WSC 2011 in POLAND - one step closer!

The tension is really mounting now as Philip Nelkon has confirmed that Poland is "current favorite" for organizing the WSC 2011!

Here is what he has written on one of the discussion groups:

"I can confirm that Poland is current favourite as a site for the 2011 WSC. I am unable to confirm any further details at this stage, and it is not 100% certain, as budgets and venue availability still need to be agreed. I'll let you know as soon as I can, but it will be 2 weeks minimum."

Now that is one big WOW!

http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.games.scrabble.sowpods/day=20110131

WSC 2011 in Poland?

I never thought I could live to report such exciting news on my blog.
And at the same time it is the most speculative piece of information on this blog ever.
But who cares - it makes my heart beat faster so let me write about it anyway :)

According to http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/word-that-spelt-disaster-for-worlds-top-scrabble-player-tremelo-15062626.html :

"The pair are set to face each other at the World Scrabble Championships later this year, which are expected to take place in Poland"

If it turns out to be true I would be the most excited person in the world.

WSC 2011 continued

So there is still no confirmation from Mattel where the 2011 WSC will be held.

One thing is for sure - it is going to take place in Europe which is good news as there won't be much cost involved in traveling to the event. Not for the Europeans at least... ;-)

According to Philip Nelkon's statement the venue should be announced by the end of January. Let's hope so.

http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.games.scrabble.sowpods/4109

WSC 2011 in London?

Whatever...

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=407263021528

Hard Scrabble

10 months until next WSC and there's still not any visible action on the side of Polish Scrabble Federation regarding qualification criteria for the World Championship. Is it normal?

Probably yes if you take into account that there are only three players truely interested in playing in it.

Scrabble played in English is on the rise in Poland - at least in our small group of three. We are getting better each year so maybe we should start to be treated better? Is it fair for us to request to have more than 12 games to determine who will represent Poland at the the next WSC? Can we count that unlike last time we will get a tournament director?

Well maybe WSC is not that important after all...

ABSP ratings - 11th Jauary 2011

Rafal has finally overtaken Wojtek in the ABSP rating.

He is now 156th with a 156 rating.

Wojtek is 176th with 153.

UK Open 2011 - final day

One year after his win in Divsion C of the UK Open Rafal takes 2nd spot in Division B. 

This is a great result - congratulations, pal!

Rafal has shown an amazing consistency - on every single day he lost exactly 3 games. This lead to his final record of 33-15 and +1471 and his walking away with 350 Ł.

In Division A Nigel Richards did it again - his final record: 36-12 and +3813. The Americans finished in 2nd and 4th place. 3rd place went to another Mr. Richards, Alastair from Australia. 5th spot was taken by a Nigerian Wale Fashina.

In the team classification Poland took the 2nd spot after Malaysia and before USA. 4th spot went to Romania thanks to great performance of Adrian's father - Ovidiu Tamas taking 3rd place in Division D.

So all in all a very interesting tournament with one usual winner and (at least) 1 happy Pole.

See you next year!

UK Open 2011 - day 4

Another good day for Rafal - 6 games won and 3 lost. Rafal stays in 2nd place with 28-12 and +1531. The bad news is he is now already 5 points behind the leader Steve Balment who has far better spread which means that to win the tournament Rafal would have to win 6 games more than Steve. The problem is there are only 8 rounds left to be played which means if Steve wins at least 3 games tomorrow he's guaranteed to win the title.

As I have predicted Nigel is getting weaker each day. 5-4 on day 4 for him means that he's now tied on points (29-11) with the 2nd placed Nathan Benedict of USA. If Nathan pulls it off in Coventry it would be a great success which would surely echo in the TWL-world.

And finally Poland is set to claim the 2nd place in the team competition behind Malaysia. It is now almost 4 points clear of USA.
Go go Rafal and save the 2nd place!

UK Open 2011 - day 3

Another good day for Rafal - again 8 out of 11 games won.

He finishes the day in 2nd place with 22-9 and +1072 and is 4 points behind the leader Steve Balment but 3 points clear of Ian Coventry who's 3rd.

Nigel continues his bad streak - this time only 7 games won, 1st place with 24-7 and +2785 and 3 points clear of the rest of the pack.

And finally Poland climbs to 2nd spot in the team classification - only one point behind Malaysia!

Rafal claims to have had bad luck in the tournament so far. If that's really so we should see him win this tournament.

Go go Rafal luck!

UK Open 2011 - day 2

Rafal continued his good streak today by winning 8 out of 11 games to finish the day in 3rd place on 14-6 and +660. He lost his last game of the day by 4 points.

Nigel Richard played poorly today winning only 9 games and losing two. 

His 2nd defeat of the tournament is almost mythical - he lost in the 19th round to Wale Fashina of Nigeria by 290:373 (!).

Poland is again in 3rd place - this time behind Malaysia and Pakistan.

I've got a feeling that day 3 is going to be crucial for the outcome of the tournament.

Go go Rafal words :)

UK Open 2011

It's here again, and again I'm not there... the UK Open in Coventry.

Rafal is there, and after day 1 he's is in 6th place of Division B with 6-3 and just 1 game off the pace.

In Division A it's Nigel Richards who's leading the pack with 9-0 and +1427 (!).

In the team standings Poland is in 3rd place - behind Malaysia and USA.

And now two days with 11 games each.
Go, Rafal and wave the Polish flag :)

Mannheim Story

68 days before the start of the 1st German Open in Mannheim I finally booked a hotel. 

It's 2,5 km away from the venue but is way cheaper - I paid 122 EUR for three nights incl. breakfast.
Now I can concentrate on preparations for the tournament. 
I need to take decent care of my WESPA-rating :)
Unfortunately after this tournament I'm still going to be a few games short of being ranked in the main list with 46 games played.

By the way: www.esky.pl is the place where I found this great deal :)