Round 19 - Andrew Fisher (Aus)
Andrew played SORBITIC and OpERATED in his first two turns. My QUESTOR 91 pts. on my third turn reduced his lead, 125-152. After he played VOLANTES, the game went his way. LOSS 374-495
Round 20 - Jose DeAbreu (Ind)
Jose had four bingos, TRAILED, TRAVOISE, INDITEs and ENFANTS. I had only one bingo, UNCHOSEN but managed to trim down his spread. LOSS 442-381
Round 21 - Andy Kurnia (Sin)
After 20 rounds, I was still stucked with a Win-Loss-Spread record of 6-14 , -302 and I'm facing the tough Andy Kurnia. I recalled meeting him in WSC2003 to whom I loss by +150 pts spread. Both of us exchanged tiles at move 3. In the ensuing play, he laid down PEJORATES 104 pts thru PE but I countered with CROSSED 100 pts. I led, 132-165. Then he was unsure of MORTICED, he played MORTISED instead for 62 pts. I had ZOBU 75 pts. 194-240, my lead. I deferred my HORNIlY and WORDILy bingo to score with HONEY 55 pts and WILD 32 pts, respectively and preserved my blank in later time. After his GOBLET, I held ?AAIORR with the current score of 280-327 in my favor, I played ORAtORIA* for 59 pts. (Note: I discovered after the game that it was phoney. Sorry, Andy. I missed RAIlROAD in the triple lane). Scoring moves continued, QAID 41 pts for him answered by my KAOLIN 56 pts. He played FLOE 30 pts. but I had WAITs 58 pts. emptying the bag in which I drew the nice EFNIRST. But Andy cannot be denied, he laid down EUGENIA 69 pts to end this high scoring game. Click this link to follow our move by move account: http://www.poslfit.com/cgi-bin/showgcg.cgi?id=causeway/2006/7;turn=0
WON 440-500
Round 22 - Sompong Polsongkram (Tha)
My SERIATE was answered by AZLON 75 pts. GLADNESS put me back on the driver's seat, 297-242. Going into the endgame, the board looked like this:
Ronald: DDEELUW - 313
Unseen: ??GIINNOPRRSY
Sompong's Score: 295
Sompong's last play: KITED
I wanted to play WELKED a1 42 pts. but the two blanks were still out so I decided not to open that lane. I played DUEL 6b 16 pts. 329-295, I led and drew GIIO leaving two tiles in the bag. He played SYNC 27 pts. emptying the bag. It's now 329-322 in my favor. My rack was DEGIIOW. In my tracking sheet, I could see his rack as ??NORR. I played DEW 3b 28 pts. 357-322, still hanging on. (Note: Maven found WIFED l11 as the best move). At this point, he gambled with CYANOs* forming ZO and PROPELs for 31 pts. I hold play and made some calculations. (357-322 = 35-31 = 4. If I challenged this word and if it's good, then 4-5= -1, I could only see GIF l11 14 pts as my next move, so -1+14=13. If he could play-out by at least 10 points with his ?NRR rack, he could catch me with IO (4 pts). Then -10-4+13=-1, I could lose by 1 point). With this, I accepted his play and proceeded with GIF l11 14 pts. He played sAX g11 20 pts. My play-out was IO n5 14 pts. catching him with NRR. WON 391-377
Round 23 - Vannitha Balasingam (Mal)
I was safisfied with my last two consecutive wins. The beautiful Vannitha was my next opponent. I wore my cap to cover my eyes before we started. On my 4th turn, I held BEINOWS, she opened up with FIGHTS exposing F, I, G and H, but I failed to spot WISHBONE, tho I was contented to play a 4-timer BOWINGS (57) including 5 pt penalty. Vannitha played the first bingo, ERADIATE 60 pts. followed with JEEPS 40+pts. After series of moves, we arrived at this board position:
Ronald: ??IRSSY - 233
Vannitha's Score: 277
Vannitha's Last Move: CANOE
Note: 9 tiles in the bag
Since I held the last S and the two blanks, I decided to setup by playing DRY 1l 7 pts., at least, with a bingo next turn, I could even things up or take a lead depending on how she could defend my setup. She initially put down PREE 2k, think twice, and finally played PREEN 2k for 31 pts. She led, 240-308. I drew BU making my rack ??BISRU. I told myself: "This is it!" And plucked down a 9-timer, SNUBbIeR o1 forming another word, DRYS for 173! Vannitha said: ''Challenge!'' We checked the word in the Look Program and it was good. 5 more points due to penalty, so my score for that turn was 178! WON 447-337
Round 24 - David Eldar (Aus)Having won the WYSC last weekend and a seat to WSC2007, David have been doing well in the tourney. David drew first blood on his 2nd turn with OwRELAY. I took a slight lead when I played UNLISTED, 219-179. From there on, my lead was maintained, 310-273 until I finally hit another bingo holding CDEIINO using the floating C. That was the turning point of the game. WON 428-340
Round 25 - Modh Irfan Siddiqui (Ind)Irfan found the right moves in this endgame:
Irfan: IIIILSU - 379
Ronald: LMNOTUV - 357
Irfan: WILI o8 7 386
Ronald: MOP 3m 27 384
Irfan: SUI d10 10 396
Ronald: ULVA 3d 7 391
(Missing LUV c12 14 pts but still loses)
Irfan: TI j1 4 400
Irfan: (NT) +4 404
LOSS 404-391
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