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Andrew Fisher and Phil Appleby have already shared their Singapore thoughts and game details with the mailing lists. So I thought I’d offer mine, too.
Though the Scrabble event wasn’t to begin until the morning of Friday 25th June (an early start at 8.15 am!!), my wife and I had arrived in Singapore the preceding Monday (21st June). This gave me the opportunity to see something of the city and island of Singapore and even to cross over into Malaysia in advance of the Scrabble fisticuffs.
Before getting into the details of my games, let me repeat some of the eulogies already heaped on the tournament by Andrew Fisher, Phil Appleby and others.
The hotel the tournament was staged in, the Regency Hyatt, is a 5-star hotel renowned for the range of its facilities, its bars and restaurants, and the excellence of its customer service. Nothing to fault about the hotel, except the prices!! Oh - one other thing - the hotel, and most of the rest of Singapore, just do not know how to do a proper fried English breakfast, the sort you get in English country hotels and in the USA! You can have beef bacon and chicken bacon, but you try finding pork bacon! Same goes for sausages!
The tournament playing room was excellent - everything that seasoned Scrabblers have come to wish for. A spacious playing area (two ballrooms merged into one for the tournament), wide tables, spotlights above each table, plenty of space for runners, a top ten leader board (as well as detailed results for all 98 players), quick turnround of challenges, plenty of videorecording activity by the Channel NewsAsia TV station, interviews with leading Scrabblers, and magnificent buffet lunches. Challenged words were returned to the tables on computer-printed slips - the computer printed both the challenged word(s) and either “allowed” or “disallowed”. No confusion as to whether the adjudicator had misread a V for a U, and so on. Excellent attention to detail by Michael Tang, the tournament organiser, and his administration organisers.
I’d never played in an international tournament until Singapore, so was a bit apprehensive about what to expect in terms of the quality of the other players. I’d heard lots about the Thai players and the US players and so on, but I’d never experienced playing any of them. Michael Tang had already warned me that the Thais and Malaysians played a much tighter game that he thought I would be used to.
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Game 1, against Gerry Carter (from Thailand, who finished 10th overall):
In my first game, I was set to meet Gerry Carter, an expat Brit from Thailand. This first game fixture was drawn on the Thursday (24th) evening, though the game wouldn’t be played until the Friday (25th) morning. I had all evening and night to worry about my first opponent! I was aware Gerry had a considerable reputation. On the Friday morning, I drew to start, with Gerry to reply. I was pleased that my first play was a bonus (ADENINE, 68 points), and even more pleased when my third play was also a bonus (OVERDONE, 74 points). After the first six moves, the scores were 171 to me, and 54 to Gerry. I was beginning to feel in control! My next three moves were all good scorers (JOW, KAPH$, FLUX). Then another bonus (OCTAGON, 85 points), then a fourth bonus (STRIPER$, 86 points). It was only then, on his tenth move, that Gerry played his first bonus (REMAINS, 84 points). I finished the game on 607 points to Gerry’s 338, a spread of 269 points. I couldn’t believe I’d started so well. Looking back over the game, I had a succession of good scores,apart from a 9-point move and an exchange. My scores for the whole game were: 68, 29, 74, 47, 51, 42, 9, 85, 0 (exchange), 86, 46, 37, 33.
Game 2, against Roland Filio (from Bahrain, who finished 54th overall):
After game 1, I was lying 2nd on the leader board. In 1st place was Roland Filio, who managed a spread of over 300 points in his first game. The game against Roland was a lot tighter. Roland had the first bonus with ENATION (66 points), which put me behind. I wasn’t able to respond with my first bonus for another four moves, but when I played CARNIEST£ (70 points), it put me 10 points ahead. No more bonuses were played, and the result of the game depended on how well each of us scored in the last half of the game. Roland played TRANQ$ for 42, but I had QUEER for 42 and WOX£ for 35. A narrowish victory of 26 points to me. Reviewing the game after the event, I see I missed two bonus plays: one from DEIILO? and a floating T (IDIOLECT); and another with ABGOOR? on my rack (BOTARGO£).
Game 3, against John Holgate (from Australia, who finished 37th overall):
John had four bonuses in this game to my none! He had FUNDIES£ (89 points), PALATINE (66 points), GAUNTER (75 points) and OESTRAL£ (68 points). My only high-point was playing SMERK$/PALATINES - John challenged PALATINES - but it was okay. The expected score of 45 points was increased to 50 points because of the unsuccessful challenge! My spread here was -217, almost wiping out the huge spread I’d had in my first game. Checking the game after the event, I was pleased to see that I didn’t miss any bonuses (mainly because all my racks were so poor that bonuses were unlikely anyway!).
