After  a fairly successful Day 1 at Manuden. Wanda, Richard, Helen and Graham returned for a second tournament of 7 games. There were more players and 3 Divisions rather than 2. As before Wanda played in B, and Richard, Helen and Graham played in A.

 Wanda:

Sunday took a different turn from Saturday with me losing the first two games. I won the next game and then promptly lost the following two. Fortunately, I managed to secure the last two games to end up on three out of seven wins.

Some bonuses I played:- CANIEST-86, TEAZLING-69, CORDATE-72, NAIFEST-67, ATROPINE-86

Some bonuses my opponents played:- TEAROOM-64, SEEPAGE-76, BEDSITS-76, VERMINS-68

Richard :

The Day 2 tournament started with me playing clubmate Helen. I managed to win that game and then the second.

I then had a very close game 3 against David Webb . David had inflicted my worst ever defeat at the Easter matchplay the previous time we'd played so I was keen to do well. I started well with COUZEN for 40 on move 1 and UNSMOTE on move 3. David kept pace with RANDIES and I replied with FORLENDS. He bonused again with ATRESIA and the game would be decided by the endgame. I ended up losing by 3 with a rack of DIIERLT. I spotted REDISTIL through a floating S but unfortunately it didn't play. I ended up playing DISTIL for not many points and then going out with RE. There may have been a better sequence but I struggled to find it and his GAWP before RE scored enough to win.

Bounced back in game 4 with a 517-411 win against Barry Grossman. Against James Burley in game 5 I was pleased to find a double double of SAFRONAL on move 2 for 95 and was able to defend the lead from there. Game 6 and 7 were frustratingly heavy losses by 191 and 93 but overall still happy with 4 wins from 7 which gave me 9/14 for the weekend.

Richard -    VIAMETER 71, TREPANGS 73 ADHESION 78, ZYGA 86 UNSMOTE 80
Opponents LIVERIED 71

Helen :

There were 20 players in Division A at Manuden on the Sunday, and, as on Saturday, I was rated 12^th best of the 20.  And, as on the previous day, I lost the first two games and won the third, helped by a bonus – RETAKES – that scored 103 points.

After a break for lunch and a walk in the sunshine, the afternoon went much better.  I managed to win the remaining four games, including a win against the top-rated player (I wasn’t expecting that!), to finish in fourth place.  Fourth place was outside the place prizes, but I did the ratings prize which is awarded to the person who performed the best above rating without winning a place prize.

Some bonuses I played:  CANTORIS 72, RETAKES 103, DETINUE 73, GNOMIST 70
Some bonuses my opponents played: OORIALS 66, AEROLITE 77

Graham :

Having won more games than expected on the first tournament, I was pleasantly surprised to win 4 games again on Day 2.

The first game, was a gritty solid scoring game where my opponent and I traded 30-40 point moves. One poor rack IOOORNU destroyed my momentum and shortly after found myself 100 points down. The tiles were running out, as were any bonus lanes, and my opponent played IDLING blocking one of them. I gambled that IDLING could be pluralised (it can) and played XYSTI for 59 points. I then got lucky with a rack of AGNORR? as I was able to play ORANGER  (the only bonus word in the whole game) and lead by 17. I was able keep this lead and win.

If game 1 was attritional, game 2 was a free-flowing high-scoring encounter. We had 5 high scoring bonuses between us QUOITED 88, WEDGINGS 111, VULPINE 103, SPLICER 88, SIDEMEN 92. There were 2 other moves scoring over 50. The final score – a loss for me – 529-464.

Game 3 saw a straightoforward win but early on in the game my opponent played AIRWOMAN around a floating A – what a great spot!

After winning game 4 – I was in 3 wins and placed 6^th. Then I was well beaten in the next 2 games and needed to win the last game to finish on 4 wins. I had to play the person I played in the first game again. This time 2 early bonuses gave me the momentum to hold out for win.

Although I didn’t win a prize all weekend, I was satisfied winning 4 out of 7 both days, considering  I was in the bottom half of the A division on both days.

Other bonuses by me :  GLITZES 78 RESOLING 80 UNASKED 71 RENAGUE 65

Against UINTAITE 68 RELIVING 89