Rafal the Invincible

Source: CentreStar Facebook page

Rafal Dominiczak from Poland has won Division B of the English Open 2011 in Coventry. He took the win in the last round by beating David Shenkin by 451-356.

Rafal finished the tournament on 14.5-6.5 and +1367 and took home 700 GBP.

Well done, pal :)

And in Division A Theresa Brousson of Malta claimed the English Open title by beating Nigel Richards in the last round by 506-472 and finishing one point ahead of the 2007 World Scrabble Champion.
Great job, Theresa!

In less than 3 months I'll be in Coventry, too - playing in the Cock of the North tournament finishing just 3 days before the WSC 2011 in Warsaw.

I hope that some world class players will be there, too!

Clash of the titans vol 6 (Lodz, July 16th)

Just like 1,5 months ago we played in the Staromiejski Park in Lodz. The weather was a mix of sunshine and clouds - 20C - probably the best weather we we've been yet to encounter during our Clashes.

Despite getting 59% of the blanks and 48% of the S's this one goes into history as my second worst performance after WSC 2009. It must have been due to my tiredness with work and is a clear sign for me to do something about it.

Just like in Warsaw two weeks ago we were almost unseparatable as regards the wins and losses: 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 6-6, 6-7, 6-8, 7-8 and 7-9.

The STATS:

Games won: 7

Games lost: 9

Spread: -220

Average for: 390.3

Average against: 404.0

Blanks: 19/32 = 59%

S's: 31/64 = 48%

Games won:

2 blanks: 5/6 (83%)

1 blank: 2/7 (29%)

0 blanks: 0/3 (0%)

Bingos for: 26 (1.63 per game)

Bingos against: 25 (1.56 per game)

7 letter bingos: 12 (46%)

8 letter bingos: 14 (54%)

Bingos with blanks: 14 (54%)

Bingos without blanks: 12 (46%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 3

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 0

High game: 497

Low game: 285

Highest combined score: 982

Game 1 323-395

Game 2 492-385

Game 3 382-411 

Game 4 428-394

Game 5 379-456 

Game 6 445-340 

Game 7 285-358 

Game 8 410-382 

Game 9 400-375 

 

Game 10 343-433

Game 11 285-477 

Game 12 497-325 

  


















Game 13 427-555 

Game 14 376-384

Game 15 430-401 

Game 16 342-393 

 

Clash no 6

Date: 16 July 2011

Time: 10:00AM-19:00PM

Location: Lodz

99 days until World Scrabble Championship 2011 in Warsaw, Poland

...and my name got published on the WSC 2011 entrants list.
I must have messed up the registration form because I supposedly live in Swarzedz, Wielkopolskie, United States. Great! :)

http://www.wscgames.com/2011/players.html

Clash of the titans vol 5 (Warsaw, July 2nd)

I met with Wojtek for the 5th time. This time in Warsaw in a beautiful setting of Herbaciarnia GANDERS tea-house in 12 Francuska st. We played in the backyard and were accompanied by very brave sparrows who had the guts to jump on the table and kibitz our games :)
The weather was awful - only 12 C and raining but we were lucky to sit under a plastic roof - 8,5 hours non-stop. And we played and played -  13 games in a row :)
The games were very close, none of us managed to edge the opponent by more than one game: it was 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 6-6 and finally I won the decisive 13th game !
So the Clash is now at 3-2 in my favour. Next meeting in two weeks in Lodz.
And in three weeks it's Peterborough All-Nighter for me.

The STATS:

Games won: 7

Games lost: 6

Spread: +145

Average for: 407.3

Average against: 396.2

Blanks: 12/26 = 46%

S's: 25/52 = 48%

Games won:

2 blanks: 1/2 (50%)

1 blank: 4/8 (50%)

0 blanks: 2/3 (66%)

Bingos for: 29 (2.23 per game)

Bingos against: 19 (1.46 per game)

7 letter bingos: 18 (62%)

8 letter bingos: 11 (38%)

Bingos with blanks: 9 (31%)

Bingos without blanks: 20 (69%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 3

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 1

High game: 481

Low game: 354

Highest combined score: 881

Game 1

L: 386-451

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8884

Game 2

W: 397-346

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8885

Game 3
L: 421-439
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8886

Game 4
W: 481-344
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8931

Game 5

L: 362-432

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8933

Game 6

W: 406-356

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8934

  
















Game 7

W: 448-414
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8935

Game 8

L: 384-470
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8936

Game 9

W: 454-354

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8937

Game 10

L: 354-442
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8938

Game 11

L: 358-378

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8939

Game 12 
W: 384-303
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8967

Game 13

W: 460-421
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8968

Mohammad Sulaiman in Poland

Mohammad Sulaiman from Pakistan has qualified to represent United Arab Emirates at the 2011 World Scrabble Championship in Warsaw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onXKr6UZOQk

Albany CSW

A Polish player who participated in the 2009 Polish Championship will be playing in the CSW division of the tournament in Albany, NY.
He'll be playing with the likes of two World Champions - Joel Wapnick and David Boys, Sam Kantimathi and John O'Laughlin.

You can follow his struggles at www.twitter.com/cwks99 starting from 4PM CET.

Good luck, Michal!