Game 4, against David Webb (from UK, who finished 9th overall):
David was the first of three UK players I was to come up against. Although I’d beaten David on various occasions in the UK, I suspected his record against me was better than mine against him. I kicked off with SPIELED (76 points). David fairly quickly replied with ANODISES (72 points) and BAWTY$ (45 points). I came back with OUTRATED (60 points), and then missed a turn by trying the unallowable CLINKY. David played AVENIRS£ (67 points). By now, David was 72 points ahead (with 294 points to my 222 points). It looked like I was going to lose this game. But a succession of good scores on my side (KYRIE$ 48; KELVIN 26; GOX$ 30; RAJ 30) compared with slightly more modest scores from David had the gap narrowing toward the end of the game. After our 13th moves, we were on 392 each. On my last move, I was able to use the Q already on the board, playing TALAQ£/AGEN£ (20 points), leaving David unable to score sufficient points to overtake me. A win to me of 2 points! Checking the game afterwards, I see I missed no bonuses.
Game 5, against Austin Tan (from Singapore, who finished 46th overall):
My opening move was CAMPI$ (28 points), which I was pleased to spot. An early bonus from me (EXPORTS, 91 points) gave me a controlling lead. And a second bonus in midgame (RENNASE$, 77 points) put me comfortably ahead. No bonuses from Austin. Nothing else particularly special about the words or the plays. A win to me of 53 points. After 5 games, I had 4 wins - I was beginning to feel fairly pleased. At least I wasn’t disgracing myself! (Post-game analysis reveals no missed bonus plays.)
Game 6, against Tengku Asri (from Malaysia, who finished 47th overall):
It was Tengku’s first move - he announced he had a bingo - my heart sank - until I saw he’d played BINGO for 22 points! The first real bonus was mine - I had AEFLORS on my rack. I decided to play SAFROLE rather than LOAFERS, hoping it would draw a challenge. It did, and it was allowed. So I got an extra 5 points, 81 in all. The second bonus was mine, DECURIA£ (73 points). Halfway through the game, I had EGILOSU on my rack. No floating E for EULOGIES or EULOGISE. I played GUILES for 21 points, when I could have played OUGLIES£ for 73 points. Don't know why I missed it - I certainly knew the word. No bonuses from Tengku. Late in the game, he converted HAH into HAHA$ (by playing AVE). Pleased to say, I knew HAHA$ was on the list of US-only four-letter words, so I didn’t challenge. A win to me of 114 points. I was now on 5 wins out of 6 games. I felt on a roll.
Game 7, against Evan Simpson (from UK, who finished 35th overall):
Evan was my second UK opponent. Evan and I have played many times in the UK, usually at Evan’s house, so I have a good feeling for Evan’s style. Evan began, and I followed with TWEEZER$ (38 points). Evan wasn’t sure about challenging, and eventually decided not to. I had the first bonus (VEINIEST, 66 points), and Evan had the only other bonus in the game (LARDIEST, 78 points). Later on in the game, I tried turning EKING into BEKING (by playing DAB to a triple-word-score square). Evan immediately challenged, thinking I’d created this from an assumed verb BEKE. He then realised BEKING was formed from the verb prefix BE- plus the verb KING. Unfortunately for me, the word was disallowed - not in Sowpods! On the next move, instead of playing DAB, I played BAD and DEKING$. I was confident that this came from the verb DEKE$. But Evan challenged on the basis that if BE-KING wasn’t allowed, then DE-KING probably wouldn’t be any good either. Evan’s challenge gave me an extra 5 points! Nothing much else of note in this game, other than Evan extending JOWAR to JOWARI£ (by playing ICIER). A win to me of 24 points. I was now on 6 wins out of 7 games, and this put me 5th on the leader board. (Post-game analysis shows I missed no bonuses.)
Game 8, against Paul Cleary (from Australia, who finished 3rd overall):
Having lost to Ozzie John Holgate earlier in the day, I was anticipating another Oz trouncing at the hands of Paul Cleary. Only one bonus in this game, Paul’s DEUTONS£ (89 points) on move 2. Paul also scored well with JEHU$ (63 points). I was miffed to have RETYPES$ on my rack, but nowhere to play it. I eventually had to split it up, playing TYPES/SQUABS for 47 points. A win to Paul of 91 points. I was still on 6 wins, but now out of 8 games. (Post-game analysis reveals I missed a single bonus. I had AEILORT on my rack, and there was a floating T which had to be in 7th or 8th position in the bonus word. LITERATO£ was possible, but I didn’t see it, because I didn’t know it!)
