During the first week in January, 3 Scrabble tournaments were held back-to-back at the Holiday Inn, Reading.
The first, the UK Open, was a 24 game event and had just under 100 participants spread across 3 divisions. The second, ‘The Midweek Triple’ a 22 game event (actually two 11 game events with promotion and relegation between 4 divisions). The last event was the 15 game Final Fling with 28 players across 2 divisions. Many players just played in one tournament, but about a dozen players played all 61 games !
East Berks had 6 players competing in different tournaments across the week… here are their thoughts.
Richard :
I played in Division A of the UK Open – I had a good start with 3 wins from 4 including a win against a top player (see attached first Board photo). Bonused with ENFRAME and ARTISTIC early on -opponent played CUTWATER which I didn't know but held on for a 403-369 win. Then had a poor run of just one win from 8.
Fortunately turned it round with 8 wins from the final 12 to finish on 12 wins out of 24 -a mid table finish.
One of the best games was in the second board photo below. Opponent took charge with bonus of LIBIDOS, followed by ADJURE for 66 and ZOBU for 45 to lead by 75. However there were still bonus chances for me so I played off the W leaving 1 in the bag and bonus friendly letters. Opponent blocked the E of ADJURE with OARED but this didn't prevent me bonusing out with VIRALS/GESTANT for 91 to win 475-445.
Word highlights were, Me - NOCTULE, RULESSE, TOTANUS, BENETTED, HEMATOID, ADIPSIA, RATOONED
Opponents - CUTWATER, ECLOGITE, MUTINEER
Helen :
I played in the main event at the UK Open in Reading between January 3rd and 5th. The standard was very high indeed, with former World Champions and runners-up in the field, as well as a number of players from the USA, Singapore and elsewhere. I didn't do quite as well as I had hoped, winning only 9 games, though there were at least a couple of games that I managed to throw away right at the end!
Some of the most interesting words I played were: AIRHOLES, CATENARY, ALBINISM, PEABRAIN (for 140 points) and CONFITS.
Graham :
I played in the A division at the UK Open and won 9 out of 23 games. The 24th game was a bye as my opponent was unwell. It was quite pleasing to win 9 games, as I lost the first 5, and didn’t score 400 in any of them! Most of my wins came on the last day when I won 4 out of the last 5! Games were played to a 5point per word challenge, and the words I challenged (and my opponent gained 5 points) included : HILD, SENNITS, DOVERING, TOULADI, ATENOLOL, FLUORITE.
Of course my opponents challenged some of my words too : MUSLINED, STRELITZ, USURE, ATABRINE, DOTTLED.
The attached board is from my biggest win 546-241.
Wanda :
I attended the Reading Scrabble tournament from Saturday the 3rd until Thursday the 8th January. This was the first time I have ever played for so many consecutive days. There were 46 games in all and I only won 21.5 of them which was a bit disappointing. My best day was Monday 5th January when I won 7 out of 8 of my games. It also happened to be my daughter’s birthday so maybe she unwittingly brought me some luck.
I had a few close games. Four of them were determined by the tile that was left in the bag, three of which I lost.
In the one that I won I had AEERSTU. AUSTERE wouldn’t go down as the P of PITA on the left of the board was too high up. I gambled on the last tile in the bag and opened up the top left corner by playing the U above the R to make UR. I picked the last O out of the bag and managed to go out with ROSEATE/OUR to win the game.
Here are a few of the bonuses I managed to play:- FEALTIES, OREADES, PROTEAN, OCREATE, ENGENDER, ADRATES, BAREFOOT, SEALIONS!, EXTRUDING for 121 points, THENARS, WINDLESS and TANAISTE.
Fiona :
I was reserve for the first two of the UK Open events. The reserve player is to try and help ensure that numbers are even in the event of an odd number of sign-ups, or last minute withdrawals. I wasn't needed for the main event, although did play a couple of 'side games' after a player withdrew, as well as helping with entering scores and general tournament admin.
After another withdrawal, I was able to play in the mid week triple, which was run as two back-to-back 11 game tournaments, with promotion and relegation between the divisions after the first set of games. I was in Division D. All the games were played with a 5-point challenge penalty, meaning players were more cautious about challenging words than they would have been with free challenge. In the first tournament I won 6 of my 11 games, finishing mid table. For the second 11 games, we were joined by the three bottom players from Division C, and our three top players were promoted. I felt I played better for the second half (or had more luck!) and finished third with 7 wins and a draw, winning a prize! I was very pleased to score over 500 in three of my games across the two tournaments, having a particularly memorable game where I played five bonuses in my first six turns! I did feel for my opponent, but she did very well to not give up and reduced the spread to just over 100 points, scoring over 400 herself.
It was an extremely well run tournament in a very nice venue - recommended for next year, when there should also be some one day events to try!
Pat :
I played in the Final Fling and had a poor tournament, winning just 3 of 15 games.
I did play a number of bonuses, my best move being TOPDRESS. The playing room was spacious, with one game to a table.
(Ed : Pat was the only East Berks player at the Final Fling and so we didn’t have a photo. However That’s TV (Thames Valley) attended during the Final Fling, and while interviewing the organiser, James Burley, featured Pat as a background shot).
In summary some mixed results for East Berks members with Fiona coming third in her division being the only highlight, otherwise East Berks players hovered at the mid-table mark or below. Over the week nearly 130 people played across the various tournaments from all over the UK and the World. The 2027 tournaments promise to be bigger still – a great way to meet new players and learn new words from them.
