On March 14 both Richard and Pat attended the 7 game 1 day event in Romford.
How well did they do ? Read on...
Richard played in Division A.
A tricky first game due to a faulty clock that caused me to lose a lot of my time. Fortunately, reached the end game almost level and while I drew vowel heavy racks opponent had consonants that were more difficult to play off including an unplayable V. He tried PAVY but I challenged off to win by 31.
After that games 2 and 4 were also close going to the final play in each. Game 2 opponent played LEGENDS for 101 early on. I kept in range and she then emptied the bag in error thinking that it had cost her the game. However I didn't get the right pick up meaning I couldn't bonus out as hoped so lost the game. Oddly she played LEGENDS again in her following game!
Game 4 was an exciting game with 3 bonuses each -opponent had MEOWING for 78 and STEAMIE for 69. I responded with ROUNDISH for 68, GRECIZE for 95 and CAROLING for 63. This time I had to empty the bag as TOTTED/GRECIZED scored 42 and was the only realistic chance of winning. Opponent however bonused out with OVERBILL for 69.
Decent wins in games 5 & 6 brought me to 3 wins from 6 -but made some errors in the final game including playing the phoney of PARATOID. Opponent then bonused in the same spot and proceeded to close down the board to secure his win.
Word highlights were, Me - KERATINS, PERAEONS, THEEING, GRECIZE
Opponents - PILOTAGE, FEIJOA, EARLIKE, STEAMIE
Pat played in Division C
After my poor performance at Reading where I lost 4 ranking points, I had a much better tournament at Romford.
I played 7 games in Division C, and came top winning 6 of those games.
There were some close matches; in fact two of my wins came because my opponents incurred a penalty by running over time. In my best game, I had 3 bonuses, starting the game with ALCOVES, and then playing STINTED and SEVERING. I ended that game by playing LUCK.
The updated ratings show that I have regained 2 of my ranking points.
Well done Pat - certainly LUCK was with you - but it still takes great SKILL to win a division - well done!