From: jjchew (John J. Chew III)
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 00:16:03 -0400
Subject: CWSCQT personal notes
I feel as though I've played eleven games of tournament Scrabble in one day, with a berth to the WSC on the line, which is to say both wired and tired. I'm really enjoying the Minipods game, which a few months' experience has shown is both a less frustrating game than OSPD inasmuch as it seems rare that there isn't a passable play to make, and at the same time a much more exciting game because of how much the shorter words can contribute to the score and therefore how much less you can sit on a bingo lead.
Dave is doing a great job of running the tournament (he's been planning for every contingency, especially for pairings, since September), and it's a special pleasure to play a Canadian event, a feeling I haven't had since the CNSC.
In more detail:
Game 1, lost 274-394 to Jim Nanavati, unwinnable game. Only bingo, his WOoFERS.
Game 2, lost 371-467 to Fran Silver, another unwinnable game. Trying successfully not to get discouraged. Fran doesn't blink as I hook G to her opening EYER. Fran's no fun. :) Fran just bingos RETSINA and FOULING naturally as her second and third plays, and keeps her lead. I come back with AGLITTER, she stomps back with SPEERING.
Game 3, won 445-405 against Bernard Gotlieb, unlosable# game. Get to bingo SuBV-I-CAR and ITE-R-aTED to his OPALINE and CAREENE-D. Challenge FREON off the board, because it's missing its (R). Bernard parallels KITED b10 beside QANAT c9 for 62 points, ouch.
Game 4, won 440-387 against Andrew Golding, exciting back-and-forth game with nine consecutive turn scores of 64 95 44 41 42 42 38 46 70. Let him get away with phony UNATTENT (thought I still had the win) then URU right after (partly because I could hook a blank for the G- and big points, partly because I'm blind). Bingoed E-XcISION to his ANORETIC UNATTENT*.
Game 5, won 442-366 against Albert Hahn, lucking out a bit. He challenged DAFTEST (he thought AFTER didn't take D-, hmm.), bingoed cOLOgNE but in a late game race to bingo first and win, I made NEWSIER. Enjoyed playing PHS n1 parallel to CEP m2 and RAT l3 for 33 points, especially since I had no vowels.
Game 6, on a winning streak, won 421-373 against Mike Wise, didn't deserve to. Bingoed EPIGEAN early on, he caught up with ENTOILS, then with six good tiles in the bag I couldn't find aMERCINg, ChaIRMEN CENtRIsM INtERCoM NoNCRIME or even NuMERICs, choking mentally. Fished off the annoying M keeping CEIN??, and setting up a second bingo-lane, leaving 00:23 on my clock. Drew an O and found the winning bingos (INClOsE or COvERINg, duh*) with three seconds to go.
Game 7, streak is broken when I lose to Ray 351-480. He bingoes MeASURER and HOOKERY* (I still can't believe it's no good) and TOWLINES to my ANSERINE, and I won't repeat the story about how HOOKERY got taken off the board and replayed for more points.
Game 8, lost a nail-biter to Shaun Goatcher 448-453. He opens FLOWN, I play OUTFLOWN, then he lets me get away with PIGMENTA* (found in some medical phrases), which I keep missing extending to PIGMENTATION, so I let him get away with FULGATE (quiz: what are FULGATE+S$, +X$ and +R?). I bingo BANDERS parallelling five tiles under my pervious AERATION, then in the late game make either a brilliant or idiotic move (I'll post more about this later), resulting in my bingoing the next turn ODONATES, giving Shaun a chance to play out with GRADATED, catching me with CRITI?S. Argh. It was a seven point game, until we recounted and found me another two. But a fun one.
Game 9, won 370-315 against Peter Teitelbaum. He bingoed FEDORAS on his second move, but I drew both blanks, playing one off for 44 with DuCKY keeping RZ?, and in fact got stuck with the other, but the warm feeling of having it on my rack gave me the confidence to ride out the win.
Game 10, won 476-408 against Zev Kaufman. First few plays: Zev opens VEXES, I bingo dESPISES h1 (86). He plays GECKOES 3c (30), I reply JEE 2f/JO/EE (53). He plays OBE 7f (24), I reply QUAFF 6b (69). Two turns later I play ZO/ZO/OI for 44 points, and lead 268-128. Zev's shaken his early defeatism though, and I know he's still going to be tough to beat. He comes close to catching up with OUTLAWED (68) giving him 283 to my 317 when I play RATTILY* for 75 points. He keeps me on hold for five minutes, eventually lets it go because he has the last blank and thinks he has the win. He does bingo DENTINAl with it, but it's not enough. Phew.
Game 11, won 482-348 against Tim Anglin. Bingoed PETTILy and EVZONES, kept the board hideously closed after EVZONES gave me a 150 point lead, and his eventualy bingo of pRANCER didn't let him catch up. Was happy to play HUT o1 parallel to PETTILy n1 making P-H ME-U and BOT-T for 50 points. Love those Minipods words.
That's it for now; I'm off to get some sleep. We start at nine tomorrow and play seven more games.
John