2008 Silicon Valley Showdown Scrabble tournament -Day 2 and 3

Day 2

Game 9: Salvador Sanchez, rated 1045, 3rd seed

Luck rolled on my side this morning. I actually woke up late, and drove like mad to the tourney site. Got there, with the directors making announcements. No coffee, no breakfast…. Man, I was hungry and sleepy….

On my 3rd turn, I bingoed with a non-word, rETONED. I missed out DENOTEd completely. My opponent thought for a while but decided against challenging, which he said he regretted later. I started picking up power tiles at the right time to play AX, JO, QUID at the right places for some nice points. Then, I proceeded to close up the board. He tired to open up a spot, but I responded with ELAsTIN immediately then picked up EIIONRS the very next rack. I think he had some nice tile combo, as he played off an E to make E(F) but that opened up the S hook for my IRONIES. I played REH#, a British-only word, which got challenged off. He finally got his bingo INSANER, down on the board, but I was way ahead. Won 512-342.

Game 10: Andrew Smith, rated 500, 12th seed

I thought I was going to play against the top-seed this round, but it was arranged for with the bottom-seed instead. I played a low-scoring TRAINeR, which he later hooked with his DIArIES. Later on, the vowels dried up on my rack, and I changed twice in a row! Yet, I managed to keep ahead of him and won 327-296. Ten straight wins!! My best ever streak….now, to face the top-seed…

Game 11: Kim Carver, rated 1182, 1st seed

It was a close game. Slow start at the beginning, but she bingoed with hOTDOGS to pull ahead, and kept the lead pretty much for the rest of the game. At one point, I got as close as 2 point difference 325-327, but the end game did me in. I closed out my own bingo line for my orphaned EaSIEST and could not recover. Lost 344-379. Sigh…. Lost the winning streak with 10-1 though not complaining! Still top of the table! 

Game 12: Raghuram Jonnalagedda, rated 1029, 4th seed

This was a fantastic game. I started out with a non-word bingo, TOWELER, but he did not challenge as he played HIND(E)RER to even out somewhat. He then played QUAI/HO(I)# for 58 points which I did not challenge off, unfortunately, since I was unsure if HOI was good or not. Stupid SOWPODS lingers within me. On my fourth turn, I played TURNOVER to pull ahead, with the end open for the S for double-word score. Drawn a rack of AEGIMRT. I wished for an ‘N’ and miraculously, he played VANED. I then hooked the N with REMATI(N)G. He played SOJA/TURNOVER(S) for 46 points. I was not sure if SOJA is good in US, so I placed a hold and draw my tiles. I did not challenge, as I could use the A on SOJA to play Z(A)XES, with the Z on triple-letter and S on double-word tile for a whipping 82 points! My opponent played TALA(Q)s#, another British-only word, which I also did not challenge since it was familiar to me. He next tried a non-word bingo GAUKIER, which I knew was a misspelt version of ‘gawkier’ and challenged it off. Won the game 561-415.

Game 13: Steve Brown, rated 657, 10th seed

The luck still rolled with me. On my 4th turn, I bingoed with RETsINA on a double-double word score. Two turns later, I hooked on my first bingo with STINTE(R)S. I kept the lead all the way and won comfortably with 445-288.

Game 14: Shirley E Scott, rated 908, 8th seed

This game was a close fight. Having only won her by 1 point in our previous match-up, I played cautiously. She bingoed early with TASTIEr, and pretty much held the lead through the game though I kept it around a 30 point spread throughout but failed to get a breakthrough. I challenged her unsuccessfully on DIEL, which probably costed me the game. Lost 334-353, a mere 18 point loss. Now with 12W-2L record, but still top of the table.

Game 15: Lois Oda, rated 1005, 6th seed

I got creamed in this game by sheer uneven tiles….. She got all the power tiles: the two blanks, all four ‘S’, Z, Q, X, J, K. It started slowly, and at one point on the 6th turn, I was actually ahead 170-108. She played COXa and SUQ well to keep up. Towards the end, she played her ZESTED (Z on TLS and word on the DWS) for 82 points, she pulled ahead 274-325 and kept the spread. I managed to keep up but cannot do anything against her words…. Lost 325-383, a 58 point spread, which I considered a job well-done given that she had the tile-gods on her side. Now with 13W-3L, I have two other contestants just 1 game behind me, Kim and Raghu, the 1st and 4th seeds.

