The Championship Statistics

As a fan of all kinds of statistic I'm more than proud to provide you with all sort of (ir)relevant data about my performance :)

During the whole Championship I have:

1) won 20 games and lost 4
2) scored 10879 points
3) bingoed 55 times
4) drawn 71% of all blanks
5) drawn 58% of all S's
6) bingoed in all of the games at least once
7) put down 4 bingos in 3 games
8) played 15 eight-letter words and 40 seven-letter words
9) on average won each game by 94 points
10) on average scored 453 points in each game

and...

11) My highest score was 580.

Ok, ok, enough of that BOSTANGI ;)

we are the champions, my friends :)

Stary Marych has been waiting two years for this moment.

I'm sure it was worth it.

--------------------------------

Marych and me in 2007:

http://coolinek.blox.pl/html/1310721,262146,14,15.html?6,2007

day 4 - live

from left: Wojtek (silver), Bartek (gold), Rafal (bronze)

(read from the end to the beginning...)

`

about 1:00 PM
The new Polish English Scrabble Champion is ... me :)
`

I got a gold medal, a handshake from the Scrabble Federation guy and that was it.
Wojtek finished second, Rafal was third.
`
If I fly to Malaysia for the WSC 2009 is in the hands of the Scrabble Federation guys...

`

about 12:45 PM
Oh, no! I lost second game in the row. Fortunately this game was the last in the tournament, because who knows what might have come later...
Let's be frank. I wasn't into this game at all. I played *ZEATINE challenged off by Rafal. Moves 8 and 9 from Rafal decided the outcome of this match: (D)OSSIERS (80) and LAMINAL (82).
My SAVaNTE (78) could do no harm. In the end I even played a phoney three *BOL, which Rafal challenged after a moment of hesitation. The score: 404-459 for Rafal.
`

12:03 PM
Game 23 against Wojtek. I lost 435:470. It was an awesome game on Wojtek's part. I went into a quick lead by bingoing twice on the first two moves - ALI(E)NORs (82) and EBONIES (75) hooking onto TOPPED with an S. My third move was crucial to the outcome of the game. Facing ACCENRT on the rack and many floaters available I decided for a try with ACC(E)NTER which Wojtek immediately challenged off. As I found out later I could have played R(E)ACCENT instead or even better eg. ACCENT(O)R blocking an O on the centre square. But it was not to be. BANG came Wojtek's whooping bingo from that O right to the red square (O)ZONISES for 104! On move six came TOLUOLE (64) from me and I went into the lead with 48 points. And then came the word of the tournament. Wojtek played wARDING (93) playing parallel to my bingo under 6 of its letters forming 7 words at once. It looked like this:
TOLUOLE
_wARDING

At this moment I thought "Oh well, I don't deserve to win anymore" I smashed him yesterday, today he deserves the win.

Than I played LI for 10 opening a new bingo lane, then dumped YU for 23. On came AEEINRT to my rack. I considered playing it so as to minimize the risk of Wojtek's scoring well from the TWS. I decided for RETINAE (61) leaving an I three squares away from square H1. BANG came HAJI for 42. Then Wojtek played SKID for 38 and it was game over for me.
For my defence I can only say I only had a blank and one S in this game and yet I played 4 bingos. Wojtek played only two but their quality assured him the win. Well played, Wojtek!
This game meant for Wojtek he secured his second place in the tournament before Rafal. Not bad having started with 1.5 points deficit.

`

11:15 AM
Game 22 against Mariusz. Again whole lotta luck. 3 S's and a blank. Two bingos in that game for me - BESTOWS (73) and TREADiN(G) for 80. A win for me: 446-367.

`

10:36 AM
Game no 21 against Rafal A difficult game with many havy racks for me but still 2 blanks and 2 S's helped me win by 379:323. We both bingoed once. Rafal played OVARIES, I replied with TESTING (77). FOX (46) and CHeZ (51) made me win the tournament!!!

9:45 AM
Just awaiting the start of the final day of the Championship.
Just 4 games left for me.
Rafał
Mariusz
Wojtek
Rafał

Let the games begin....

almost there...

Today I won 7 out of 8 games :)

The only game I lost was again to Rafal. It was a tentative game from me and Rafal had luck playing ZEROs for 72 just after I was facing the rack of EIIIRTT, and had to dump two I's somewhere else on the board leaving the space open for him.

Today's highlight was game no 20 against Wojtek. I played 3 back to back bingos: MANTEEL (79), AGRIzED (78) and MURI(A)TED (74). Later I came up with LONGERS (80). XU (50) and JA(S)S (57) completed the job. I won 580-280.

I finish the day on a 7-1 record and a spread of +870.
Average score per game: 442.
Average spread: +109.
Total number of bingos: 17 (2.1 per game)

Luck was on my side again.
12 out of 16 blanks (75 %) and 18 out of 32 S's (56 %).

So I'm virtually there. I'm 4 points in the lead with four games to go. My current spread is +870, which means I'd have to lose each game by more than 200 points to lose the title.

