Fifty seven enthusiasts gathered at the luxurious downtown Bankstown Sports Club last Saturday for a 20-round tile fest. There were no international visitors this time but the field contained a healthy number of highly rated interstaters.
The venue itself was ideal for Scrabble sophisticates who wanted to combine the business of wordplay with the leisure of wining and dining (the club boasts seven restaurants and a veritable barathrum of bars). It reminded me of the glitzy American tournament venues of Reno and Last Vagueness - but without the Porsches perched on top of poker machines).
Liz Jackman’s direction and organisation were excellent and her friendly efficiency kept the games ticking over without major incident.
The Saturday morning session saw mixed fortunes for some of the fancied contenders such as Bob Jackman and Ed Okulicz who were slow out of the stalls. Julian McKail, Chris May and Paul Cleary lead the field into lunch. Some topnotch plays I spotted were Alastair Richards’ QUIETIVE (99) and BEAUFIN (78) in Game 1 and Ed’s play starting with a Z from A-E-I-L-R-T-? (1). Paul Cleary managed a nine with OTARINE onto ON (2) and Chris extended AD to ADDITIONS. My two most felicitous moves were BEAUCOUP and ‘POUTIER’ onto a C (3).
Since there was a special prize for Long Word Plays players came up with some brilliancies like Raya Wilkinson’s TENDEREST around ER, ‘HARLE’ played onto QUIN by Jean McGiffen, Trevor Halsall’s MOONRISES off MO and Norma Tracey’s addition of ‘DONIST’ to HE.
(Incidentally SHEDONIST* is a feminist website word which may find its way into Collins some day – like HISTORY and HERSTORY).
At the end of Day One Joanne Craig (8/10) had taken over as overnight leader from Chris May who had slumped by losing three games in a row. I was kind to him in our Round 9 match when I failed to block the last open triple file and he played TELEGRAM onto an M and snatched a win.
At the end of Round 15 as we headed for the last five duplication-allowed rounds there were seven players tied on 11 wins with about 600 spread points between the lot. It was going to be a blanket finish between May, Holgate, Cleary, Craig, Kane, Halsall and Karen Richards.
In Round 16 Chris and I had a classy contest on Table One (with his APRICOT and NUTSIER to my STORAGE BALDING and DEADENS). The game was determined by my drawing four I’s in the endgame and losing 418/456. Next to us Alistair Kane wrapped DOGGEDER around Paul’s G for 149 and an easy victory. With two games to go there was a four way tie on 13 wins between Chris, Paul, Alistair and me. Paul and I had a close tussle (my GAUNTREE, INTHRALL to his ETAERIO) with the ultimate blank ensuring his win 425/379.
Round 20 was to see Chris Paul or me taking the title – with Chris needing to beat Trevor , Paul requiring a win against Joanne and me needing to beat Alistair and hope Paul and Chris lost. In fact I lost, Paul won and Chris went down by by eight points in a nailbiter with Trevor’s clock teetering on 3 seconds – four seconds separated Chris from the championship. Alistair Kane gained third, Trevor fourth and myself fifth.
Helen Maurus recorded the highest non-bingo move with 101 for ZAIRE. Rod Talbot won the high game prize with 602, Maureen See the high word with 167 for SNIFFERS and Hanna Marks gained 129 points and the ratings prize.
The five-point challenge rule worked well although there were some unusual nonwords sighted (some stayed on the board) like BENTLY* (Cleary) TEACLOTH*(Kane) (what’s TEACLOTH with an R? (4), SAGUERO* anagram? (5) and (shame Holgate, shame) BIRO*.
As the interstarters headed off to catch planes some of the locals stayed on in the Sports Bar to take advantage of Paul’s traditional winner’s shout, enjoy a meal and watch Safin demolish Tewhit - what's LLEYTON plus a blank? (6)- on the big screen.
Like the prophet says ‘ What could be more enjoyable than a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and twenty games of Scrabble among friends?’
