Round 7 - Panupol Sujjayakorn (Tha)
Panupol started strongly with a 4-timer, WONDERED (102) on his 2nd turn. Later, he held AEELMRS, slotted a bingo thru DI to form REMEDIALS* (62). I hold play for a few minutes and accepted his play. (Only to find out later that it was a phoney). After that play, he led, 263-118. I was able to catch up with SUETIEr and RAINILY to cut down the lead, 378-377. The bag was empty then, he held ADFNRTY while mine was ?AETUVW. His 2-move play won him the endgame. LOSS 442-405.
Round 8 - Nigel Richards (Mal)
It was a nip and tuck affair going into the endgame, these were the scores and board position:
Ronald: ??CGEOR - 311
Unseen: EFRRSSUV
Nigel's score: 337
Nigel's last play: DOZE
My CORteGE 2a was blocked. I spent too much time thinking a possible bingo at G and UP of GYP but coudn't find one. Then I shifted at row 3, until I found myself in time trouble with 3 minutes left. My initial thought was to play CORE 1a 25 pts. but changed my mind and played my surname, CREdO 3b 27 pts to lead 338-337. I realized I committed a big mistake for not anticipating his next possible move. Then drew S in the bag. Nigel with his rack EFRRSUV calculated his play and laid down SCURF b2 36 pts. and led 338-373. With his rack ERV, I saw VANNER 12b and VENEER at 13j as his play-out, so I need to score 23 pts with my ?GS to draw but can't find a spot. I only managed to spot about 18 pts. (Note: GEORGiCs g8 was the winning move that I missed when I checked my Lampwords after the game). LOSS 368-373.
Round 9 - Edward Okulicz (Aus)
This game was decided in the middlegame when Edward open up SIRI to setup his H in the triple lane. The score at that point was 233-293 in my favor. Since I held the last S, I hooked it and played SURGE/SIRIS (15k) for 26 pts. He challenged it but the word was valid earning me 5 more points. I kept my lead til endgame. WON 334-430
Round 10 - Douglas Lobo (Ind)
It was a one-sided game in my favor. I only got down INOSITE while he had SHALINg. WON 438-307
Round 11 - Goh Jang Pern (Sin)
JP started with INSUReD 68 pts. I had HOTTIEs 70 pts on my 2nd turn to even things up. But his ESCALIER 70 pts. and OVERRAN 36 pts. upped his lead and never looked back. LOSS 445-342
Round 12 - Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Tha)
HYRAX 8h 52 pts was his initial play. I responded with WOE 9g 22 pts to balance my rack. At this point, he held DMNOOSW and played a nice bingo! Later, I played YpeRITES thru S for only 61 pts. (In the post mortem, he found an interesting bingo in the floating W with my rack ??EIRSY). In the middlegame, I spotted ACTRESS in a closed board position. His blocking play of GUT 16 pts shut down lane for my possible bingo comeback. LOSS 466-373
Round 13 - Aaron Chong (Mal)
After my VIFDA h4 32 pts., Aaron played ARsENAL 9f 70 pts. Then I played MATCH 10b 39 pts. He retaliated with WOOLS a6 37 pts in the triple lane. That was his last taste of lead as I laid down a 4-timer ACTINOID 94 pts. and later increased my lead further after MAIStER. WON 427-351
Round 14 - Chris May (Aus)
I had LOONIER/GRUME which was challenged in the early going. I protected my lead until he played INPHASE and grabbed the upper hand, 229-216. It was a neck to neck scoring until his bingo of oiLLETS went it. That was the turning point of his victory. LOSS 371-350
Round 15 - Lennie Souza (Ind)
I had cOUVADE 11i 91 pts and she had RANDIES 14d 71 pts hooking her S to COOL. At one time, I held ?AEERTW and failed to spot an overlap bingo in the triple lane below RANDIES. Anyway, I still managed to keep my lead. WON 409-331
Round 16 - Hubert Wee (Sin)
Somewhat closed board but Hubert spotted VEINULET and NATUreD. No bingos for me. You can also check his blog on this link: http://scrabblestats.blogspot.ae/2006/12/day-2-brief-notes.html
LOSS 303-403
Round 17 - Taewan Sutthasin (Tha)
Taewan started with TIERcES 8c 64 pts. I neutralized his lead when I extended QUILT to TWS playing -ING as backword hook for 54 pts. I was leading 260-279 when he laid down DISHIER 9h 69 pts. Going into the endgame , the score was 371-323 in his favor, my rack was ABCCEET with unseen ?DDEILMNR (2 tiles in the bag). I surveyed the board and found out that there were only 3 open letters for an 8-letter word bingo:
1. R (as the 1st letter but would require A or E as 2nd letter),
2. R as the 2nd letter (which I believe could be a potential spot for me with a good draw) and
3. G as the 1st letter.
My last hope was to draw blank or L and pray that he will not bingo. Nevertheless, I needed a bingo to catch up. I decided between SIC i8 and COMS 3e but chose the latter and dumped the C for 8 pts. and drew L. Alas, he played ReMINDER 70 pts. with his last R opened up the triple lane! My BRACELET went in for 89 pts but not enough to win. LOSS 441-424
Round 18 - Jocelyn Lor (Mal)
Going into this last round of the 2nd day, I checked my scorecard and saw 6-11, -96 win-loss-spread record. On my 3rd turn, I got down DIPLOES 84 pts. Later, she played SUASION parallel below DIPLOES for 80 pts. 161-149, her lead. (Note: SANIOUS could have overlapped 1 more tile). I had BOX 65 pts, she had QuEST 66 pts., 227-214, her lead anew. After a series of plays, she laid down OUTWRIT 76 pts including 5-pt challenge. 340-243, she still led. Going into the endgame, our score was 380-315, I held ?ACIMNT with unseen AEEGINNPRSWY (5 tiles in the bag), and the board looked like this:
Ronald: ?ACIMNT - 315
Unseen: AEEGINNPRSWY
Jocelyn's Score: 380
Jocelyn's last play: TUNE
My ANAToMIC 14h was blocked by her TUNE. I surmised in her last play that she had an S to score at row 14. I can't think of a possible bingo on the floating D with my rack at row 15. There were two more floaters, the Z on top and the C along A-file. Based on unseen, I analyzed that WIPES and YIPES 14j would score heavily. So, I had to choose between scoring at row 14 using the blank or try to get rid of C and M for a last ditch bingo. I decided to play MINAs 14j and it was challenged, so 57 pts for me, 380-372, she hangs on. I emptied the bag with that move. My last rack was CEGITWY while she had AENNPRS. I guessed her PANES was blocked. She played PEN 9c 28 pts to play-out with his remaining rack ANRS either EARNS 2h or NARCS a5 after my play of WICE d1 33 pts. (Note: Maven finds CUM l12 as the best play to get one last shot of bingo). LOSS 429-405
We went back to our respective hotel rooms. It's now Marlon Prudencio's (Phi) turn (who had 10-8-+210 Win-Loss-Spread record) to ask me play another practice games. Same bet as yesterday, 5RM per game. I started with a 2-0 game lead. Our third game was a different story. He got an early lead when he played a 9-timer CYTIDiNE for 181 pts. (including 5-pt penalty). My next turn ENSHREW* was challenged off the board. After his DURRA, he is leading 235-49. I managed to , keep at pace by scoring EXERTS 70 pts, WIZ 40 pts and OUTLIEr 67 pts. Going into the endgame, the scores and the position are as follows:
Ronald: AAEOPST - 340
Unseen: AEILNORSQ
Marlon's Score: 377
Marlon's Last Play: NURD
I initially thought of playing PEONS a4 38 pts but there were 2 tiles left in the bag. A bingo for Marlon would end the game outright. So, I decided to dump the letter A. I played LA 2n for 2 points. If I draw the Q, then I could play QATS later. If he had the Q, then he can't play QI in the TWS. Then I drew L in the bag. If Marlon would block the NURDS spot, then I can hit the 9-timer with LAPSTONE! I was praying that my other bingo spot will not be blocked. He played IRONE a4, and I slapped down, PELOTAS e1 for the win. By the time I checked the remaining tile in the bag, Marlon already messed up the tiles on the board and said: ''Resign!'' I won again 3-0 and 15RM. Then we went to sleep around 2:00 A.M.
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