Game 9, against Steve Polatnick (from USA, who finished 8th overall):
Steve’s first move in the game was TOPOI. Can’t say I knew the word, but it’s good in both OSW and OSPD! (I didn’t challenge.) His second move was DAYROOM$ (76 points). Later on, I had ACEINST on my rack. Nowhere to play the obvious ACETINS$, CANIEST£ or CINEAST. So I made a double mistake. The only floater was an M, and that would have had to have been in second position. I didn’t see or know AMNESTIC$. I then played ACENI, confusing it with ACINI. It was successfully challenged off the board, so I still had ACEINST on my rack! I then managed to play CANITIES (72 points) around a newly floating I. Solid scores from Steve with QUIRK (56), ROCH£ (39), ZED (43), FOXY (43) and JUS (37). When Steve played JUS, he’d forgotten it provided a front-hook for a G, allowing me to play SEALING (78 points). A narrowish win for Steve of 22 points.
So, at the end of day 1, after 9 games, I was on 6 wins and a spread of +158. This put me 18th out of the field of 98, not too bad.
Looking back on these 9 games, I had no chance of salvaging the game against John Holgate; the game against Paul Cleary might have been closer if I’d known and played LITERATO£; but the game against Steve Polatnick was the one that could most easily have been converted into a win. I felt I should have done better, with perhaps 7 wins rather than 6 under my belt. Even so, I felt I hadn’t disgraced myself.
What was Day two to bring?
A day-2 summary will be issued shortly.......
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Remember, I’d finished Day 1 on 6 wins out of 9 games, with a spread of +158, in 18th place out of 98 players. Day 2 had 8 games scheduled. I was hoping to finish Day 2 on 11 or 12 wins out of 17 games. As it turned out, my Day 2 performance was considerably poorer than my Day 1 performance. I only won 3 games out of 7 on Day 2. Let’s look at the individual games.
Game 10, against Tan Jin Chor (of Malaysia, who ended up 19th overall):
Game 11, against Gan Cher Siong (of Singapore, who finished 55th overall):
Early bonuses of BRINIEST (72 points) and LENITIES (68 points) put me into a strong lead. I missed two turns later one - one to exchange from a poor rack of GNQRTUW, and one from an incorrect three-letter word. I stupidly played AYA - I’d probably got confused by AMA$, AMAH and AYAH all being okay, and just steamed ahead with AYA. Gan narrowed the gap considerably, and I managed to win by only 23 points. Now on 7 wins out of 11 games. (Post-game analysis shows no missed bonus plays.)
Game 12, against Joan Rosenthal (of Australia, who finished 31st overall):
After my defeats at the hands of Holgate and Cleary, I was apprehensive about my likely performance against another Oz player. Unnecessarily so, it turned out. I beat Joan to the first bonus - SLOUCHES (71 points). But she fairly quickly came back with TELAMON (74 points). I had two further bonuses - ENOLASE$ (75 points) and TOUGHER (81 points), which put me a 100+ points ahead. One of my last moves was YIRRED$, dumping rubbish letters but scoring 30 points. A win to me by 114 points. Now on 8 wins out of 12 games. (Post-game analysis reveals no missed bonus plays.)
Game 13, against Odette Rio (of the Philippines, who ended up 11th overall):
On my second turn, I had AEINRX? on my rack. I saw RETAXING$ through a floating T, but decided to play AXE/AT/XU (37 points), holding back EINR?. (Post-game analysis reveals I could also have played EXPIRANT£ and XERANTIC£.) First bonus was mine - INSPIRED (80 points). I challenged Odette’s DROOLIER off the board - no such word! By halfway through the game, I was 262 to Odette’s 166. I should have wrapped up the game from here on. But I was too busy blocking with small scores (7, 11, 5, etc). With ACEEINS on my rack, I missed RESIANCE£ off a floating R. Meanwhile, Odette was picking up reasonable scores, and finally managed to slot in the last bonus (ALERION£, 71 points). Though I was still ahead by 20 points (301 to 281), Odette managed good endgame scores with ZIN$ (30 points) and REHS£ (31 points), and finally won by 28 points. Of all the games in the tournament, this is the one I feel I threw away. With a bit more thought, I should have won. Now on 8 wins out of 13 games, I was lying 15th out of 98.
