C     '    |
 8|=   Z O S     O B E   '     =|
 9|    ' D     ' F A D     W    |
10|  "   I   C       I     H "  |
11|      U - A   D I S T A I N S|
12|'   H M   L   O       T O O K|
13|    I     L A G ' Q A T S   R|
14|  - L   M A X I   I N     Y A|
15|G R A D E   E E   N I E   E N|
   ------------------------------

I knew BOZOS was coming, but had to score with VENUE D1, leaving PTV; after BOZOS, I dumped a V in UVA 11D, Joanne dropped the J and I went out with POT B7 for a slim victory. AUTEURS, ORPHREY vs DISTAIN, REALTONE, but I did miss two bingos from AENKRSS, thinking KRANSES required a T (that’s just CRANTSES or KRANTZES, with KRANZES also fine) and also overlooking the N for RANKNESS.

Last of the day was against Henry Yeo who had had a great day scything through the top order, and kept on trucking against me. My failure to find RAMULOUS didn’t help (like KRANSES, this had been noticed by the adjacent Eldar), but I also didn’t capitalise enough with my Z, missing a good SOZ then OYEZ. Some other moves were OK but nothing stellar; HUMOROUS vs GENTILE, ESTATED, PRIMEVAL, SNARIER. On 6-2 I was somewhere in the top ten after day one. The evening’s entertainment was a really rather good curry house up the coast a little.

Inspiring

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:53:37 GMT

Spotted a flattering reference to me in an interesting Facebook note penned by Ricky Purnomo (here, if you have access to his page) - apparently some of the Indonesian young guns have been reading this blog for inspiration about Scrabble analysis. I'll be trying to put some of that up over the next few days, once I've gone through my games from the recent Australian National Championships wherein I came second on spread to davideldar182. That's a little flattering, though, as David lost his last three games, perhaps a little less motivated to excel after he had virtually locked in the title after round 21.

Teams event

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:02:14 GMT

Attended the Team Challenge a week ago, whereby the 50 contenders were grouped into teams of five, and each played the equivalent seed from the other nine teams. So I got some strong competition, but overall it went pretty smoothly for me with a 473 average and an 8-1 record.

A handy win over Michael Rubinstein to begin. Quite annoyingly I decided to position a D in sixth position in an open TWS lane (rather than the alternative T), then Michael phoneyed while my RSU keep matured to ?EEQRSU. So rather than REQUITES/REQUOTES for 194 I had to accept the humble ESQUIRE elsewhere for 130. I could have nabbed more than 565 but got greedy at the end, emptying the bag with a 46-point play but letting him bingo. ENTANGLE, ESQUIRE, BEAMISH vs SNIFTER.

Then it was Naween. Reminiscent of a purplish patch I once had against him, I had an opening AEEENT?, then RAGOUTED a bit later and a run of muscular scoring while he never got going (notwithstanding his scrawny IDEATION). Third game vs Anand I changed 2 from AGINRRU, ended up with AAGINRR and elected to slot ARRAIGN one shy of the TWS lane to see if he would identify the hook. He came up with TEMPTED in a different board sector, then used another D elsewhere…I asked him after the game if he knew the front-hook to ARRAIGN, and like a shot he answered ‘D’. A case of specific knowledge not being applied! ARRAIGN, FIGURANT, CAROLUS vs TEMPTED, SHELTIE.

A little difficulty getting clear of Nick in #4, but after pulling half a bingo ahead I drew AEEHIST from the bag, then snared the two blanks in my final draw. Sadly they were accompanied by IILOU and the best I could do was SLUIT. TEENIER, ATHEISED vs ASPIRIN, LATTICES. Geoff faced me after lunch – I pretty much got everything. FETIALS, FADEOUTS vs 0.

I thought all would be well against Darren Khoo Beng Way, a former WYSC runner-up who is basing himself in Melbourne for a while, when I was able to use his opening ZANY to bingo with EFLORSV. But he bingoed right back, and seemed to play a smart game throughout (e.g. BOWFIN for 54 where I was about to play OHMIC) while I battled with feeble racks. Lost by 90 – FLYOVERS, VERDANT vs WANTONER, OILSEED.

Peter suffered a rare bingo-less game against me in round 7, indeed his starter JOBED delivered his best score. FACONNE, NURDIER vs 0. I rolled on to meet Trevor – in postgame discussion, he told me he had spurned JA in this position:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Andrew Fisher    ???????   162 
   ------------------------------  -> Trevor Halsall   ADDIJNR   73  
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  - F     "       "       -  | 
 3|    E       '   '       -    | 
 4|B O C C I A   '       -     '|
 5|    I   -           -        |
 6|  " A     "       "       "  |
 7|    L   B   Y   '       '    |
 8|=   S H O V E D       '     =|
 9|    '   N A P   '       '    |
10|  "   G N U       "       "  |
11|      O Y           -        |
12|'     W       '       -     '|
13|    - D     '   '       -    |
14|  -       "       "       -  |
15|=     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

Instead he went for JAI/JOY on the grounds that JA would make it too easy for me to colonise the A column. An odd decision (especially with BAJRI available) which didn’t avail him, my AEISTU? yielding a nine-timer; I'd have chosen JA with no hesitation. FECIALS, DAUBIEST vs SOLATED.

