The Championship - day 2

Game 8
second time against Michal. My opponent started vigorously with INTREAT for 64. One move later I replied with DIA(R)IsT for 68 followed by FATTING for 75 on move 8. On move 12 Michal bingoed with a nice 9-letter word INCR(EA)SED for 78 which I countered immediately with LANTERN for 77. XENIA for 36 made my 3rd 500+ game perfect.
W: 519-372

Game 9
third time against Mariusz. DINGOES for 78 and DEVoTI(N)G for 63 meant that after move 3 I was ahead by 130 points. The strength of Mariusz's BRAINED for 82 was reducted by my ZOA for 53 and A(B)LY for 39. In the end I played SOUtANE for 66. Mariusz played out with (R)EALISER for 77 and got extra 18 points from my rack, but still lost the game by over 100 points. W: 505-398

Game 10
second time against Rafal. My opponent started confidently with SQUIB for 38 and was never really in danger of losing this game. Well actually he was - but only once. It was after he played O(Z)EKI for 40 opening a tripple-tripple line with me holding DEIOST?. I played a modest DIOr(I)TES for 77. As it turned out after the game I had a chance to play ODd(I)TIES for 131. Odd enough :) On move 10 I bingoed with OTARINE for 61 leaving a double-double line wide open. Rafal used it 1 move later by playing HERNIAS for 96. One move earlier he played SOARING for 69. This game witnessed two succesful challenges. Rafal challenged off my *P(E)NITARY and I challeneged off his *INGAROS.
L: 386-476

Game 11
second time against Wojtek. It was a very nice and close game. I bingoed on move 4 with ITERATE for 66 countered immediately with *WEZ(I)R for 63. I hadn't realized then it was a phoney. Actually only WAZIR and VEZIR are correct. Right after that I played FIREL(E)SS for 74. Wojtek challanged it and I was relieved to see Zyzzyva show a green screen :) On next move Wojtek played IMBIbED which I challenged but it stayed on the board. 4 moves later Wojtek bingoed again with OREGAnO for 61. But it was my last bingo PEDALER for 89 which did the trick.
W: 457-406

Game 12
third time against Rafal. Strange game - looking at the score sheet I can't really understand how I won it. My only bingo was ENTHRAL for 98. Rafal bingoed twice with ANOMIES for 70 and CREOLES for 77. I had some nice short words which probably decided the outcome of the game. EN(V)Y for 42, JaI for 51, WHIPT for 36, COAXiAL for 38. A comfortable win for me.
W: 489-380

The Championship - day 1

It started pretty well and then even got better.

Game 1
against Mikolaj Szymanski. It started nicely with TORSION for 65 followed by a high scoring ROUX (42), JUPE (52) and WISP(51). After an exchange and a dump of one letter, I bingoed again with DEISEAL (73) and two moves later bingoed for the thord time by hooking to a G on the board making AnEARIN(G) for 77.
W: 525-307

Game 2
against Mariusz Skrobosz. Two bingoes for me: DESTINE(S) for 80 and REVENUe(D) for 86 assured a comfortable lead for me. Mariusz then answered back with a nice 9-letter (RE)cEPTION down from A1. FUZIL for 44 ensured my second win of the day.
W: 476-358

Game 3
against Rafal Dominiczak. A close game which looked gloomy for me suddenly brightened when Rafal set me up with a nice WAE in line 1. I hooked it with a T and played TRaiNED for 81. I couldn't believe Rafal's generosity. He couldn't either.
W: 428-344

Game 4
against Wojtek Usakiewicz. It started very well with Wojtek unsuccessfuly challenging DEAT(H)IER for 66. He bingoed back with INTONER but that was it. As he later told me he missed OBENTOS and SEITIES. I played a phony *COITERS and after 1 minute of hesitation Wojtek decided to let it stay on the board. I saw EROTICS and TERCIOS but went for the phoney to play it safer. A strong CLEW for 54 saw me finish this game in style.
W: 444-348

Game 5
against Michal Josko. I started with DRAISIN(e) hooking it awkwardly to the second E of FEE making it possible for Michal to play simple ZOO for whooping 59 points. Later on I also presented him with easy VEX for 43. Those are mistakes I simply cannot afford.
(L)AWINES for 74 on move 8 and ORGEAtS for another 74 saw me win this game comfortably by almost 200 points.
W: 492-308

Game 6
second time against Mariusz. After 7 minutes he came up with YARdAGE which I challenged and started with a score of -5. On move 6 I went into the lead with KINDEST for 84, some moves later I bingoed with gLORIAS for 66 and that was it.
W: 412-329

Game 7
second time against Mikolaj. An amazing game. A guy from a local Waraw newspaper had just came by and asked if he could make some photos for the article about the tournament. We told him to wait until there was something on the board and then it all started:
WOOINGS for 80, WAQFS for 40, MOSHERS for 80 and my score was 200 points after three moves. On move 4 I dumped four consonants around an O with PR(O)LL and on move 5 I got a nice NETHEAD for 77. Move 6 is my biggest pride so far: BIENNAL(E) for 64. I finished the game on 541 points - my highest score ever played live.
W: 541-319

I finish the day on a 7-0 record and a spread of +1005.
Average score per game: 474.
Average spread: +144.
Total number of bingos: 18 (2.6 per game)

Luck played a significant part in my winning all games.
I got 9/14 blanks and 18/28 S's.

This adds up to a total 64 % success percantage.

This means tomorrow everything can only go wrong, but I don't mind :)

212 & 1099 - game lost!

This thrilling game came 8 days before the Championship

I played 2 bingos:

LAt(E)RALs for 74

REQU(I)RED - a tripple-tripple for 212 (!!!)

... and I lost.

The game finished 492:607

This is only my second game with a combined score of over 1000 points.

This time it's 1099

Scrabble in Poland anyone?

The qualifying tournament for the World Scrabble Championship in Johor Bahru, Malaysia will take place June 27-28th in Warsaw.

Everyone is invited.

There is only one catch. If you don't have Polish citizenship you won't qualify for the second stage of the tournament taking place July 11-12th in Warsaw.

More information about the tournament can be found here:
http://www.pfs.org.pl/en_news.php

So far only 6 players have signed up.
You can still become the lucky 7th... :)

21 days to go and the board is on fire

5 bingos in that game

all of them 8-letter words

mine - ETOURDIE and MUDHOLES

Rafal's- ARBORIST, NIOBATES and EGOITIES

25 days to go

Reviewing reviewing reviewing ...