Contents:
- King's Cup 2004 Details
- Preliminary Rounds Experience by Andrew Fisher
- Complete Results (Standing after 27 rounds)
- Finals Game 1-3 Results
Venue: 1st floor, The Bangna Hall, Central City Bangna Shopping Complex (June 24-25)
- The Indoor Stadium, Bangkok (June 26-27)
Dates: June 24-27, 2004
No. of Players: 81
Dictionary: SOWPODS (OTCWL+OSW4)
Challenge Rule: Free Challenge
Challenge Rule: Free Challenge
Winner: Nigel Richards
Runner-Up: Andrew Fisher
Runner-Up: Andrew Fisher
Top Prize: $ 6,000.00
Format: The tournament begins with a 27-round preliminary (round 1-24 based on Swiss pairing system, the round 25-27 based on King-of-the-Hill pairing system), whose two finalists to play final with special rules: They have to play two games. If one of them win both games, then that player is the winner. But if they tie with a win and a loss each, a third game will be played. The winner, in this case, is the one who scores the most points when the scores from all three games are combined. (Note: Throughout the tournament, the spread capping enforced to a maximum of -/+ 350 points spread in a game. Also the Gibson rule is in effect in case there is a player who has won enough games to guarantee 1st place or a seat in the finals no matter how many games he or she loses thereafter.)
Finals Results:
Preliminary Rounds Experience (by Andrew Fisher)
(Andrew Fisher shared some of his memorable pre/endgame analyses including the crucial round 27 game on his road to the Finals)
"Here's a (not-so) quick whiz through my games and the experience of Bangkok 2004. I arrived on the Tuesday morning with two days to spare before the tournament began, and paid a visit to the amazing Royal Palace complex, caught the huge Reclining Buddha (40 feet of gold-leafed statue), toured up and down the river and did a spot of shopping. I have to mention the unceasing heat and humidity, though I coped a lot better than last year, and appreciated escaping the Victorian winter. Tourism over, we all made our way to the shopping mall in Bangna for the commencement of hostilities on Thursday. Michael Tang was running a book, offering somewhat ungenerous target-based odds to all competitors at 1,000 baht a time (he offered me 3-1 to make the top two, which I had little hesitation in declining given the presence of Richards, Nyman, Panupol, Pakorn, Komol, Cheah, Charnwit, Jakkrit, Gipson and a host of other contenders). When the opening ceremony got under way, slightly later than advertised, we settled down to watch the usual traditional Thai dancers and to hear the sponsors' speeches. I purchased a pack of earplugs, taking an anticipatory aspirin in readiness for the noise. Located in the middle of the busy mall, we had a huge video screen above the playing area belting out clips from current films, advertising and music videos at top volume; a tannoy system blaring the "Crossword Games" jingle between announcements; all the shops and stands with their piped muzak systems, and the constant traffic of shoppers streaming by, occasionally pausing to check out the action."
"Then the draw was made using numbered ping-pong balls, and I was set to face Apirat in game 1. My first few games went well, and I managed to avoid the big names throughout the seven games of day 1 except for Nigel R in game 6. I almost overlooked DOwNFALL against Ranganathan Chakravarthy, but it turns out FOLkLAND or NAiLFOLD would have been slightly better. I managed UNNETHEs against Liz Fagerlund, and added a word to her armoury that she used in a winning endgame later in the tourney. The game with Nigel was tough to lose ? we had been close throughout the game, until my penultimate rack of CDEHIPT. With EIIJLTZ? unseen, I went for (IT)CHED for 45, only to see Nigel plonk down TuILZIED onto the D for 104, leaving me with IJPT and winning by 137. Maven reckons that a tuckaway PH would have been wiser, but I would still have lost. So I went 6-1 on the first day."
