Event: One-Day Scrabble Tournament
Venue: Soi Prik, Chiebog Foodpark, Bristol St., North Fairview, Quezon City
Date: November 9, 2024
Format: Straight King of the Hill
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| Soi Prik Tourney Flyer |
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| The Main Sponsor, Roland and Ben Filio held the banner with other Players |
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| Intense battle inside from board 1 to 6 |
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| Players from board 7 to 14 |
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| Other view from board 7 to 14 |
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| Marie Filio as the Tournament Director of the event |
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| The Twin Brothers of Philippine Scrabble, Roland and Ben Filio |
Highlights of my games:
In round 5, I was struggling hard against Ben Filio who played two bingos in a row with blank apiece, TATTiNG and IODISeD, then he also got the QI spot for good score, as I trailed 182-274. A few turns later, Ben opened up with LAV that gave me a nice bingo EELIEST choosing the much bolder play at n9 chopping down his lead 332-337. After Ben played YEED along o-file, and with my lucky draw of AEINORS, this gave me an opportunity to counter with a high scoring play. See the board below:
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| Board Position after Ben's play of YEED |
ERASION along o-file was blocked but there was another opening along row-15 which I instantly played the 131-point play. There were three possible bingos in that spot but I played the Spanish word!
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| Round 5 matchup with Ben Filio |
In round 6, I faced Maida Manaog who had just won her game in board 2. The game started quietly until she played the first bingo, HETAERA and the board looked like this:
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| Board Position after Maida's play of HETAERA |
I was feeling greedy ready to break my high-scoring word in round 5, and slapped down a nine-timer bingo, TONIgT(H)S* for 149 points! Lo and behold, Maida said: "Challenge!" And that word came off. She blocked with OSE, but I hit a sub-optimal bingo TONIeST, missing the ANNUL-I hook, whey! Anyway, I played APPAREN(T) and OILERI(E)S thereafter for my three consecutive bingos and never looked back.
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| Round 6 Matchup with Maida Manaog |
In the penultimate round, Alexis Joyosa having won his round 7 game with a win-loss record of 5-2 needed to beat me twice in order to snatch the championship from me. We had bingo apiece, MEANIES for me and RELAXIN for him, giving him a good lead 205-265 until we reached this board position:
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| Board Position after Alexis' play of QUAD |
Alexis told me later that he was holding the rack of DJNQTUV, after I left the nine-timer open when I played C(L)OWN. He chose to play QU(A)D instead. Off course, yours truly could not be denied with this rack of ACELOT? + R. I laid down the 158-point play that netted me the prize for a High Scoring Word in the tournament. Alexis gallantly fought back and trimmed down the margin due to my lousy tracking in the endgame with the final score of 473-442. This sealed my championship victory!
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| Round 8 Matchup with Alexis Joyosa |
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| Round 4 Matchup with Odette Rio after 17 years |
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| Feeling ecstatic after winning in Round 8 |
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| Yours Truly receiving cash prizes from the Sponsors |
Move by Move Account of Some of My Games:
Round 4 vs. Odette Rio
Round 5 vs. Ben Filio
Round 7 vs. Ben Filio
Round 8 vs. Alexis Joyosa
