Over the weekend of the 27-29 January, 6 East Berks Players travelled to Shanklin, Isle of Wight to take part in two 10-game Scrabble tournaments.

There were 44 players taking part from mainly Southern England, but there were players from further afield including Staffordshire and the Isle of Man.

Players were split into 4 all-play-all divisions, with promotion and relegation for the top and bottom two prior to the second tournament.

For the first tournament Richard and Graham played in A, Wanda and Helen played in B. Maureen played in C and Pat in D. The fixture computer had a sense of humour as one point Richard was playing Graham when Wanda was playing Helen. We thank Steve Perry for taking this photo with all 4 players deep in thought!

 

 

At the end of the first tournament, prizes were awarded for the top 3 in each division. Helen, despite a poor start, arranged to win 6 games and secure a small monetary prize for third place. Maureen unfortunately had a poor set of results and was relegated joining Pat in Division D for the second set of 10 games.

The movement of players meant everyone had a few different opponents for the second tournament. This didn’t make the games any easier though! Everyone struggled initially, but Helen and Richard put together a winning streak of games late on to bolster their respective positions. Helen just fell short of finishing 3rd again in Division B, but Richard overcame strong opposition to finish third in Division A. 

Here is Richard receiving his prize from Steve Perry.

 

 

All in a good weekend, great food, fine views across the sea… just the Scrabble could have been better for one or two of us.

 

 

Best improver for this part of the year is Martin Stephens, ahead of Keith Radbourn and Joy Wade.

High-scoring words:

 

• 118 JINGOES Fiona
• 113 SLITTERS Joy
• 107 EGOTIZED Graham
• 104 CARDIES Peter 4-timer
• 101 WHOOPED Graham
• 96 CRIUSES Wanda
• 95 IMPALER Graham
• 94 VISITING Maureen
• 92 FESTOON Graham
• 90 DEAFISH Deborah
• 86 VISITER Keith
• 83 REWRITES Charles
• 82 LEAVERS Maire
• 82 HOOPERS Maureen
• 76 INCITES Peter
• 76 FAILINGS Charles
• 73 LICENSEE Charles
• 71 MARINES Maire
• 70 IRONING Maire
• 69 FANNERS Maire
• 69 TARRIES Maire
• 69 NAILERS Maire
• 68 LINTERS Maire
• 67 SATIRES Maire
• 67 INTENSE Maire
• 67 RATTLES Maire
• 66 TANNIES Maire
• 65 EASTERN Maire
• 62 SWEETER Maire
• 61 RETAINS Maire

 

 

·

Many bonuses or high-scoring moves by one player in a game:

·       FOAMIER 79 JANTIEST 95 TORRIDER 72 TROUGHS 80 ABROAD 60     Graham

·       INVESTS 84 LEARNERS 66 CYLIX 51 COASTING 78                            Helen

·       MORENDOS 86 SLEUTHS 108 HARPIST 93 NEUSTONS 59                 Wanda

·       FIELDER 78 EMOTION 68 SONLIER 70 DENOTIVE 66                          Richard

·       VEINING 80 BEARINGS 83 BAILERS 91 FOMENTED 76                       Helen

·       ELICITED 62 ARTSIER 75 TOLIDINE 78 BORONIA 71                           Richard

·       REQUINS 86 TINNIES 70 ELATING 69                                                  Richard

·       PUNDITS 85 PEDANTRY 63 EMERGING 92                                          Richard

·       REASONED 77 TONNERS 63 EVIRATE 68                                           Wanda

·       CLEARER 77 ANISOLE 70 TERCIOS 69                                               Helen

·       MERLINS 73 DARGLES 70 RECITING 86                                              Helen

·       FITTERS 78 OUTLAID 78 UNLOOSEN 70                                             Peter

·       SNAKIER 102 NEONATE 70 GIRLISH 72                                              Richard

·       ROTTERS 70 DEVALUES 86 UNITAGES 80                                          Richard

·       DENIALS 70 PETIOLAR 80 INDITES 75                                                 Graham

 

·       TARGETS 69 BLENDES 79 PASTURES 67                                           Richard

·       

Also:

·       New personal bests:      Joy Wade 484, Keith Radbourn 418, Pat Llanwarne 485

·       9-letter words:   WHOREDOMS 48 Charles, FIDGETING 30 Fiona, FORMATING 80 Helen

 

 