Game 14, against Charnwit Sukhumrattanaporn (of Thailand, who ended up 13th overall):
Charnwit’s reputation preceded him. I was aware that he was one of the hot players from Thailand, but had no real idea what to expect. The first bonus was mine. I played SPLINED for 77 points. I had decided against SPINDLE, knowing that this provided a too-convenient hook for D, R and S. I felt SPLINED was a better play, even though the I had a triple-letter-score square to its left. Charnwit pounced on that dark blue square with his Q, making QUOIT parallel with SPLINED for 74 points. Ouch! A couple of moves later, I missed ORIENTED, with DEEINOR on my rack and a floating T on the board. (There was nowhere for ORDINEE to slot in.) Meanwhile, Charnwit played DARKLES for 104 points. I was now 114 points behind. I closed the gap somewhat with a late bonus of GRAINIER (72 points). At the end of the game, I had ENNOSU? on my rack, but Charnwit had just closed down the last place for a seven-letter bonus ending in -S (eg NEURONS, NONUSES$). I was 64 points behind. There was only one floater on the board, a B, and I would need to find a bonus with the B in 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th position. I was also aware that Charnwit’s last rack was AIORWYZ. I eventually spotted UNNOBLES£ for 60 points, and caught Charnwit for twice 22 points. This gave me an unexpected win of 450 to 410, a spread of 40 points. Charnwit was obliged to challenge UNNOBLES£, but it was okay. Of all the games at the tournament, this is the one I was most pleased to win. I was now on 9 wins out of 14 games, putting me 14th out of 98.
Game 15, against Andrew Fisher (of the UK, who ended up 2nd overall):
For the first 13 plays, Andrew and I pingponged similar scores back and forth. He started with 26, I replied with 21; then he got 22, and I got 38; he got 32, I got 30; he got 38, I got 26; he got 26, I got 34. The scores were now Andrew 144 and me 149. Andrew continued with a 25, and I lobbed in REGATTAS (74 points), using both blanks. I was now ahead 169 to 223. Unfortunately, this is where my game fell apart, while Andrew just moved up a few gears! I had the nice DETOXED (32 points), but Andrew powered ahead with GEOMANTS£ (89) and OOGENIES (68 points). A late flourish from Andrew with TRIDARN£ (42 points), making four other words in the process - OR/XI/LIVED/DA. A win for Andrew with a spread of 134 points. I was now on 9 wins out of 15 games. (Post-game analysis reveals no missed bonus plays.)
Game 16, against Manop Phipatboon (of Thailand, who finished 14th overall):
Another strong Thai player! Manop got the first bonus, RESIDES (90 points), and the second one, OLEATES (72 points). The third bonus was mine. I was sitting with AEERTU? on my rack. The only floaters were a D and C close together. I managed to spot REEDUCATE$ and played it for 63 points. Manop didn’t bat an eyelid. Fourth bonus to Manop was PRESIDE (98 points). I managed to lose by 121 points. I was now on 9 wins out of 16 games. (Post-game analysis reveals I missed MONTERO on my third move in the game. Shame!)
Game 17, against Howard Warner (of New Zealand, who finished 15th overall):
Howard’s first two moves were PENTISE£ (74 points) and PAEONIES£ (72 points). I was almost 100 points down after the game’s first four moves! I recovered with DEMOCRAT (82 points), Howard managed EULOGIA (70 points), and I then played PREZ$/EULOGIAE$ for 62 points. Nothing else of note in this game. Howard won with a spread of 26 points. I was now on 9 wins out of 17 games. (Post-game analysis reveals no missed bonus plays.)
So, on Day 2, I won only 3 of my 7 games, a poorer performance than Day 1. I’d lost the last three games (numbers 15, 16 and 17), and my position in the field of 98 players was decreasing with each game. I was now on a total of 9 wins out of 17 games, with a spread of -19. By the end of Day 2, I had dropped to something like 40th out of the field of 98. I resolved to try harder on Day 3 - but I suspect the other 97 players all did the same!
What would Day 3 bring?
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By the end of Day 2 in Singapore, I was lying approximately 40th out of a field of 98, with 9 wins out of 17 games, and a spread of -19. So, what happened on Day 3?
Game 18, against Jasmi Zainal (of Singapore, who finished 61st overall): On my second and third moves, I exchanged - no vowels in sight. I was then rewarded with the first bonus of EMULATES (74 points). A few moves later, I had OUTLETS/SYEN£ (71 points). Jasmi didn’t know SYEN£, and so challenged, giving me an extra 5 points! Then I bonussed with BEPAINT (89 points), and he challenged that, too. And the third and last bonus to me was NARRATE (72 points). No bonuses to Jasmi. This gave me my largest spread of the tournament, 272 points (3 points better than my opening game against Gerry Carter). Now on 10 wins out of 18 games. (Post-game analysis reveals no missed bonuses in this game.)