1 ZELATRIX
2 ARENATION
3 EUTROPIC
4 CHARLOTTE
5 AERUGOS
6 MOLTENLY
Results after game 20
SYDNEY INT MASTERS 05 -- OPEN
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Paul Cleary 15 1188
2 Chris May 14 1266
3 Alistair Kane 14 824
4 Trevor Halsall 14 607
5 John Holgate 13 1030
6 Joanne Craig 13 330
7 Hanne Marks 13 196
8 Karen Richards 13 178
9 Harry Malcolm 12 1021
10 Carmel Dodd 12 942
11 Alastair Richards 12 323
12 Julian McKail 12 277
13 Sue Gergelifi 12 255
14 Betty Foreman 12 -57
15 Bob Jackman 11.5 593
16 Edward Okulicz 11 854
17 Rod Talbot 11 437
18 Jean McGiffen 11 189
19 Helen Maurus 11 176
20 Maureen See 11 -87
21 Jan Serisier 11 -169
22 Jean Noonan 11 -331
22 Justin Moyle 11 -331
24 Esther Perrins 10.5 264
25 Susan Macgillivray 10.5 -195
26 Paul Richards 10 313
27 Anne Drew 10 311
28 Olga Visser 10 119
29 Sue Kyatt@7 10 117
30 Peter Shaw 10 -31
31 Richard Jeremy 10 -69
32 Ivor Zetler 10 -270
33 Raya Wilkinson 10 -302
34 Nonie English 10 -1025
35 Graeme Lock Lee 9.5 108
36 Rex Shakespeare 9.5 -662
37 Victor Tung 9 57
38 Louise Kobler 9 20
39 Mark Smith 9 -94
40 Therese Newman 9 -149
41 Alison Pollard 9 -163
42 Richard Birch 9 -284
43 Chile Malcolm 9 -337
44 Norma Tracey 8.5 -109
45 Martin Waterworth 8.5 -149
46 John Barker 8 -152
47 Audrey Newman 8 -312
48 Sam Greenberg 8 -483
49 Margaret Andrews 8 -582
50 Pat Schuberg 8 -788
51 Judy Hay 8 -828
52 Gary Pollard 7.5 -275
53 Cheryl Michler 7 -494
54 Bev Purkis 7 -571
55 Christine Foot 7 -799
56 Jean Balmer 7 -841
57 Fay Van Oyen 6 -656
58 A Bye 0 -400
HIGH GAME: Rod Talbot 602
HIGH WORD: Maureen See 167
"SNIFFERS"
Stats for Tournament : SYDNEY INT MASTERS 05
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------
-----+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating
Points |
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old
Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------
-----+
+Section: *OPEN + + +
+
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+----------
-----+
| NSW Paul Cleary | 6 4 | 3 1 | 13.7 15.0 | 1812 +21
1833 |
| VIC Alistair Kane | 23 11 | 10 6 | 10.0 14.0 | 1676 +80
1756 |
| NSW Chris May | 10 6 | 5 2 | 13.0 14.0 | 1768 +20
1788 |
| VIC Trevor Halsall | 16 8 | 8 5 | 11.1 14.0 | 1720 +58
1778 |
| NSW John Holgate | 21 15 | 9 6 | 10.7 13.0 | 1692 +47
1739 |
| NSW Joanne Craig | 11 10 | 6 5 | 12.6 13.0 | 1750 +9
1759 |
| QLD Karen Richards | 55 33 | 6 3 | 10.4 13.0 | 1576 +53
1629 |
| NSW Hanne Marks | 203 104 | 46 26 | 7.2 13.0 | 1340 +129
1469 |
| SA Carmel Dodd | 22 24 | 3 3 | 13.7 12.0 | 1691 -32
1659 |
| VIC Harry Malcolm | 41 42 | 19 18 | 12.0 12.0 | 1604 +1
1605 |
| VIC Julian McKail | 8 13 | 5 8 | 14.1 12.0 | 1789 -41
1748 |
| QLD Alastair Richards | 76 39 | 8 4 | 7.3 12.0 | 1522 +93
1615 |
| NSW Sue Gergelifi | 113 88 | 28 20 | 9.9 12.0 | 1452 +43
1495 |