Last of the day was against davideldar182, who had already dropped a couple. The first E took an aeon to appear, as I mentioned (he raised his eyebrows, noting that it was a rare instance of a worthwhile in-game comment – yep, sorry!) – I garnered a few of his racks which appear in the following annotation: http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=13861#0#. Some comments on his blog too.

WSC '13

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:31:05 GMT

So it's not Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, Dubai, Goa, Sydney or any of the other mooted venues. Instead the WSC caravan returns to Europe (with a 95% degree of certainty at this stage), piggybacking off the MSI event in Prague in late November. Australia will have a massive 10 players, the team swelled by WYSC champion McKenna as well as the 2011 WSC runner-up in addition to our allotted 8. Here are the current standings.

I started a revision program about six weeks ago and have covered 12,000 bingos so far plus a percentage of fours and fives. I have noted a 'fade' of about 2% which I aim to reduce, but that's not so bad given my complete lack of study for many months.

I'll also get in a few international games in May, when visiting Sweden for Eurovision. Ed Martin (who now lives just north of Lund) is arranging a small tourney with an additional guest list of Chris May, Lewis Mackay, Terry Kirk and David Webb, probably a double round robin on two successive days.

CSIM wrapup '13

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 06:52:14 GMT

Some other bits and pieces from the CSIM – John Holgate’s email report of the event has reminded me that there were insufficient clocks and rotating board to go round (ho ho) at the start of play. About five or six tables had to make do with the old-style chess clocks and the flat folding boards, meaning that some players elected to play side by side rather than face to face…the horror.

Against Peter Kougi in game 6, I was 120 behind after his KEEF opening from N2:

Andrew Fisher: Turn 8
   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Peter Kougi     ???????   367 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   AILORS?   244 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       K  | 
 3|    -       '   '       - E  |
 4|'     -       '       -   E D|
 5|        -           -     F E|
 6|  "       "       "       " V|
 7|    '       '   '       '   I|
 8|=     P O U T I N E   '     A|
 9|    H A E   '   O R T O L A N|
10|  Z E P   J I R D "   M I " T|
11|  A   E T A T       - E N   S|
12|' F   -       G       N U   '|
13|  T A r D Y I N G     E X    |
14|  I       "   A   "   D   -  |
15|A G L O W     R       '     =|
   ------------------------------
Unseen CIOWREENBLUBECYHQSVIMOORSU  26

There’s a surprising 97-point play available (ORLISTAT K4, which I missed), but I went for ORALISM/SKEEF to see if I could draw the final M and manufacture a comeback…naturally Peter nabbed it while I struggled with BCHUVW and the like.

Annoying stat: in six games out of 26 my opponents started with a bingo (that’s way more than it should be, and I could only bingo once on the first move), and in half of those they followed up with a second bingo immediately. But some surprises, e.g. Bob opened with FACETE from 8G for 24 when I would have no hesitation in playing from 8D for six more points.

Nicer bingos on my part included AGRAPHON, SLUGABED, POTASSIC (also saw PODCASTS), UNSUITS, REAWAKING, SATRAPY, BISTROIC, while on the other side I liked WIMBREL, FEMINAZI, DOVELIKE. That’s it for a while – I may participate in the Team Challenge but otherwise it’s probably the Nationals in Gold Coast over Easter.

Another CSIM game

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:22:37 GMT

Eldar had jetted in from somewhere, and it’s good to see that he will get in enough games to qualify for the 2013 WSC. Rumours were spreading that Trinidad and Tobago had put in a creditable bid to host it, but I can’t envisage Mattel treating the southern Caribbean as a territory ripe for promotional expansion. Anyway, we had some fun trash-talking about less experienced players who preface moves with inane comments like “I’ll just open up the triple word score for you,” (what does one say in response – No, don’t!) or “I’m really not sure about this,” before trying some risible phony like THIGHERS*.

There are some funny characters in Sydney scrabble, including one George K who interacts boomingly with everyone, stretching out his hand for a Latham-like grip while pattering out a rapid rattlebag of jocular comments. Inspiration deserted him for a while when he entered the men’s urinal, announcing at top volume “Ah, I see the champions are all…” (and here he paused for a while, perceiving that he might be about to transgress some taste boundary) “…getting rid of some essential minerals”. Nobody responded to this one.

