Over the weekend of 21/22 March there were 2 7 game tournaments.
Wanda, Helen and Graham played in both.
The first was held in a large village hall in Manuden, and attracted 32 entrants. Lots of familiar faces but there were people there from Northern Ireland, Poland and the Netherlands. (The venue was only 3 miles from Stansted Airport). The organiser decided on not having 2 divisions; there would be 1 large division with a very large skill range between top and bottom. The tournament was played with a 5-point penalty challenge which meant if a challenged word was valid, it would score an additional 5 points. This penalty soon adds up if one challenges 3 or 4 words!
Wanda :
I arrived at Manuden on the Saturday to discover that there was going to be one large division instead of an A and a B. I was almost at the bottom of the rankings so I was pleased to win 4 out of 7 games against players ranked up to 30 points above my ratings.
My first game was fairly close most of the way. With 2 tiles left in the bag I got a bonus word down BOILERS for 78 points and picked up QI. My opponent went out with the bonus SOIREES for 85. Fortunately despite having 11 points on my rack I was far enough ahead and managed to win by 7 points.
Some of my bonus words:-ZITHERS NAIADES POUNDAGE REALNESS
I won one of the 3 ratings prizes which was on offer that day for winning 4 games.
Helen :
As my (bad) luck would have it, I was drawn against the top two rated players, Stewart Holden and Rik Kennedy, in the first two rounds, and emerged from those games having narrowly lost both. Things got a bit easier after that, and I won three of the remaining five games. I finished in 18th place (about correct for my starting position of 16th seed) with three wins from seven and a rating exactly matching my start rating. Of the words I played, some of the best were ASTHORE and DEDUCTED, both for 92 points, and DENATURES for 80 points. Unusual words played against me were NERVINES and QUANNETS.
Graham :
Unlike Helen, I started off playing a couple of the weaker players in the division and won one game by 120 and the other by 13. The luck changed in the 3rd game with a 310-447 loss. I managed to find the only bonus from AFM?OOT to start game 4 and retained the lead all game. Game 5 pitted me against a player who I have a great record against – sadly this time I lost by 100 points.
Then the only game I would play against an East Berks player all weekend – I played Wanda.
A game full of incident – I started with 3 bonus words, TERCIOS, HEATING, GALLEONS. Wanda came back strongly with EXPLOIT and then the invalid WEEINGS* ! Later in the same game Wanda put an R after the word GOORIE making GOORIER* and that too wasn’t challenged by me and it isn’t allowed! In the end an 87 point win – but it should have been more had I challenged!
My last game, was a repeat – against the player I lost to in round 5. I took the lead early on with BOSSILY – and won comfortably. A good day’s performance winning 5 out of 7 and finishing just outside the prize positions.
The second tournament was at Elsenham a village about 6 miles from Manuden. The village hall was much older and smaller and there were a smaller number of players too. Wanda, Helen and Graham were all in Division B, with Graham the number 1 player and Helen the number 2.
Wanda :
On Sunday the tournament was in Elsenham, a few miles from Manuden and I was in the B division. I only won 3 out of 7 games but managed to score over 500 points against one of my opponents.
Some of my bonus words:- TRIBADE GUERITES BETAINES SIENITE ANOESIS
Overall I gained 2 ratings points which I was pleased with.
Helen :
This tournament went much better for me: I won my first game narrowly – after my opponent had spent 3 moves trying to find a bonus, trying WIREABLE*, BAWLIER*, and finally WIRABLE (correct!). I then won the second a little more easily, but I lost the third game by just 3 points.
After lunch things went very well indeed, and I won all my remaining games, finishing in second place on 6 wins out of 7, losing only on spread (goal difference) to the winner, Alan Males. My final game was against Alan, and I knew I had to win by 150 points or more to win the division … and he knew that too! In the end I won by exactly 100 points, not quite enough. Some of my highest scoring words were WANGLES, for 113 points, and ENCASED and SQUIRES, both for 95 points and TRINDLED for 86. My opponents came up with TWANGLES, OUTCHARM, and DIOCESAN.
All in all, a very pleasant weekend!
Graham :
The day started like Manuden with a large first game win, followed by a narrow win.
Unlike Manuden I won the third but then played the only other unbeaten player, (the eventual winner Alan) in game 4. His game was on fire and he played JAUNTIE 2nd move for 101, ZOON for 78, PROVINGS 74 and CATAPULT for 61. This catapulted me away from the top table and I was never to reach it again.
I lost game 5, won game 6 and lost game 7. The latter games hinged in whether RIFLINGS, RENAMINGS and SENSINGS were valid. RIFLINGS was played against me and is valid, RENAMINGS* was played by me and was challenged off, and SENSINGS* should have been challenged too…but stayed on the board! A frustrating day as I finished in 4 wins and outside the prizes.
All three of us had one very good day, and one average day – but more importantly we won 2 prizes over the weekend. Very well done to Wanda and Helen!