Causeway Challenge - farewell to Scrabble (day 5)

I went into day 5 with the same positive mindset which brought me so much success yesterday. And the magics still worked plus it was aided by good fortune seeing me getting almost 60% of the blanks and 70% of the Ss (which is by the way almost the reversed stats of the dreadful day 3, where I got 40% of the blanks and 30% of the Ss).
So the fortune has been fair to me after all.
In the end I got 50% of blanks in the whole tournament and 44% of the Ss.
I won 4 games today and lost 2. The two games I lost were by 1 and by 30 points...

My highlights today:

PR(OF)ITErS
where I thought I had won the game on the last move but was quickly brought down to earth by my oponent who advised me that there was still one letter left in the bag ;)

(JAR)OVIZED  
not a bingo but I was still very happy to play that off the rack DEIOSVZ leaving an S and scoring 40+ points.


tEASPOO(N
simply a nice word to play :)

After the tournament there was the presentation of the prizes.
Premier division has been won by Pakorn Nemitrmansuk to the great joy of all players who probably wished him this win to make up for his missed WSC final in Warsaw.

After the presentation I got a nice white Causeway 2011 T-shirt and then hurried to the taxi. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do any more shopping in Johor Bahru as I had been hoping to and was left with 66 Malaysian ringgit which I exchanged for 26 Singapore dollars at the airport. Just a little less then 4 hours until a take from Singapore. I'll be flying an LH779 Lufthansa Airbus A380 to Frankfurt, then by plane to Poznan and from there directly to Lodz by bus.


This journey concludes a magnificent Scrabble year for me, in which I have played a total of 5 tournaments (1st German Open, Peterborough All'Nighter, Cock of the Northt in Coventry, WSC 2011 in Poland and Causeway Scrabble Challenge in Malaysia).
It has been a Scrabble year for me which which was sparked by the decision to hold this year's WSC in Poland.
I'm very happy to end the year on a high note by celebrating my 17th place in Masters division of the last ever Causeway tournament.

This concludes my Scrabble journey.

It's been 4 unforgettable years and I'm happy to say that the last tournament made me a complete player.

Without further word knowledge, I will not go any further...
And if I have no time to acquire this knowledge, I will not go any further...
I don't have time to acquire word knowledge...
...

The STATS for CC day 5:

Games won: 4

Games lost: 2

Spread: +308

Average for: 417.3

Average against: 366.0

Blanks: 7/12 = 58%

S's: 16/24 = 67%

Games won:

2 blanks: 2/2 (100%)

1 blank: 1/3 (33%)

0 blanks: 1/1 (100%)

Bingos for: 12 (2.0 per game)

Bingos against: 9 (1.5 per game)

7 letter bingos: 6 (50%)

8 letter bingos: 6 (50%)

Bingos with blanks: 6 (50%)

Bingos without blanks: 6 (50%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 4

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 1

High game: 487

Low game: 378

Highest combined score: 842

Causeway Challenge - the enlightenment (day 4)

What a day it has been. After an unlucky streak yesterday today everything has changed. And I have changed some things, too.
For a starter I decided to give my lucky charm (a nameless beagle mascott) a chance to show his magical qualities and pulled him out of my rucksack for the first time during the tournament. It seemed to work as I won the first two games comfortably. 

Another change: I used the free Thai scoresheets to record my scores as I had just run out of space in my Tilefish score book. And I used a pencil which made recording racks and scores so much easier than with my pen. Another change: in the first two games I gave up on tile-tracking just for the fun of it. And it also worked - I was more relaxed and I concentrated on my racks more. It also made some very quick and painless games possible.

Another change: I decided not to go to lunch today, as I remebered that yesterday I hadn't won any game after this meal. Instead I went to the shopping centre and bought some colourful scarves for my girl friends back in Poland.

Today something amazing has happened. After countless Scrabble games I had played before I finally managed to apply the rule which I had known long before. It says that this game is all about making each move the best possible. Full stop.

Thinking about needing to win, worrying about losing games, about opponent's rating, about his/her great luck - it all got me nowhere before.