David looked very strong after the first day’s play, but had a rough second afternoon and third morning to fall out of contention, finishing fifth. He was a little unlucky in the endgame for our second encounter, which fell in round 17: http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=13498#0#

CSIM 2013

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:57:15 GMT

A few interesting games at this year's CSIM. Here is round three, a high-scoring battle with Russell Honeybun:

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=13497#0#

DC interplay

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:18:28 GMT

Suddenly there is talk of a new edition of CSW, which is likely to emerge in 2016 for adoption in January 2017. The WESPA dictionary committee received an email from Darryl, but only after he had attempted the usual non-consultative railroading of a two-person agenda, and was politely asked by Elie to check with the rest of the DC first. The message was forwarded with the comment "In theory, you still make up the WESPA Dictionary Committee, although the Committee has been dormant for some while" - well, that was no fault of the Committee.

I emailed back as follows, though I won't quote the original email:

Thanks to Elie for suggesting that Darryl and Allan must consult more widely. The DC should not just remain a two-person fiefdom, and I would prefer that all members be updated regularly, and involved collectively in any democratic decisions that are to be made.

I contacted Chris Lipe who told me this:

“Bob Lipton and I are the NASPA dudes charged with trying to coordinate this from our end as well so I'll be happy to answer anything I can for you. Right now I need to talk to Jim Pate on the NASPA dictionary committee to get more details and status, but about a month ago this was the timeline he gave me:

· Sept 2013: New words identified and list sent to Merriam-Webster
· May 2014: Tentative publication date for the OSPD 5th edition (the book in stores, without the naughty words)
· Later 2014: Publication of the OWL3 (with all the words)
· Sept 2014-April 2015: OWL3 adopted for North American tournament play.

I've heard that the tentative date for the next CSW is 2017...as you can see this would leave a lengthy gap where there are words in the North American list that are not in CSW, to potentially include the 2015 WSC.”

If mid-2014 is correct for release of the next US update, that will mean a gap of a couple of years before the additions are incorporated into a published form of CSW. I am in two minds as to whether WESPA should adopt them as valid from 2015, or wait until 2017 (I'm leaning towards the former). However, what I do propose is that the two DC's should start communicating, and coordinate a schedule of future publishing dates in order to avoid this problem down the track.

Players who have an interest in these matters may be exasperated that Chambers additions were frozen out in CSW07, then suddenly incorporated in CSW12, and may be on the outer again for CSW17. There seems to be little coherency in the planning - is there a record of why it was decided to allow Chambers additions in 2012? I am personally very keen on retaining a link with Chambers, as I use it regularly for crossword solving and come across words that also ought to be good in Scrabble. What are Darryl's reasons for not contemplating further mining of Chambers?

Adding ODE3 to the mix is not a bad idea in theory, but the largish number of new words is problematic. The wordlist keeps on getting huger. However, I like the idea of the Countdown crossover, and on balance I am in favour of making contact with them.

Another matter which could be raised is whether obsolete/archaic words should be deleted from the wordlist. As we know this is a major stumbling-block for many US players in accepting the WESPA list. My question here is: can Darryl please quantify how many obsolete/archaic words are included? It may well be more palatable if we minimised the quantum of any increase by deleting a swath of old words at the same time. Personally I am prepared to accept the pain of unlearning thousands of words if I know that the resulting publication will reflect words with a reasonable chance of being used today, somewhere in the world, sourced from a reputable basket of dictionaries including Collins, Chambers and ODE.

My final query relates to the description 'OSW' used below. Is it proposed to revert to that earlier title in preference to CSW?

[end of email]

I'd appreciate any comments from readers, as WESPA needs to consult about this and I will be happy to report feedback to the DC. Out of interest, adding ODE3's 8270 candidates would give us words like YI, JIT, IIWI and ZIKR.

Decathon positions

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:06:46 GMT

People aren’t posting much on LiveJournal these days, and I’ve also felt less inclined. I’ll stick with it for a while…

A few instructive positions from Sunday’s ten-game Decathon tournament, all at 22 minutes but we still didn’t finish until well after seven – here’s game 1 against Ray Alford who has EEIIOPZ with nothing in the bag.

I went for the out-in-two (GANDY/AGRIN 2J then WAY/KY), but could have reflected that Ray will not go out in two moves. Top sequence is WYN O8, Ray’s OXIDIZE, then DA/OXIDIZED, followed up with the cute CIGGY 3I to finish.

In the game with Mythili Rudra, I thought a major threat was the possible QUELLING, and opted to move towards restricting it with WIS 14D while scoring and offering up a couple of hooks. Not convinced that LUDOS at E1 is better as per the depicted sim table, though that also eats up a hotspot.

With ACEFGIMNV unseen after her ANTIRAPE, what’s the move here?

QUELLING looks much like a game-winner, and that’s why I opted for DUOS/MOWS. The simulation is surprising, with ODIOUS 12H on top – supposedly winning 76% compared to 51% for DUOS, OUDS etc. I guess her rack is likely to be pretty poor, even after QUELLING.