Name

Old rating

New rating

Rating change

P

W

D

L

Average

Highest score

Highest ever

Martin Stephens

103

119

16

23

12

0

11

343.3

464

477

Keith Radbourn

74

89

15

26

10

0

16

289.0

418

418

Joy Wade

121

128

7

24

15

1

8

354.4

484

484

Maire Bennett

73

77

4

27

6

0

21

284.0

388

448

Michael Spencer

93

97

4

29

11

0

18

318.0

413

502

Graham Harding

169

173

4

30

26

0

4

424.7

565

661

Wanda de Poitiers

156

157

1

26

18

0

8

422.6

545

592

Helen Harding

171

172

1

26

22

0

4

416.0

596

597

Richard Spencer

176

172

-4

30

24

0

6

446.8

563

625

Maureen Barlow

121

116

-5

16

6

0

10

331.6

432

528

Charles Parker

111

104

-7

23

10

0

13

317.4

477

509

Peter Tart

136

127

-9

14

5

0

9

366.7

518

539

Fiona Titcombe

136

125

-11

13

5

0

8

357.3

411

535

Insufficient games – a previous quarter’s results, or 13 games in a quarter, needed to qualify

Mary Twomey

96

99

3

4

1

0

3

285.3

316

430

Hepzi Rodrigues

150

148

-2

11

7

0

4

359.5

464

554

Pat Llanwarne

149

139

-10

10

6

0

4

354.3

485

485

Deborah Porter

138

120

-18

6

2

0

4

336.2

430

542

Sharon Hewitt

143

99

-44

2

0

0

2

343.0

358

548

Paul Stanger

 

67

 

19

3

0

16

263.9

357

357

Gill Cheetham

 

86

 

5

1

0

4

254.8

340

340

Ann Shaw

 

59

 

18

0

1

17

240.2

317

317

Jan Bailey

131

 

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

568

Patrick Beatty

132

 

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

459

Tricia Walker

132

 

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

512

Anne Connolly

172

 

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

478

 

This year the Milton Keynes tournament returned after a 3 year absence. 2 club members played in the 17 game tournament, Pat and Richard. 

 

Pat writes

This is a long running tournament but had not been held since 2019. It was over a weekend with 9 games on Saturday and 8 games on Sunday.  The first game was at 11.30 on Saturday, which allowed for easy travel to the venue. I stayed at the hotel on Sunday night too, which made it more relaxed than last time I went, when I had to dash off for a train home.   I played in Division C and won 8 of the 17 games, and was pleased to increase my ABSP rating by one point.

Some of my bonus words were DEEMING for 100 points, REBITTEN which was a gamble but won me the game, and I'm glad I had the bottle to play COJONES.

Richard writes

I had a difficult first day losing 4 of the first 5 games but secured a vital 5 point win in game 6 with 3 bonuses in the last 4 turns. Day two was better with some hard fought wins and I was pleased to come away with 7 wins overall and perform to his rating. 

Best bonuses played were - ULCERATE, MISENTRY, ADMONISH, MELILOT, OLIVINES, FLOREANT and BASILECT.

 

Well done both!

 

These statistics cover the two quarters in 2019-2020 before the club closed for the duration of the pandemic, and the period since the club reopened in August 2021. 

The quarterly improver prizes went to Evelyn Wansbrough, Joy Wade, Anne Connolly, Charles Parker, Joy Wade, and Pat Llanwarne.  In the League (2019-2020), Division 1 was won by Helen, Division 2 by Hepzi, and Division 3 by Charles.  The All-play-All (2022) was won by Richard Spencer and Pat Llanwarne won the Handicap (2022).

 Highest game scores were:

           618       Graham Harding

           614       Graham Harding

           593       Richard Spencer

           587       Graham Harding

           586       Richard Spencer

           582       Wanda de Poitiers

           577       Richard Spencer

           573       Graham Harding

           570       Richard Spencer

           568       Helen Harding

           568       Richard Spencer

           558       Richard Spencer

           557       Richard Spencer

           556       Graham Harding

           556       Graham Harding

           553       Graham Harding

Other players scoring over 500 points in a game were: Peter Tart (highest score: 539), Fiona Titcombe (535), Hepzi Rodrigues (506), Michael Spencer (502)

 The highest single moves were:

           185       COMMERCE                Keith

           167       HIDEOUTS                   Wanda

           149       CHERRIES                   Charles

           149       RETWISTS                   Charles

           134       QUERIED                     Hannah

           131       STIRRING                    Joy

           115       REFLECT                     Graham

           113       YORKERS                    Peter

           107       REMAKING                  Charles

           106       CAMPSITE                   Graham

           105       UNDYING                     Fiona

           104       HUTTING                     Graham

           104       QUARRIES                   Charles

           104       SEPTORIA                   Fiona

           103       BURGLED                    Sharon

           103       CHORTLE                    Richard

           103       SHEARED                    Wanda

           102       CAVERNS                    Michael

           102       HEARKEN                    Charles

           102       QUID/DIRK                   Joy

           102       SAVAGES/JAMS           Michael

           101       QUERIES                     Michael

           100       FOLDERS                     Maureen

Name

Old Rating

New Rating

Rating Change

P

W

D

L

Average

Highest score

Highest ever score

Michael Spencer

66

93

27

177

43

1

133

305.9

502

502

Joy Wade

97

121

24

130

53

0

77

338.2

452

452

Keith Radbourn

65

74

9

201

26

3

172

284.1

400

400

Charles Parker

103

111

8

170

60

0

110

316.4

479

509

Deborah Porter

136

138

2

82

38

1

43

352.4

492

542

Hepzi Rodrigues

148

150

2

90

57

0

33

370.3

506

554

Richard Spencer

178

176

-2

205

159

0

46

426.4

593

625

Helen Harding

174

171

-3

229

174

1

54

422.0

568

597

Maire Bennett

77

73

-4

176

30

2

144

281.6

430

448

Graham Harding

174

169

-5

252

200

1

51

424.6

635

661

Martin Stephens

114

103

-11

148

60

0

88

333.8

477

477

Wanda de Poitiers

169

156

-13

215

153

0

62

418.7

582

592

Maureen Barlow

137

121

-16

208

113

1

94

361.6

487

528

Tricia Walker

149

132

-17

81

46

0

35

375.8

493

512

Fiona Titcombe

156

136

-20

98

54

0

44

382.8

535

535

                     

Guests and people playing less than 80 games

 

Anne Connolly

123

172

49

29

14

0

15

367.1

478

478

Patrick Beatty

112

132

20

4

4

0

0

391.5

447

459

Joyce Charlesworth

68

86

18

10

3

0

7

292.1

340

380

Sue Ashwell

50

65

15

22

5

0

17

286.9

351

351

Mary Twomey

83

96

13

71

16

0

55

315.6

430

430

Peter Tart

125

136

11

33

18

0

15

377.3

539

539

Evelyn Wansbrough

131

140

9

38

25

0

13

365.8

459

555

Jan Bailey

135

131

-4

57

25

0

32

348.1

496

568

Pat Llanwarne

153

149

-4

56

34

1

21

357.7

458

458

Julie Wise

120

113

-7

38

14

1

23

329.9

435

493

Kathy Smith

89

81

-8

34

9

0

25

283.2

413

413

Frank Charlesworth

105

96

-9

20

8

0

12

332.1

436

447

Sharon Hewitt

152

143

-9

58

28

0

30

368.2

523

548

Tricia Cooper

168

144

-24

7

3

0

4

352.1

396

512

Hannah Corbett

130

79

-51

15

5

0

10

359.6

447

510

Nina Thornhill

 

124

 

3

2

0

1

371.3

376

376

Ahmad Khalim

 

124

 

2

1

0

1

283.0

350

350

Umair

 

82

 

1

0

0

1

289.0

289

289

Paddy Davis

 

123

 

1

0

0

1

323.0

323

323

Kathleen

 

124

 

1

0

0

1

302.0

302

302

Richard Llanwarne

 

50

 

3

0

0

3

262.7

279

279

Ben

 

66

 

1

0

0

1

288.0

288

288

Most years, the qualification for ‘Best Improver’ is 52 games or more ie at least one per week.   This time, 80 games has been chosen because the period covers the time from October 2019 to mid-March 2020, when the club shut for the pandemic) plus the time between mid-August 2021 and the end of September 2022.  

On 9th October, Richard played in the Luton one-day tournament..

It was a well attended, enjoyable day with 42 players split between 3 divisions of 14 and the first tournament held there since 2019. Richard played in Division A and won 4 out of his seven games which was enough to finish 7th, win the ratings prize for the division and a cash prize. 

The highlight was Richard managing to win 2 games against an expert player that he had not managed to defeat before.

Bonuses played in the tournament by Richard were as follows;

MORULAE, GRANULES, VAPORING, GREASING, ARTLESS, YPERITES, SNORTER, CREASING, BLISTER, RADIATE, LINEAGE, WHIRRING, ORACIES, DELATING, ENSLAVES, AERONAUT, TRIDENT, LISTENED.

 

Well done Richard - here is a photo of Richard receiving his rating prize from Tournament Organiser, James Burley. Thanks to Angele Andrews for supplying the photo.