Today I went into each game with a fresh mind and a thought: "I can play just as good as this guy. So why should I lose this game? If he's/she's luckier, so what, that's his/her good right, isn't it? I have also been lucky before. Would I rather never get lucky so that nobody gets lucky, too? Why care if he/she knows more words than I do. This just means he/she had spent more time learning them and deserves to win a bit more"

It's all that simple. But during my earlier games I seem to have always concentrated on the emotional aspect of this game. Emotions are good for spectators. When you're playing your game you need to concentrate on the game. That's it. You can enjoy the result afterwards, and this is what I'm doing right now. I'm just very very happy that I managed to achieve something.
Tomorrow is the last tournament day. It all went so quickly. I feel like I've just arrived and I already have to leave. I will miss the Zon Hotel and I will miss this amazing tournament.

Thanks Michael Tang for your great idea of organizing the Causeway Scrabble Challenge.
To be a part of this wonderful event has been an honour to me.

 [...]

The STATS for CC day 4:

Games won: 8

Games lost: 2

Spread: +428

Average for: 429.0

Average against: 386.2

Blanks: 11/20 = 55%

S's: 16/40 = 40%

Games won:

2 blanks: 4/4 (100%)

1 blank: 3/3 (100%)

0 blanks: 1/3 (33%)

Bingos for: 21 (2.1 per game)

Bingos against: 14 (1.4 per game)

7 letter bingos: 8 (38%)

8 letter bingos: 13 (62%)

Bingos with blanks: 8 (38%)

Bingos without blanks: 13 (62%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 4

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 0

High game: 526

Low game: 298

Highest combined score: 906

Causeway Challenge - day 3

[Appologies for the lack of daily reports. The challenging number of daily games plus the jet-lag contributed to the fact that I am no longer able to report as I need to have some rest...

I hope to report the games herein when the tournament is finished.]

Day 3 was just as amazing as day 2 because it started with two consecutive wins, one loss and another win. Then there was lunch and ... I have lost 5 games in a row. This has pushed me down to 48th place.

I have lost 4 of 7 games by a margin smaller than 40 points: -25, -25, -33 and -37. Another lost games were -56, -76 and -101. This means that despite negative record of 12-17 I'm still in positive spread of +332.
I was very unlucky in all of my endgames today but luck too has played its part. I got only 40% of the blanks and 30% (!) of the Ss.
You can't do anything about it and I accepted it without any grief.

I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow - for the third and last time we'll be playing 10 games. 

 The STATS for CC day 3:

Games won: 3

Games lost: 7

Spread: -144

Average for: 407.4

Average against: 421.8

Blanks: 8/20 = 40%

S's: 12/40 = 30%

Games won:

2 blanks: 1/2 (50%)

1 blank: 1/4 (25%)

0 blanks: 1/4 (25%)

Bingos for: 16 (1.6 per game)

Bingos against: 22 (2.2 per game)

7 letter bingos: 9 (56%)

8 letter bingos: 7 (44%)

Bingos with blanks: 5 (31%)

Bingos without blanks: 11 (69%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 3

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 1

High game: 466

Low game: 355

Highest combined score: 901

Causeway Challenge 2011 - day 2

[Appologies for the lack of daily reports. The challenging number of daily games plus the jet-lag contributed to the fact that I am no longer able to report as I need to have some rest...

I hope to report the games herein when the tournament is finished.]

As to two day two it has been amazing - I won 6 out of ten games despite being very tired due to sleepless night before (with jet-lag taking its usual second night toll).

The STATS for CC day 2:

Games won: 6

Games lost: 4

Spread: +383

Average for: 430.7

Average against: 392.4

Blanks: 10/20 = 50%

S's: 18/40 = 45%

Games won:

2 blanks: 1/1 (100%)

1 blank: 5/8 (63%)

0 blanks: 0/1 (0%)

Bingos for: 18 (1.8 per game)

Bingos against: 18 (1.8 per game)

7 letter bingos: 12 (67%)

8 letter bingos: 6 (33%)

Bingos with blanks: 8 (44%)

Bingos without blanks: 10 (56%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 4

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 1

High game: 503

Low game: 374

Highest combined score: 894

Causeway Challenge 2011 - day 1

What a tournament, what a day.