"Day two was reduced to six games because of the banquet planned for that evening (at Assumption University, which I understand Panupol is attending). My first game was against Komol, who had beaten me twice in the World Championship. ENDOGAMY would have been a slightly better bingo on move two, but otherwise I played an accurate game according to Maven until reaching this position:"
me: EGHILKN
Komol: ADEINPS
Score:
me: 355
Komol: 344
"Komol had just played ERE/WEN, clearly setting up the D and S hooks with a promising rack (by the way, all competitors were supplied with a 2- and 3-letter word list plus inflections) and now held an unblockable bingo. However, I had a feeling that SPAINED was sowpods-only, so I blocked the only spot for PANDIES (PANSIED being another sowpods-only alternative) with KNIGH(T), trying to remain completely deadpan. After some thought, Komol opted for SPAED/KA, allowing me to go out and win against the odds. However, losses followed to Pakorn and Jakkrit (I missed the bingo from CEGGINOO in the latter (#1)), leaving me on 7/3 as I contemplated my sushi lunch. I then had a lucky game against Mohan Chunkath, featuring a consecutive trio of POLEMIZE, ERGATOID, CAMPIER shortly followed by UNSAFER, and was rematched with Komol (as always, the King's Cup places players in groups of four on a strict KOTH basis, with winners playing off against winners within the group). Another close and interesting game ensued, and we came to this point:"
me: AEIIOST
Komol: (not known)
Unseen: ADEHIIILLMNNNOOPTRV?
Score:
me: 284
Komol: 311
"Komol had just played GYRI, perhaps indicating a surplus of I's. I reasoned that the attacking OI/ZO/KOI would have to be best ? my rack leave would include A and S, and if Komol happened not to have the other A (or the blank) he would have difficulty in addressing the position. He came back with the imaginative (B)IND, setting up counterplays along the A column not to mention the BIND(I) hook, and probably confirming that he held another I. My rack matured to AEILMST, no bingo, so I opted to leave the ZO hooks alone and score strongly with MAIL/MI. Again he was unable to use ZO, and responded with LINN/BINDI. There was now one in the bag, but I had picked the blank:"
me: EOPSTV?
Komol: (not known)
Unseen: AEHILORT
Score:
me: 347
Komol: 338
"The obvious danger was his possible outplay of AEROLIT(H). I couldn't see an effective way to block it, so went with VETO/ZO and turned over the final tile, an R, to my relief, which gave me a win by 32."
"I then enjoyed a rare win over Nigel, finishing the day on 10/3 and ready to face the tournament leader Charnwit the following morning. We all trooped over to the University for our banquet, the entertainment including a video highlights presentation of past King's Cups, and a man who played pop tunes on an array of water-filled glasses, using only a moistened finger."
"Day three, we moved to the Stadium along with 7,000 schoolchildren mainly playing their own maths-based variant of the game, and I got the better of Charnwit only to meet Nigel once again. My sole major mistake, according to Maven, came on move 8:"
me: ABEINRT
Nigel: (not known)
Unseen: DEEEEGHIIILOORSSW??
Score:
me: 322
Nigel: 307
"I went for score, playing BRA(Z)EN for 36 whereas Maven prefers BRI(Z)E, perhaps because it is more restrictive to bingo comebacks. Nigel duly played the excellent Sa(N)DfISH/MOTTOS for 88, and won by seven after my IXTLE, his WEER and my GIE outplay. Next up was Charnwit, and I was glad to spot successive bingos of HOTSPURS and BANDITRY, enabling a win despite a missed turn where I overlooked pAW(N)ABLE and tried something else that just wasn't there. Game 17 saw me re-paired with Jakkrit, and here I missed the only bingo on rack 2 with ADEGLNU using a floating AG (#2); however, my tiles were good enough to come through, to face Charnwit again. Here's the state of play with two in the bag, after his BROOMED:"
me: AENSTUY
Charnwit: (not known)
Unseen: ACEIIIOT?
Score:
me: 306
Charnwit: 363
"It looks fairly bleak, so I suppose you have to hope for a miracle and create a second bingo line. It also makes sense to play two tiles, which means that if you do happen on a bingo, you will also make the final play of the game. I played YA/AB in the C column, leaving STUNE, and was surprised to pick I? out of the bag, which gave Charnwit a headache. He ended up selecting COATI/TAB, and I went out with kUN(Z)ITES for a narrow win."