Here’s what Mythili faced in her endgame, with my rack CIMOR:

A handful of wins focusing on E5, but counterintuitively the best one uses the E (VAE/HIE followed by MACRO M7, then FEIGN and out). Luckily for me Mythili miscalculated, allowing me to colonise E5 instead.

Then a dullish game with John Hamilton involving five easy bingos on my part, and a pre-lunch loss to Peter Kougi. My choice of YE 15N here sims best because of the O column defence and the many unseen vowels, but perhaps I should have inferred more from his previous RAT and YU – CAGY or GYNAE would have been preferable in the actual game.

Here’s how it stood after his subsequent EARTHIER. A brain-tickler to be sure.

I tried SITZ/SWAD with the hope of capitalising if Peter had Q difficulties, but his new rack of EEORQSU was too good. Maybe Z(E)STING would have been a better bet.

Matte Dunn started off in high frenzy with EROTIZE then DEWANIS, though luckily I was able to slot GORHENS between them, but he kept scoring strongly with the X then bingoed again. Later I annoyingly missed h(E)IRLOOM which didn’t help matters, but I saw a slim chance to win from this position:

The idea was to dump a B and hope for a pickup allowing CANCELER/CLARENCE, but alas it was not to be (anyway, the best play from Matte’s potential AEHNRSU would have been HURRAS F10 which blocked both).

I also dropped game 9 against Trevor Halsall, who built up to a late bingo and then drew the best of the rest, and had a scare in the final game against Nick Ivanovski. What to do after his ADAW 12B, with EIMORTUW unseen?

There’s a bingo playable (STOMATAL) but all the best-performing moves involve dumping a single T here and there. I went for TA at B11, drawing the very handy I which permitted bingos in a couple of spots (ironically I had seen GLIOMATA in my planning process, but omitted to find it when it was available – SOMITAL/ATRIP was my winner instead).

I ended up on 7/10 in a fairly tiring day, second to Peter who I think nabbed nine wins. Best bingos on my part maybe LETDOWNS, GOLDBUGS, KIRBEHS, GOUGERE, AGAMONTS, but nothing of major note.

TT - the conclusion

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 03:01:12 GMT

Well, as I mentioned on Facebook, Australia beat NZ 190-98. Quite a handsome margin, but they were a lot weaker on paper, and the fourteen phonies played against me in 24 games are further confirmation. Howard's TANAISTE* was forgivable if you haven't brushed up properly on CSW12 deletions, but some were less so (RECLUSED*, PLANGENTS*, CHAE*, GARRISH* when GHARRIS was playable, LEGALITE* then GELLATE*, LOWERERS*, AVENTER*, ELHIS*, ATRIM*, MIN*, KAO*, UNSACKED* and NODED*). Then again, I think ELHIS* may have been played in a world final many years ago, and I also admit to playing LOWERERS* myself once, then converting it into a real word by front-hooking with an F. Nick Cavenagh's two phony attempts against Richard Jeremy raised a few titters - with WaSPIES playable for 92 he tried PISSWEaK* onto a K, then aSSWIPE* before giving up and dumping a couple of tiles, yet still winning the game due to overwhelmingly better resources. Earned a few surprising challenges, e.g. LENITED, PLANGENT, YIRK, FITLIER.

I was leading for most of the final day, but Alastair was always threatening to overtake me at a game behind but with much better spread. When I fell (again) to Joanne Craig in game 23 he kept his winning streak up, and we both finished 20-4 with him on top.

Craggy-faced John Foster confided to me after the final game that he used to be able to deploy his forces much more effectively, but now he's stuck in a pattern of fishing, fishing, fishing and bingoing - he can see it happening, but can't stop himself from doing it. He sounded quite disconsolate.

Not sure if this format will continue in future years. If Australia sends an approximation of its strongest team, the fixture will be wholly uncompetitive; Bob was wondering about combining it with the Australian Masters but putting a cap on the number of Kiwis - sounds like the details need clarifying.

Trans-Tasman day 1

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:27:13 GMT

Day one is at an end, and I have battled my way to 7-1 which is currently top of the pile. Australia seems to be leading New Zealand by a large margin.

The venue (the Shoppingtown Hotel in Doncaster, north of Melbourne) is OK, but there are a couple of cleanliness issues. There was no soap or handwash in the gents, and although I mentioned it to reception a couple of times, nothing had appeared by the end of the day. And when my Caesar Salad was conveyed to me at lunchtime, there was a thickish curly black hair nestling in the lettuce - I sent it back, and I think the replacement was a different dish.

The NZ team is patchy, with some very skilled players (e.g. Howard, who crushed me easily with AVOWRIES, QUIETING and JAVELINA) and some not-so-skilled...one lady played two phony threes, among seven nonwords in all wielded against me during the day.