You have to fall in love with this tournament the minute you start playing or even before that. And exactly this happened to me yesterday when I first entered the enormous Grand Ballroom of the ZON Regency Hotel in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The view was simply breathtaking - just imagine 97 Scrabble tables with ample space between them - no usual hassle with other players sitting too close next to you or touching your back when leaning back too comfortably in their chair behind you ;)
Another thing which stroke me was that although the number of players is almost double as during the WSC 2011 in Warsaw the room is much quieter here. It must be the polite Asian players who seem to respect other players to greater degree than their European or American counterparts.
Apart from one organisational disaster* everything went smoothly forward.

*Just after round 1when players in the Masters division neeeded to wait for one whole hour just for the draw to be made out and then chase the rest of the field resulting in reduced time for lunch)

All went so smoothely that I even managed to lose 5 minutes on my clock in the last game today despite showing up on time. It looks like the Causeway Challenge tournament has the rule, that you always need to be there ready for the next game to be anounced even if the timetable would suggest something contrary. Funnily enough in this last game I got so motivated by the lack of time that I won it by my highest margin yet - 531:220. Thanks for that, Michael - I would probably have won more games today had my clock been started more often ;)

As to the games I'm now completely sure it was worth coming here. Why?

1. Just to play with Asian, Australian and African players.
2. To experince two consecutive games without a blank nor an S.
3. To experince shortly after that two consecutive games with both blanks and 4 Ss...
5. To lose a close game by 3 points.
6. To play out DDEGLNU for 86 points - (I)NDULGED
7. To overdraw DEEIXOH?, get an E put back into bag by the oponent and play OXHIDEs afterward and then facing AEGINNN use the X of the former word to play ANNE(X)ING and then later in the game face EEEORSS on the rack and spot a floating V to play O(V)ERSEES and win the game by 311 points :)
8. To take a risk playing a Thai player and lose the game in the last move when he played (G)LOAMiNG.
9. To taste delicious Asian food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
10. (...)

It's been a great day and I'm happy with my games, though as usually my standing doesn't seem to reflect my good mood. I'm currently 41st (out of 56) with 3-6 and +93.

I'm looking forward to 10 even better games tomorrow.

As usually please keep your fingers crossed for me - the games start at 1:30am CET and end at 12:30pm CET...



The STATS for CC day 1:

Games won: 3

Games lost: 6

Spread: +93

Average for: 420.3

Average against: 410.0

Blanks: 9/18 = 50%

S's: 17/36 = 47%

Games won:

2 blanks: 2/2 (100%)

1 blank: 1/5 (20%)

0 blanks: 0/2 (0%)

Bingos for: 20 (2.22 per game)

Bingos against: 14 (1.56 per game)

7 letter bingos: 11 (55%)

8 letter bingos: 9 (45%)

Bingos with blanks: 7 (35%)

Bingos without blanks: 13 (65%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 4

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 0

High game: 531

Low game: 295

Highest combined score: 893

Causeway Challenge 2011 - the journey

Today at 19:00 local time I arrived in Johor Bahru, Malaysia for the 10th and the last ever Causeway Challenge 2011.

This tournament which had begun as a battle between two Scrabble nations Malaysia and Singapore (connected by the Causeway on the Johor Strait - thus the name) is known to have attracted very good players in its past - mainly due to its prizemoney comparable with the Worlds but mostly thanks to it's geographical placement - close to Scrabble giant Thailand and also relatively close to Australia. It has also attracted some good players from Europe like Helen Gipson, Mikki Nicholson, Craig Beevers or Theresa Brousson.

I have decided to come to Malaysia again (after my World Scrabble Championship 2009 appearance) because I liked the Zon hotel and it's facilities plus I liked the way the Worlds were ran (with the great participation of Michael Tang).

So exactly 2 years after I left Malaysia in 2009 I came back here again.

And I must say - pretty much is the same as in 2009 but some things have changed, too.

1. The flight.

Despite the fact that unlike in 2009 this hasn't been my flight ever and I haven't experienced any extra stress the journey was just as awful. It looks like my stomach is not able to cope with digesting unfamiliar food in the state of total lack of body movement. I was very glad when we landed in Singapore after an 11,5h torture-flight.