.Game 16: Kim Carver, rated 1182, 1st seed

We both thought that we will be playing with no repeats today, so we were surprised to play each other. It was a closely fought game. I actually loss 2 turns by challenging her words: COMBE and BORK. She kept the lead through most of the game, and started closing up the board. I almost played RIOJA to hook the R to the YEA on the board to minimize the spread, but decided against it as it opened up the triple-word score. So I just played the J off elsewhere for just 19 points. Two turns later, that turned out to be blessing as I drew the blank along with a V, and bingoed with DRiVING to pull ahead slightly 350-316. I proceeded to lock up the game and won 398-387, a mere 11 point spread but I am certainly very happy about it!

So, I ended the second day with 13W-3L, still top of the table but with Kim and Raghu nipping at the heels with 12 wins each.

Day 3

Game 17: Betty A Toole, rated 1015, 5th seed

This was a fairly low-scoring game. No bingoes on the board. I had fairly uneven racks, missing vowels a lot…. But somehow, I managed to keep ahead and started closing up the board. She had a bingo rack REmNANT on the triple word line, which would have led to my win by just 1 point, but she did not see it, and honestly, neither did I. Won 352-286. I found out that Kim lost her game and Raghu won, so I still had Raghu at 1 game behind me only and Kim at 2 games behind.

Game 18: Salvador Sanchez, rated 1045, 3rd seed

Salvador went first but changed his first rack. I played with low-scoring tiles as I had a bingo potential. Unfortunately, he bingoed first with TONNERS, I had EASTERN, but did not see it, so I threw an E out for 6 points and drew a D to bingo with STANDER after him. I think he then had a bad luck streak, or trying for a bingo as he changed tiles again and then played low-scoring words with 1-2 tiles the next 3 turns. At that point, I hooked to his last play with a D for form COlLIDe(D) (=collided), having picked up both blanks on the rack, to pull ahead 246-151. Then, I picked up the Q, X, J and K to played well with them to score some decent points while Salvador struggled with low-scoring turns. I won handily 420-269. At this point, Raghu lost his round too, so both Kim and Raghu is 2 games behind me, with only 1 more game to go! I had won the division by the 18th game!! I was so stoked….

Game 19: Lois Oda, rated 1005, 6th seed

At this point, before the next game, we were discussing if I was going to be ‘gibsonized’, i.e. not playing Kim or Raghu. The tourney director decided it so, and so I played Oda, the 4th placed contestant instead. Kim and Raghu is to fight for the 2nd place.

And so…. Lois creamed me again with all the power tiles on her side. I somehow suspect she is using her Hawaiian tile-gods prayers/chants or something  Her first move was AnTHEMS. Three turns later, another bingo of gOOIEST, at which point, she led 78-175. Of course, she proceeded to pick up the rest of the S tiles, Z, Q, J, X to keep the lead up. I had no bingo chance whatsoever but just tried to minimize the spread. Lost the game, of course, with 317-398, which was a good effort, I think.

And so, I won the first multi-day tournament in the US, albeit not a major ‘major’ but still!! Finally, I think I am sowing the last of my SOWPODS mind to rest and is able to concentrate to play TWL2 only….. So, next in sight, the 2008 US Nationals in Orlando, Florida!!!

Link to official results

2008 Silicon Valley Showdown Scrabble tournament - Day 1

After about two months of absence from Scrabble tourneys, I was somewhat out of touch. Wan, my dearest wife, granted me a birthday pass to attend the 2008 US Nationals in Orlando, Florida in July.

I played in Division 6 two years ago, currently qualify for Division 5 and need only thirteen rating points to hit 1200 to qualify for Division 4. I have been hovering just below 1200 for a year and never had a breakthrough at tournaments. With the birthday pass comes with the opportunity to play in local tournaments in an effort to boost my rating points, as I really do want to qualify for Division 4. I played in a 1-day tourney last week, and managed to raise the ratings to 1091, just nine points short!

