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 :)

WE RULE ! (UK Open - day 5)

`
Rafal Dominiczak has won Division C at the UK Open in Coventry. After a grueling fight he ensured the title in his last - 38th game of the tournament. He won the tournament on spread of +2530.

Rafal wins 1500 Ł - the highest prizemoney won by a Polish Scrabble player ever!

CONGRATULATIONS!

In division B Mihai Pantis of Romania claims the title and 1500 Ł - six points clear of the rest of the field with a record of 31-7 +2203. According to Adrian Tamas this is the first prizemoney ever won by a Romanian player in a Scrabble tournament.
WELL DONE, MIHAI !

In division A Nigel Richards walks away with the 1st prize of 2100 Ł - two points ahead of Paul Allan (2nd) and Craig Beevers (3rd).

Helen finished 5th and gets 105 Ł.
After a good start to the tournament Adrian hit the lows and finished 18th.

A fascinating tournament and a lucky finish for two of my hot favorites.
It's fantastic that players from countries which could be called "underdogs of English-language Scrabble" managed to beat the native players on their home ground. I think this is an example that if we could start the movement of English Scrabble on a wider scale in Poland / Romania the success would be almost certain.

UK Open - day 4

Rafal  1st    (C)     26,5-9,5 +2520
Mihai  1st    (B)     30-6 +2166
Helen  5th   (A)     22-14 +725
Adrian 17th  (A)    17-19 +393

After a breathtaking performance Rafal went into top spot after round 31 and is still leading after round 36 with only two games left to be played. He is tied on points with Andy Gray but has by far the better spread (+2520 vs +853).
Today Rafal won 9 games and tied 1. Amazing!!!
To clinch the title Rafal needs to win 2 games tomorrow. If Andy Gray loses one game then Rafal can also afford one defeat.
In his final two games Rafal will be playing the current no 15 Ted Lewis. Andy Gray will be playing a theoretically tougher opponent Sam Beckwith who's in 9th place.
I can't wait 'till tomorrow. Rafal could win 1500 Ł. This would be the highest prizemoney any Polish player has won playing Scrabble...


Mihai Pantis has already secured 1st place in Division B - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
I hope Rafal can win division C - it would mean a double victory for Romanian-Polish Scrabble - and that on the English ground!

UK Open - day 3

Rafal  4th (C) 17-9 +1503
Mihai 1st (B) 20-6 +1311
Helen 6th (A) 16-10 +857
Adrian 13th (A) 13-13 +863

As I have predicted Nigel Richards is back to 1st place. He did it in impressive style winning all 8 games today, extending his spread by almost 1100 points to +2718, and going into the lead by two points over Paul Allan and Craig Beevers.

Trivia:
In round 19 Mihai demolished his opponent by winning 641:234 with a spread of +407 !

Harshan Lamabadusuriya's new photo:
http://www.centrestar.co.uk/10ukopen/html/pix/h/harshan_lamabadusuriya.jpg :)

UK Open - day 2

After 18 rounds:
Rafal: 6th in Div. C with 11-7 +912
Mihai: 1st in Div. B with 14-4 +639
Helen: 7th in Div. A with 11-7 +775
Adrian: 13th in Div. A with 9-9 +622

In Division A:
1st Craig Beevers 15-3 +1341
2nd Paul Allan      15-3 +1291
3rd Nigel Richards 13-5 +1627

It's gonna be an exciting tournament!

Rafal the Fighter

My friend Rafal Dominczak (Poland) is having a go in the Division C of the UK Open in Coventry at the moment. He's doing very well. Currently he;s in 4th place with a record of 4-4 and +243.
Go go go, Rafal !!!

I also keep my fingers crossed for Mihai Pantis (Romania) in Division B and Helen Gipson and Adrian Tamas in Division A.

You can follow this year's action at:
http://www.centrestar.co.uk/10ukopen/html/index.html

And guess, who's in 1st place after day 1...
Correct! It's Nigel Richards with 7-1 and +984...