2. The journey Singapore-Johor Bahru

Got very surprised here. Unlike in 2009 when all went very smoothely (I was picked up Michael and the taxi driver at the exit) this time nobody has shown up. After some texting with Michael plus an answered roaming call from him (will prove costly for me) I was picked up almost an hour later than agreed. Then the driver drove to another airport terminal and left me in the cab for 15 minutes. All this meant I arrived at the hotel 2h10 minutes after the arrival in Singapore and didn't make it for the registration (or at least that's what I thought) only to find out at 20:30 that the registration has been prolonged.

3. The hotel.

I'm staying on the 13th floor - just like in 2009 and, yes, there are still the same songs being sung on the stage situated in the middle of the hotel. I was very glad to hear Lionel Richie's "Hello" again :)

The hotel has changed on the outside - it is now more colourful, but on the inside it doesn't look as fresh as in 2009. Plus this time my room window isn't facing the Causeway and it's beautiful sunsets, which is a shame.

And one last confusing thing - I was surprised by the reception guy who told me, that only breakfast is included in the price of the stay. This is contrary to what has been stated on the Causeway Challenge site and I'm hoping it gets clarified asap.

I've already met some known faces here: Nicky Huitson, Amy Byrne and most notably the reigning World Champion 2011 - Nigel Richards.

I'm betting on Nigel to take this one, too.

The games commence tomorrow at 8:30 AM - just like during the WSC 2011 in Warsaw

Neverthelesss this tournament is going to be even more exhausting than the Worlds - the level of play will be much more even plus the prospect of playing 9/10 games for 4 days in the row is really challenging.

I hope I can make it through to Sunday.

And I can't wait to do some shopping :)

It's 22:50 here, so I'll have a rest now. 

Please keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow and wish me luck!

WSC 2011 - the summary

This has been my second World Scrabble Championship appearance after the 2009 WSC in Malaysia. All my goals have been achieved:
1) to win 12 games  - I won 15 games
2) to finish in the top 100 - I finished 93rd.

All in all it's been a Championship full of surprises for me.
I managed to beat two good players in games where I got no blanks.
I also managed to lose a game to a Czech player, who's never played at this level before.
This just goes to show how unpredicatable this game can get.

The two games I will remember most were the last game on day 3 which I lost to Nick Ball (CAN) by 3 points (511:514):
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=9621

and the first game on day 4 which I won against Gunnar Anderson (SWE) by 1 point (374-373):
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=9622

I will also cherish the game I won against Alastair Richards (AUS) (who finished 10th in the overall standings). I went into this game with a memory of my previous 3 games against him (all clearly lost) played in a recent tournament in Coventry not even a week before (381:446, 273:498 and 337:570 - a game with 6 bingos for my opponent). I had no blanks in this game but thanks to good fortune I managed to win this one by 395-361.

My other happy game was against John O'Laughlin (USA) - this time I got 4 S's and a blank and won by 417-385.

And then there was the lucky finish of the tournament. After beating Phil Robertshaw of England I won the remaining three games of the tournament - against Keichiro from Japan, then against the current Polish champion Wojtek and finally against a Canadian - Andrew Golding.

I'm really happy with my four wins against native English speakers from USA, Canada, England and Australia.

I'm happy with my overall performance despite getting only 40% of the blanks.

I think it was a very good idea to play in the Cock of the North tournament in Coventry just before the WSC.

I now feel strong and confident about my chance of doing well in my 5th (after Mannheim, Peterborough, Coventry and Warsaw) and last Scrabble tournament this year - the ultimate Causeways Challenge 2011 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia in 40-days' time.

The STATS for WSC 2011:

Games won: 15

Games lost: 19

Spread: -318

Average for: 406.0

Average against: 415.3

Blanks: 27/68 = 40%

S's: 77/132 = 57%

Games won:

2 blanks: 6/6 (100%)

1 blank: 5/15 (33%)

0 blanks: 4/13 (31%)

Bingos for: 63 (1.85 per game)

Bingos against: 60 (1.76 per game)

7 letter bingos: 36 (57%)

8 letter bingos: 27 (43%)

Bingos with blanks: 21 (33%)

Bingos without blanks: 42 (67%)

Highest no of bingos in a game: 4

Lowest no of bingos in a game: 0

High game: 546

Low game: 292

Highest combined score: 1025 (lost to Nick Ball by 511-514)