Game 19, against Renante Abellanosa de la Cerna (of the Philippines, who finished 23rd overall):
First bonus went to Renante (ADOPTING, 74 points), with the next one quickly to me (WIRIEST, 79 points). Fairly equal scoring in the middle of the game, but then Renante surged ahead at the end of the game, with two successive bonuses (ARENITE$, 77 points and SANDLOT$ 81 points). I didn’t know SANDLOT$ (though I did know SANDPILE$), so felt duty-bound to challenge. But it was good. My late bonus of UNALIKE (73 points) was not good enough to counteract Renante’s two bonuses. And Renante finished off with FALAJ£ for 60 points. A resounding win for Renante by 187 points. Now on 10 wins out of 19 games. (Post-game analysis reveals no missed bonuses in this game.)
Game 20, against Amnuay Ploysangam (of Thailand, who finished 28th overall):
My second move was a bonus, UNSHARP$ (75 points). Amnuay came back quickly with ANTIHERO$ (63 points). I then managed a useful 50 points for QUARTO, then another bonus, DEPOSITS (86 points), and a very healthy 57 points for OJIME£. No further bonuses to either of us, and I ended up winning with a spread of 138 points. Now on 11 wins out of 20 games. (No missed bonuses according to my post-game analysis, excluding ones I saw but couldn’t play on the board.)
Game 21, against Sam Kantimathi (of the USA< who finished 58th overall):
On my 4th move, I was getting set to play DOZIER onto a triple-word-score square for 78 points, using my Z and a blank. But Sam conveniently opened up a different triple-word-score square which enabled me to play REZ£/RIN/ER/ZO£ for 74 points, while retaining my blank. Good man, Sam! My next move after this was the bonus HARDNOSE$ (89 points). Sam quickly came back with ENTIRELY (70 points). Sam wasn’t too sure of my TAKY£ but decided not to challenge. I had the last bonus with the vowel-heavy EUOUAES£ (69 points). Sam’s last play was BEMIST$ which I challenged, thereby giving him an extra 5 points. A win to me of 112 points. Now on 12 wins out of 21 games played, and just outside the top 20 positions. (No missed bonuses ..... )
Game 22, against Esther Perrins (of Australia, who finished 42nd overall):
Esther score 71 points off an early JOWL. I replied with the first bonus CREOSYL, a phoney, but Esther didn’t challenge! As the O was a blank, I could also have played CRESYLS$ (didn’t know it), CLERISY (didn’t see it) and CYCLERS (didn’t see it, but would probably have convinced myself it was only CYCLISTS). (Other possibilities, CLYSTER and SCROYLE£ wouldn’t have fitted on the board.) I tried UNWAITED a few moves later, but Esther challenged it off the board. I quickly replied with back-to-back bonuses, DETINUES (80 points) and SERIFED (76 points). Esther challenged the second of these, but it’s okay. An eventual win to me of 80 points. Now on 13 wins out of 22 games, and now placed 20th. (Post-game analysis shows no missed bonuses.)
Game 23, against Howard Warner (of New Zealand, who finished 15th overall):
I’d lost to Howard in our first encounter (game 17) and was hoping for a win this time round. No such luck! I had the first bonus with INTIMATE (89 points), but Howard replied with successive bonuses of GROOMERS$ (77 points) and ANAPAEST (72 points). Poor tiles in the middle of the game required me to exchange tiles, to little avail. Meanwhile, Howard notched up a third bonus, REPLIES (73 points), and ended up winning by 160 points. So, I finished on 13 wins out of 23 games, with a spread of 236 points, which put me in a final position of 26th. (Post-game analysis shows no missed bonuses.)
Though some of my fellow British players may have started the tournament with expectations of top 10 placings, my own expectations were more modest. I had wanted to finish in the top 50% of the field (anywhere down to 48th), and to not be the bottom Brit! I succeeded on both counts. My 26th placing was a fair bit better than I expected (though not brilliant, I admit), and I was 6th out of the 8 Brits participating. I’ll leave interested readers to work out who were the 7th and 8th placed Brits!!
Now looking forward to next year. My target must be to improve substantially on my position this year. Oh, and I still don’t want to be the bottom Brit out of however many end up going next year!!
-DARRYL FRANCIS
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