Had a great start with REINDEX to open against Patrick Carter, then VITILIGO round his obliging L (I recall missing a three-I bingo against him in 2006, so was glad to redress that). A very close game with Nick Cavenagh in which CABESTRO was vital in the endgame to give sufficient protection against his closing bingo. Fairly straightforward wins over Val Mills and Lawson Sue (not the other way round), the latter including AQUIFER, then a horrible 17-move game against Marianne Bentley before the Howard Warner rout. Two good 500+ games to finish the day against Glennis Hale and Rogelio Talosig - I opted for an adventurous EV(ZO)NE against Glennis keeping UTW, being rewarded with OUTWING then an immediate AIKIDOS, and the Rogelio game involved a two-blank pickup which yielded TUXEDO 62 and FITLIER 91 before a later ERUMPENT. This is a double round robin, so we have another 16 games before Sunday evening.

How Australia thinks

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 22:35:13 GMT

Got a callup from an old friend this week summoning me to Naked For Satan, a top-notch tapas and vodka bar round the corner from me, bedecked with groovy decor such as 1950’s-style ‘cheesecake’ decoupage, ancient alcohol stills, twisted copper sheeting, stacks of chairs soldered together. It was busy for a Tuesday night, and always is. Our party comprised David y Raul, David’s old work colleague Peter, and his friends Mark and Anna, and after downing quantities of the pintxos (Basque-style nibbles) we repaired to my place.

Here I was bewildered at the turn the conversation took, when firstly Anna and Mark grilled me about the nearby tower blocks and what problems their inhabitants might be causing locally, then later moved on with David to mockery of work colleagues wearing burqas, then some general anti-Asian contumely, all the while sloshing back quantities of wine and beer. Raul is from Santiago himself but really mistrusts the local African residents – the tower blocks are mainly occupied by Somalian or other refugees, generally families with young kids. I interact with them a bit when walking the dog – the youngsters often ask her name and want to play with her, or run round us kicking footballs, or whizz past on little bikes. Yesterday there were a few of them wearing green face-paint and witches’ hats. They are really no trouble, and add to the gaiety of the district as far as I am concerned, including the older teenagers who roam the streets in groups. But the entrenched attitudes of my guests wouldn’t allow for any of that, wouldn’t permit anything to ruffle their complacency or open their minds. It really is how a lot of Australians think, and that’s what dog-whistling politicians play on with their repugnant “NO MORE BOATS” rhetoric.

I’m not an argumentative person, and while I gave reasoned responses, perhaps I should have challenged them. Then again, I’m unlikely to see Anna and Mark again.

Last post about Masters

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 06:47:29 GMT

Here's another Masters game with comments. Rod fails to draw a tile in the endgame, thus giving me an opportunity to which I was oblivious.

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=12591

Revisiting some Masters moments

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:57:35 GMT

OK, let's see if this works:

Yeah, ZOAEAL* is phony, sorry. The optimal play is JESS/XIS here, but Richard stunned me with his response (see comments later).

Meanwhile, here was a fun game with Cameron Farlow, who is surging up the rankings and even has a shot at the next WSC team. He seemed to have just the right tiles to score heavily, keeping me under pressure throughout:
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=12580#0#

Getting stupid

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 04:56:41 GMT

From a report in The Age, a list of things that apparently decrease intelligence or mental acuity:
Watching reality TV (according to tests carried out in Austria)
Sugar consumption, especially from low-nutrition foods (per UCLA)
Multitasking (per Stanford, though I wouldn't be surprised if younger subjects fared better on these tests because of the modern way of life)
Chewing gum (Cardiff Uni - apparently it impairs short-term memory)
Watching Fox News (Fairleigh Dickinson Uni - watchers are "less likely to be knowledgeable about the political landscape". But this is a flawed conclusion - it doesn't make you stupid, it's just that being stupid makes you more likely to watch)
Obesity (Kent State study of subjects before and after bariatric surgery). "Before the surgery, most subjects showed below-average memory skills. But 12 weeks after surgery...their memory test scores had improved to within the average range for all adults."
Jetlag (Cal Berkeley - it seems you produce many fewer neurons)
Fluoride (NIEHS study suggesting that living in high-fluoride areas reduces IQ)
Meetings or social events (Virginia Tech): "Group settings can diminish expressions of intelligence, especially among women", and "had a significant effect" on the subjects' problem-solving abilities.
Being spanked/other physical abuse as a child (Uni of Manitoba). This was found to lead to mental disorder in 5% of cases, rather than specifically lowering IQ.
PowerPoint (US Army comment) - supposedly it "stifles...critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making."
Watching cartoons ('Pediatrics' journal) - ten minutes' viewing will impair your executive function.
Secondhand smoke (Central Michigan Uni). Lowers IQ among many other harmful effects.
Stress (Yale Stress Centre) "can reduce the number of connections between neurons in the brain and impair the ability of managing tense events in the future," and cumulative stress "can impair the brain's ability to store information and respond to the environment."
Ambien and Xanax (AARP) can both cause "memory loss (even amnesia), dementia and suicidal thoughts" among users and "both Xanax and Ambien slow down the central nervous system."
Lack of iodine (Steady Health) - infantile iodine deficiency "can lead to serious physical and mental disorders," according to Steady Health. In fully developed adults, an iodine deficiency can lead to a 13 point decrease in IQ.
Smoking weed (Duke Uni) may cause "neuropsychological decline broadly across domains of functioning", and suggest "a neurotoxic effect of cannabis on the adolescent brain."