And here are the games of the first day of the second phase:

Game 13 (no photo)
against Mariusz. No great game really, knowing that Mariusz can play well with good letters I played safe and concentrated on keeping the board tight. No highlights in this game - one bingo MORTARs (74) and a high scoring ZONDAS (45). Mariusz went over his time by 5 minutes and lost 50 points in the end.
W: 410-226

Game 14 (no photo)
A decent game. Wojtek started pretty well with (D)ELICATE (63) and (U)NPAiRED (66) on moves 1 and 3. I played QuETH(E) for 72 on move 2, ANTLIAE (67) on move 4 and then facing ABILNRT spotted a U on the board to play T(U)RBINAL (82) challenged by Wojtek. In the end I concentrated on closing the board.
W: 471-416


Game 15
3 bingos in that game for me: ASTROID (75) on move 1, ANNuLAR (72) was a nice move for me having played HINT before and leaving the A on the rack and then hooking the bingo to it by playing AHINT / ANNuLAR. Later I played AEROGEl (70) using the second blank I got.
W: 473-324

Game 16
Another poor game. I played POOrESt (70) on move 8 and that was enough to win.
W: 407-337

Game 17 (no photo)
A strange game. I got 3 S's and 2 blank and yet could have easily lost it. On move 3 Wojtek bingoed with ELA(T)IONS (70) which I countered with SY(N)EDRIA (63). Then Wojtek's FETCHES for 48 and my Z(A)Ny for 66. A few move laters I played MInTIER (66) and tried to close the board. Although I let Wojtek extend SYNEDRIA into *SYNEDRIAE it wasn't enough for him to beat me.
W: 391-366

Game 18
A lucky game for Rafal. Having played BORE for 13 he got a Z and a blank and played ZeROS with the Z on the DLS and the S on the DWS for 72, later he bingoed with EERIEST (68) which gave him the win.
L: 302-379

Game 19
Again a lucky game for me. I started with OUtcALL (58). Then after Mariusz's nice play of S(t)EAMIER (68) I answered with SID(E)NOTE (72). Two moves later I bingoed again with ASUNDER (75), played Q(U)OPS for 52 and AX for 50. This meant my first 500+ game on this day was perfect.
W: 507-343

Game 20
It was my highlight game of the second phase. I was playing against Wojtek. I put 3 back to back bingos: MANTEEL (79), AGRIzED (78) and MURI(A)TED (74) to go into 255:56 lead after 4 moves. Later in the game I came up with LONGERS (80). XU (50) and JA(S)S (57) completed the job. This game is my highest scoring game so far.
W: 580-280

hello, Warsaw...

...hello IBIS hotel. I arrived tired and hungry in the hotel only to be disappointed to find out that there is no mini-bar in the room :( The bar downstairs is being occupied by a group of 40 noisy Belgians, so I'll have to let go. But tomorrow.... breakfast for 29 PLN. I'm gonna eat 'em all :)
PS.
I live on the 7th floor in the room 715 (7+1+5=13).
I predict a mix of luck and misfortune tomorrow ;)
Good night!

Warsaw, here I come again.

My final preparations for the final stage of the Championship had been ruined. Monday and Tuesday I was having job interviews and from Wednesday I started working with a new company. I insisted on starting after the Championship, they insisted I started immediately, I gave up.

Tomorrow after work I'm taking a train to Warsaw.
I'll be staying two nights at the Ibis Hotel - price: 282 PLN (a Summer promotion)
300 PLN is the money the Polish Scrabble Federation wants to sponsor the Polish player at the WSC with....

Wish me luck, wish me confidence, wish me everything. Thanks!

The Championship - explanation (phase 1)

So why did it go that well?

I think there were two major factors.

MINDSET (mistend)
It changed completely from the last time I played in the Chamiponship in 2007. I'm not afraid of my opponents anymore. I know I can beat them because my word knowledge is better than theirs. I also improved my tactics. That is mainly due to playing a lot on the ISC with Wojtek. In my opinion he's the greatest Scrabble strategist amongst us. What changed in my behaviour is also the fact that I don't rush my games anymore. I always try to find the best solution and don't care much about the clock because I'm confident about my anagramming and counting skills.

LUCK (no anagrams)
You can't win a tournament without luck. In the first phase of the tournament luck was definitely on my side. I got 67 % of the blanks and 50% of the S'es.

It certainly helped me:

• in bingoing 30 times (one phoney included).
• in my overall record of 473 points per game
• in my average spread of +111 points per game

The Championship - summary (phase 1)

The first phase of the qualification tournament is over.
I finished in 1st place with 11-1 record and a spread of +1329.

My greatest rival - Rafał finished in 2nd place 9-3 and +409.
The current defending Polish champion Wojtek finished 3rd with 6-6 and +309.
The last person to qualify as 4th to the second phase is Mariusz with 5-7 and -100.

The second phase is taking place July, 11-12th in Warsaw.

According to the rules we made out before the tournament each of us will start with half of the points from the 1st phase and a spread of +0.

This means that before the 1st round of the 2nd phase the score table will look as follows:
Bartosz 5.5
Rafal 4.5
Wojtek 3
Mariusz 2.5