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