So a pill-popping, gum-chewing, stressed-out, jetlagged, large-dimensioned scrabble player trying to do ten things at once will probably outdraw you and win easily.

Masters game 1

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 04:06:31 GMT

We were in NSW this year at the Five Dock RSL Club, which is in the middle of a stretch of featureless suburbia in northern Sydney. I had low expectations, but the first game turned out to be inspiringly enjoyable and closely-contested - it was supposed to be on the Masters microsite, but I can't track it down so have posted the details myself:

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=12273#0#

Edward may be able to recall his penultimate rack if he reads this. I think he computed about a three in eight chance of winning, depending which tile was in the bag.

I lost game two to Trevor, and then went on a lengthy winning streak of 13 games before losing my last four, strangely. It wasn't a choke, just the way the tiles fell. Edward had also been rampaging through the field before dropping a couple towards the end, so he ended up first (thus locking in WSC qualification) while I was second. I'll try and get a few positions together later.

Vic Scrabble AGM

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 09:26:34 GMT

We had a free tourney today to encourage attendance at the AGM, and lured a reasonable turnout. I started with rough tiles against Gwen Lampre, but benefited from her attempt to S-hook PAREV on a relatively open board, later taking out the E-hook myself. I was hampered by the Q for four turns before finally drawing one of the several dozen I's, U's and A's that enabled me to play it, and got through by about 30 in a scrappy encounter with no bingos on my part.

Then Peter Kougi got the better of me in game two - I need better tiles against him, as evidenced by the jammy flow in our final series to complete the Vic matchplay a week or so ago (see crosstables 11913, 11914, 11915). A four-bingo win over Ray Alford brought me to lunchtime.

The AGM was relatively uneventful except for the querulous voice of Harry Malcolm, who wondered aloud whether it would be appropriate for the committee to reveal that legal action had been commenced. As we had not previously been aware of that fact, it wouldn't have been possible. I guess the papers will be served on us tomorrow, and we all look forward to communicating with a solicitor rather than sifting through his tediously frequent emailed ramblings.

All business having been concluded, I had a pleasant afternoon demolishing four opponents in a row. I didn't quite get my fifth 500 in succession because I missed Lois Binnie's outplay (and incidentally played extremely badly in that game), but averaged 501 for the day with 18 bingos in total, none of which was very interesting.

As I mentioned a while back, I'm rather fed up with scrabble at the moment, which is one reason for my lack of braggadocio in this blog lately. I haven't really studied for nine or ten months, other than a fairly cursory review of the CSW12 additions, and possible reasons are: automatic qualification for the next WSC whatever I do; the endless barrage of crap still being delivered to the Vic committee relating to the suspension of an anti-Semitic bully four years ago; grumblings on the home front about my so-called 'obsession'; the paucity (though not lack) of really strong opposition in Victoria, exacerbated by the departure of Eldar, and Naween's recent sabbatical (typified by my first game today wherein Player A couldn't find any of the playable bingos with ELOSTU? twice in a row), meaning that while I can still easily lose games, I don't get punished like I should; and perhaps things like moving house. Well, I guess we shall see whether the flame is rekindled.

MIFF

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 03:33:29 GMT

One of the upcoming features in the Melbourne International Film Festival is billed as a 'bromantic comedy'...nice, but not a word yet, though you can get a few elevens with two blanks (notably MULTICARBON and CORYBANTISM).

King's Cup day 1 & 2

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 04:13:58 GMT

Game 1 was against Karen Richards. She helped me out by offering an invalid anagram of LABORITE, so I was able to get a bingo ahead using THOLEPIN and maintain control. Then got past Akkarapol (Thailand) and Osikhena Ojior (Nigeria); the latter notched up 180 in three moves towards the end, but I was able to slot in a winning MENHADEN. This paired me with Dianne Ward, and I fell distantly behind after her early WAGMOIRE and immediate FOUNDERS 98. Her scoring dried up for a while, and somehow I got within ten points before she crushed my hopes with QUELEAS 111. I deployed a forlorn NITRIDS and followed up with FRATI for 45 leaving AHNT on my rack, but she was still 25 ahead and just had to play a valid move to win the game. This was one of the rare occasions when that scenario fails to play out – she opted for a plausible-seeming phony four, gifting me an unmerited win.

