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 :)

2010 - a look back

It's been a good steady year. 

Just as I have wished one year ago. 

Thanks God for that :)

In 2010 I haven't played any live Scrabble tournaments in English but it's bound to change in 2011. 
In March I'm playing in Mannheim and then in June I'll be trying to defend my Polish Champion title in Warsaw or Poznan. 
And then if I win I may go to the Worlds again - assuming it's not in Australia.
Happy New Year to all Readers! 

http://literaxx.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009-look-back.html

Xmas again

(c) by http://www.cafepress.co.uk/+scrabble_serenity_prayer_christmas_stocking,485979383

WESPA.ORG

No idea how long it's been around in its refreshed form but I love it anyway!

The www.wespa.org site provides information on latest Scrabble events as well as upcoming tournaments. 

And it now has the best thing of all - the ratings tool (developed by an Australian Edward Okulicz).

Thanks to its archive function it enabled me to learn that Wojtek has played the current World Champion in Melbourn back in 1999. I now also know the current head to head balance between Nigel and Pakorn. 

Just check it out and you won't regret it:

http://www.wespa.org/ratings/index.shtml

Everybody knows

The Scrabble world has welcomed the recent news from Johor Bahru.

Nigel Richards has won the inaugural Tournament of Champions winning 19 out of 27 games with an impressive spread of  +1415 leaving behind David Boys (17 and +518) and Panupol Sujjayakorn (16 and +692).
I guess there's no more guessing about who stands the best chances of becoming the first ever Scrabbler to win the World Championship twice.