"For game 19, Jakkrit reappeared opposite me. I got a flying start with VAUNTIE followed by VAUNTIER/ROWBOAT, and although he pulled back I held on to win. My final game of the day was a rematch with Pakorn. I was on fifteen wins, and everybody else was on 13 apart from Pakorn's 14, so I had a chance to take a two-game lead. The pivotal point was right at the end, when he had just played the rack-adjuster ZEA for 12:"
me: DEMNOTT
Pakorn: (not known)
Unseen: AACEGJMSU?
Score:
me: 356
Pakorn: 301
"What to do? Probably the most winning line would be MO/EM/NO, leaving one in the bag, but I failed to weigh this up properly at the time. I could see possible bingos all over the place for Pakorn, and tried to block as many as possible with DEM(E)TON. However, he held ACEGSU? which was sufficient for a winning outplay of CAGoU(L)ES after I picked JAM to accompany my T. This left me tied on wins with Pakorn on 15/20."
"Overnight, a group of keen soccer fans stayed up until about 5 a.m. in order to watch a clash between England and Portugal. Michael Tang was among them, and returned to his hotel room to slump on the bed, unwisely leaving his key in the door. When he awoke a couple of hours later, he was horrified to discover that somebody had sneaked in and emptied his groaning wallet of all the bets he had taken, also nicking Michael's mobile phone. Luckily for Michael, though, he didn?t have to pay out on any of them."
"The Thais kept on coming, as I faced Pakorn a further time in the first game of Day 4. This game flowed pretty well, and my successive PANDEMIC and PINNACLE were capped with a late MZEES for 78, allowing a comfortable win, followed by a narrow loss to Nigel. Helen Gipson had been surging through the field, but I got a fortunate start against her with CAVEMEN and then VALUATOR for 94, ultimately winning by over 150. Game 24, and my fourth encounter with Pakorn, I pulled ahead with RETEAMS, but unfortunately he was able to use the R to make INVERTER for 149 which saw him home. A further tense clash with Charnwit was next, but I was able to control the endgame to win by 10 points, only to meet Pakorn yet again. His rare phony on move 4 enabled me to take a strong lead, and although he produced AVIARIES at the death, his final V pickup could easily be blocked, enabling me to play out at LEISURE for 69 points from my last rack."
"Game 27 would decide the finalists. Pakorn and I were still level on wins and were matched for the sixth time, but Nigel was breathing down our necks with a stronger spread. If he won his last game, he would oust one of us from the final. I was lucky enough to start with DEEINR? while Pakorn struggled with unremunerative racks. The following move (#3) was the icing on the cake:"
me: ACGNST?
Pakorn: (not known)
Unseen: (irrelevant)
Score:
me: 315
Pakorn: 198
"So, I got to the final against Nigel. Although I had only missed three bingos throughout the 27 games of the main event, I performed in a very undistinguished manner on stage, missing three more in games two and three, and generally making sub-par plays throughout game two. I was lucky to win game 1 by a meagre five points, but my poor play thereafter left me with a mountain to climb in game three, as the King's Cup system decrees that spread accrued in games one and two is added to the score at the start of game three. Giving Nigel a start of 151 is rather hard to overcome, especially when he starts with FIREDOG for 82. I was reduced to making semi-suicidal openings for most of that game, before surrendering when they failed to pay off and losing by 125. Still, he played brilliantly (including a play of VaGOToMY against me in the first of the final games), and deserved his prize, he was kind enough to treat a few of us to a meal later."
"Once again, the tournament was a huge success and a wonderful scrabble treat. I hope to be back there soon."
Andrew Fisher
#1 GEOGONIC
#2 LANGU(AG)ED
#3 C(AA)TINGAS
"Brief results as far as I can remember:"
"Nigel Richards (19 wins pre-final) and I (20 wins) contested the final, and although I won the first game by 5 points, I was well and truly thrashed in the other two rubbers."
"Next in order in the top ten were:
Pakorn (19)
Cheah (18)
Mark Nyman (17)
Alex Tan (17)
Atiruth (17)
Panupol (17)
Jakkrit (17)
Komol (17)"
"Other results of interest to UK and Australian readers:
Helen was 12th, Elie 16th, David Eldar finished 34th, and the others I missed. Full results will come through soon, I suspect."
Complete Results:
(Standing after 27 rounds Preliminaries)
Finals Results:
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