The King’s Cup is unusual in that the organisers circulate a sheet of valid twos and threes, with inflections, which may be consulted freely by players. This year they had failed to update the sheet for CSW12 changes (UMS etc), which was discovered partway through the first morning’s play resulting in the hasty issue of an erratum slip.

After lunch I was on rockier ground against Komol, despite a brilliant first draw of BHIOORS and some strong scoring, keeping the Thai on the back foot before two latish bingos on his part. I always admire his nervelessly risk-taking yet logical playing style, and was unable to counter them, falling short by 25. I pulled one back against Gora Suleiman, another of the large Nigerian contingent, in a tedious 17-move encounter, and finished the day against Marlon Prudencio. He did nicely to find PLAYLIST around the I holding LLPSTY?, though it only netted face value, and I was a few ahead in the endgame holding AIQRRRT with two unseen. Forced to dump QI, I picked up AF and played RAFT(E)R next move leaving him with GIO to play out. Inaccurately I hadn’t spotted GRAFTER, but happily for me that still left him two points in arrears when the dust settled. So I was on 6-1 after the first day, only seeing three blanks out of fourteen and therefore quite content with the outcome.

Day two was much more of a struggle, with what seemed like perpetual ill fortune and incompatible tiles. Kept pace with Chollapat throughout, except he had the extra tempo from starting and was able to go out first; suffered from imbalances against Goutham Jayaraman other than an early DEGLAZE; a narrow loss to Marut in a similar pattern to the Chollapat game; then at last I arrested the slide with a hefty win over Jakkrit (who surprisingly played two phonies, rather rare on his part I suspect). The first, HOOVERER* at O1, was very helpful:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Andrew Fisher       EEGIOTZ   111  
   ------------------------------     Jakkrit Klaphajone  EEHOORV   54 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| 
 2|  -       "       "       -  | 
 3|    -       '   '       -    | 
 4|'     -       '       -     '|
 5|        Q I         -        |
 6|  "       D O p A N T S   "  |
 7|    '       '   W A W   '    |
 8|=     '     L E E   O U T E R|
 9|    '   I L I A '       '    |
10|  "       "       "       "  |
11|        -           -        |
12|'     -       '       -     '|
13|    -       '   '       -    |
14|  -       "       "       -  |
15|=     '       =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

So I played ERGOTIZE for 69, blithely able to ignore –D or –S hooks. He hindered the opening with HOV(E) but I could still score 57 shortly afterwards with a lone S, BRENTEST and MIDDENS also flattering my spread.

Down to earth against Weera in the next game. Somehow he survived a change and two phonies (OUTGROAN* seems reasonable on the face of it, and REPELING* may be forgivable from a nonnative speaker in light of TRAVELING etc), thanks to my two changes and a late draw of UUWW. I then faced the ignominy of relocating to the lower suite of tables behind the director, but had a jolly nice game against skin_it_mahatma which put me back among the pantheon of contenders.

Liz Fagerlund was next, and I clawed my way to parity in facing this tough endgame position:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O      Liz Fagerlund   ADDEIO    364 
   ------------------------------  -> Andrew Fisher   AEPRTTV   365 
 1|=     '       = Q     P I L L| 
 2|  -       "     A W   O   U  | 
 3|    -       '   T E A R - X  |
 4|'     -       '   T I N E   '|
 5|        -           T   N    |
 6|  "       "   B   Y U   T "  |
 7|    '       ' R ' U   I O   F|
 8|=     '   C L A N G   O I   A|
 9|    '   Z O O S '       L   I|
10|  "   G A W       J     s " N|
11|      O - S E R V I C E     E|
12|'     O       H   N   M A I D|
13|  K A F     B Y S   R E H    |
14|  -       M E N E "       -  |
15|R E G U l I S E D     '     =|
   ------------------------------

There seems to be no win. VERB 6E, threatening PATTE, delivers a tie via the complex sequence DIV E4, TAP C3, ODEA 2A. My choice of VETO 11A threatens PRATE but this can be blocked with DOE or DIE which are enough to win by two; fortunately Liz did not have the time to work this out and I got another freebie.

Last of the day was against Eric Kinderman, who may have had superior tiles but did not play them to best advantage, attempting two phonies and going three minutes overtime. So at this stage I was on 10-5 and not in drastic trouble. Might get a chance to recap the other games later.

King's Cup musings

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 07:31:00 GMT

I’d like to record a few thoughts about Bangkok and King’s Cup before too much time passes, but I haven’t looked at any of my games yet. I’m feeling a bit over Scrabble at the moment, partly because I had some bad fortune in King’s Cup, and perhaps partly because the Victorian Scrabble Association (of which I am treasurer) is currently under siege by a pair of disaffected members in connection with a temporary suspension about four years ago. Their constant barrage of ill-tempered communication and demands for documentation is very dispiriting.