| NSW Betty Foreman | 228 126 | 52 32 | 6.5 12.0 | 1317 +118
1435 |
| NSW Bob Jackman | 4 7 | 1 3 | 16.8 11.5 | 1868 -84
1784 |
| NSW Edward Okulicz | 5 9 | 2 4 | 15.0 11.0 | 1836 -63
1773 |
| NSW Rod Talbot | 19 22 | 8 9 | 11.9 11.0 | 1702 -17
1685 |
| NSW Jean McGiffen | 27 32 | 10 10 | 12.2 11.0 | 1652 -23
1629 |
| QLD Maureen See | 122 128 | 14 14 | 11.7 11.0 | 1442 -12
1430 |
| NSW Jan Serisier | 125 93 | 31 22 | 8.7 11.0 | 1438 +46
1484 |
| VIC Helen Maurus | 54 59 | 26 30 | 12.2 11.0 | 1582 -23
1559 |
| NSW Jean Noonan | 209 186 | 47 46 | 9.5 11.0 | 1334 +31
1365 |
| NSW Justin Moyle :act | 216 169 | 48 41 | 8.5 11.0 | 1328 +51
1379 |
| NSW Esther Perrins | 9 18 | 4 8 | 13.6 10.5 | 1773 -60
1713 |
| NSW Susan MacGillivr :ac | 65 71 | 14 15 | 11.4 10.5 | 1540 -16
1524 |
| QLD Anne Drew | 48 56 | 4 6 | 11.5 10.0 | 1589 -29
1560 |
| VIC Sue Kyatt | 31 55 | 12 27 | 13.6 10.0 | 1633 -72
1561 |
| QLD Olga Visser | 102 95 | 10 9 | 9.5 10.0 | 1470 +10
1480 |
| QLD Paul Richards | 51 77 | 5 8 | 13.5 10.0 | 1585 -70
1515 |
| NSW Richard Jeremy :act | 106 82 | 26 17 | 8.3 10.0 | 1466 +35
1501 |
| NSW Peter Shaw | 62 92 | 13 21 | 13.2 10.0 | 1547 -63
1484 |
| NSW Raya Wilkinson | 302 263 | 71 61 | 7.1 10.0 | 1217 +59
1276 |
| NSW Ivor Zetler | 83 101 | 19 25 | 11.7 10.0 | 1508 -33
1475 |
| NSW Nonie English | 301 232 | 70 53 | 5.5 10.0 | 1221 +90
1311 |
| NSW Graeme Lock Lee | 70 70 | 16 14 | 9.8 9.5 | 1532 -6
1526 |
| NSW Rex Shakespeare | 225 144 | 51 37 | 5.6 9.5 | 1320 +80
1400 |
| NSW Victor Tung | 85 117 | 20 30 | 11.8 9.0 | 1505 -57
1448 |
| NSW Alison Pollard | 136 171 | 34 42 | 10.7 9.0 | 1412 -35
1377 |
| NSW Louise Kobler | 152 173 | 37 43 | 10.0 9.0 | 1394 -19
1375 |
| NSW Mark Smith | 258 216 | 59 50 | 6.7 9.0 | 1284 +47
1331 |
| NSW Richard Birch | 295 272 | 68 63 | 7.1 9.0 | 1226 +39
1265 |
| NSW Therese Newman | 179 182 | 42 45 | 9.0 9.0 | 1368
1368 |
| VIC Chile Malcolm | 210 221 | 93 97 | 9.5 9.0 | 1334 -10
1324 |
| QLD Martin Waterworth | 244 247 | 27 27 | 8.6 8.5 | 1298 -3
1295 |
| NSW Norma Tracey | 109 139 | 27 36 | 11.1 8.5 | 1461 -52
1409 |
| NSW John Barker | 73 114 | 17 28 | 11.6 8.0 | 1524 -73
1451 |
| NSW Audrey Newman | 178 175 | 41 44 | 7.8 8.0 | 1368 +6
1374 |
| NSW Pat Schuberg | 252 260 | 57 60 | 8.5 8.0 | 1287 -10
1277 |
| NSW Margaret Andrews | 300 276 | 69 65 | 6.1 8.0 | 1221 +38
1259 |
| NSW Sam Greenberg | 192 210 | 44 49 | 8.8 8.0 | 1352 -16
1336 |
| NSW Judy Hay | 341 313 | 83 73 | 6.2 8.0 | 1158 +37
1195 |
| NSW Gary Pollard | 146 231 | 36 52 | 11.9 7.5 | 1397 -86
1311 |
| NSW Jean Balmer | 274 283 | 63 66 | 7.6 7.0 | 1261 -12
1249 |
| NSW Cheryl Michler | 221 251 | 50 58 | 8.6 7.0 | 1323 -32
1291 |
| NSW Bev Purkis | 356 342 | 87 84 | 6.2 7.0 | 1141 +16
1157 |
| NSW Christine Foot :act | 260 308 | 60 71 | 10.6 7.0 | 1278 -72
1206 |
| NSW Fay Van Oyen | 283 314 | 65 74 | 8.6 6.0 | 1245 -51
1194 |