The Memorial Weekend, remembrance for US war veterans, gave me a nice 4-day weekend and is also the time for the annual Silicon Valley Challenge! I finished third in the Division 3 last year, and hoped to do better this year.

Twelve players this year in Division 3, average rating of 900. I am second seed based on my ratings, with expected wins of 13.6 wins out of 19 games over three days (8-8-3 games).

And I won!! This was an amazing tournament and of course, it certainly feels great to finally win a major tournament, albeit in Division 3. Was undefeated for the first day, in fact, undefeated for the first 10 games, my longest winning streak ever! Won the tournament on the 18th round, overall 15 wins, 4 losses. Yes, I had fun and lots of luck on my side. Yes, there were some ‘newbies’ in the mix, but they were decent players.

Game 1: JD Rosenberg, rated 628, 11th seed

First 11 games was round robin. I played from the 11th seed upwards. JD gave me a run for the money and I was trying to catch up the whole game. I started, but his first move was DEF(O)RMed across my CLOUD!! With two blanks!! He led the game for 15 turns. I caught up a little with INERTI(A)S on turn 3 but he pretty much led the whole way. Towards the endgame, he gambled with TRINGLE# (a British-only word), at N6 across. I knew RINGLET, did not know of TINGLER but definitely was about to challenge TRINGLE. However, he played the ‘I’ was over the middle bottom triple word score and I had WZ on hand. I took my time to track all the tiles, and realized that he will empty the bag and have the Q tile which cannot be played. At that point, it was 313-352 with his non-word bingo. Played WIZ for 45 points, and caught up 358-352. Knowing that he cannot play out, I played my remaining tiles to maximize my score and won 405-372. Makes tracking tiles worth all the while! Oh, and I faked out with BRASSE 

Game 2: Steve Brown, rated 657, 10th seed

Had the luck for this game. Steve changed his tiles the first two turns. On my 5th turn, I played TRAW(L)ING and towards the end, played DEPICtS. Won convincingly 460-249.

Game 3: Miriam Kasdan, rate 791, 9th seed

Luck on the roll. Played RAWNESS on 3rd turn and played oX for 35 and a natural RITZY for 42. Won 390-289.

Game 4: Shirley E Scott, rated 908, 8th seed

This is such a close game! Won by 1 point! Played UNSTATE on 5 turn, but she caught up with HALTERS and shortly sHORING. We leveled at 323-323 after a good play of my JO for 51 and he KAYO over my JO on the triple word for 38. It was a close fight to the end. End game, won 382-381.

Game 5: Jim Barker, rated 966, 7th seed

This game was a slow start, with normal scoring plays until I bingoed with TESTING on the triple word corner on the 7th turn. Played BANIA#, another British-only word, which got challenged off. Later on, followed with R(E)ALISED. Won 383-340.

Game 6: Lois Oda, rated 1005, 6th seed

This was another slow low-scoring game. Bingoed with PANDeRS. Won 349-304. She ate me alive later….

Game 7: Betty A Toole, rated 1015, 5th seed

She started off with DAZES, and my initial rack was EEIOOUS. Wished EUOI was good here, but just played off (Z)OO for 14 points. Picked up ?R!! Next turn, bingoed REISsUE(S) into the top middle triple word score. I kept a small lead through this game. She tried a non-word bingo SAUTIEr which I challenged off, but I knew she had SInUATE/AUnTIES plus many more. She later played MAR(R)IeRS, which I challenged unsuccessfully. Yet, with careful end-game moves, I won 357-327.

Game 8: Raghuram Jonnalagedda, rated 1029, 4th seed

This was certainly an interesting game. Raghu was a SOWPODS player, like I was. So, he plays certain words which I knew were no good in the US. On his 2nd turn, he bingoed with SNiCKED, which I did not know but decided not to challenge. I bingoed two turns later with PERSONA to even out the score at 139-139. Got crappy vowels for the next three turns, but finally got the blank and bingoed with TENAILS (blank=L). After that, I kept the small but comfortable lead and started closing off the board. I challenged off this TYRE/EVET because I knew EVET is a British-only word. I also challenged off FERET, a non-word. Won 413-345.

Hence, end of Day 1 of the tournament, with an 8W-0L record! The only person across 3 divisions to have an undefeated streak. I was pretty stoked!