Bangkok is, of course, an extraordinary city, and Philip and I had an extra few days there around the tournament, staying in a memorably luxurious hotel (where we also witnessed some astonishingly wasteful behaviour from some of the guests, tasting a forkful of sky-high-priced food before abandoning the entire meal). The Thais take everything at an ambling pace, and are never in a hurry to get anywhere – something to do with the fierce climate, but it translates into a general lack of haste combined with a friendly and welcoming nature. Nawapadol and Amnuay had organised a river cruise to welcome the competitors on the eve of the tournament, but it wasn’t clear who intended (or was able) to be there. Consequently the launch was delayed by about ninety minutes as we awaited possible stragglers. Once we were in motion, poslfit presented a demonstration game of A-Math on a large board, in which he took on the current champion, a studious-looking chap. Said chap demolished John with several bingos, though it was not entirely one-way traffic. The tiles include various zeroes and numerals which are worth different points depending on utility, and various operators such as =, +, x and so forth, and the board is similar to the Scrabble layout. The object is to play a valid equation each time, so drawing an equals sign is a prerequisite for the opening move, changes are needed more frequently than in Scrabble, and extensions to existing plays are often remunerative. After this display the attendants lit the candles underneath the warming platters, and finally we were able to tuck hungrily into some lukewarm Thai specialities.

Our post-prandial entertainment was a series of one-to-one games in which the internationals on board took on the Thais. I was paired with Somphong, who played very competently and beat me by a few points. On the bus on the way back afterwards, Ferdy enquired how I had fared; on finding out, his jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes widened. He asked me to restate the outcome for clarification, then uttered ‘Somphong?’ in tones of bewilderment. I said yes, and Ferdy repeated ‘Somphong? You lost to Somphong?’. It finally registered that in fact I had lost to Somphong.

As the ‘international teams’ were welcomed at the official opening ceremony, some appropriate music was played for each nation and a few images were displayed on a giant overhead screen. Australia came in to the strains of Waltzing Matilda. The Thais revere their royals, and we all bowed individually to a princess who had found the time to attend; our troupes included not just Scrabblers, but also competitors in a concurrent Sudoku tournament which was ultimately won by Japanese meister Yuhei Kusui. Scrabblers played on a raised stage in the central part of a vast, barnlike hall at the Siam Paragon shopping centre, surrounded by row after teeming row of young Thais playing their own event. Just making it through the crowds to the lift was a twenty-minute excursion.

This photo album includes pics of the teams as arrayed at the opening ceremony, the A-Math demo board behind Cheah as he received the river cruise cup on behalf of the internationals, the Sudoku final (the top five attempting what appeared to be a very difficult grid onstage), some promotional cutouts for Brand’s products, and the royal family-endorsed prize tables.

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:51:06 GMT

Trying out the app. Now in Phuket for a few days at a slightly Fawltyesque resort, but will return to Bangkok at the weekend.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Ten relatively low-prob bingos from the Vics

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 03:33:31 GMT

14690 CENOPSU – the CSW12 addition, very helpful against Carmel
16175 AAAHINRS – part of my vain campaign against Lorraine
17401 IINOSTVY – from the game with Karen in which I didn't play JOYRIDES
21105 AGOORRTY – one against her son Alastair
23387 EEHNNISS – gosh, this takes a G but is unlikely to reoccur
23742 AGKLNNO – it’s only the -U- version that can absorb a central G
26348 ELNOSSS – not the ‘obvious’ one, which ironically was probably better
27887 ABBELRSU – versus Trevor
28985 EEFHLMNS – thought this was new to CSW12, but it was from the previous update
36642 ILMSSTUU – easy find but low prob

Victorian Championship

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 04:40:18 GMT

I was second in the Vic Champs this year on 18-6, two games behind Alastair Richards who got the better of me in both our games. I also lost to Trevor Halsall, and annoyingly to Michael Rubinstein, Gwen Lampre and Lorraine Thomas; Michael scored and bingoed too heavily, Gwen had rather fine letters, and Lorraine benefited from some spectacular good fortune with two endgame bingos.

I’ve observed Alastair in many a game over the years, and have never seen him play better. He seems to be making very smart choices at a sensible pace, and weighing up endgame strategy and move order in good style (e.g. a nice setup for an unblockable QAT to win a close one against Joanne). He is also much more self-assured, voluble and personally charming – though veering towards forthrightness when commenting on the play of others. For example he sat next to Nick Ivanovski who was taking me on, and fished for a couple of moves before netting INTERACT around a C. After the game Alastair announced (in a breezy and pleasant manner): “Nick, don’t fish. You shouldn’t fish until you know the words. You missed so many bingos against Andrew…REINCITE or ICTERINE, INCENTRE and then INTERWAR…and you play too quickly.” I guess that’s the confidence of youth. He also came out with some very good words, so I would now include him among the group of ‘elite’ players in Australia whereas formerly I just thought he was very good. I may have time to put up some game details before I leave for Bangkok in about a week.