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Over the first 2 days of the Easter weekend, Helen and Graham played in a 10 game tournament in Coventry.
They were both playing in a 12-player Division A.
During the tournament they played most of the players in the division, and a couple of players twice. One of the games involved playing each other !
 
 
For Graham the highlight was the first game of the tournament a 578-473 point win, the game featured a 9timer MISLEARN (140) and WIDDLES for 102!
 
Helen's  highest scoring move was using a rack of  AELOSX? after a P had been placed on the middle square.... POLeAXES for 101 !  SEQUOIA for 92 was her next best. Two unusual words played against Helen were ETHIOPS and ECONUT.
 
Three of the games that Helen and Graham played had very close finishes.
 
Here is one involving Helen.
 
 
 
 
Helen is just behind on 336 (EIKNNS) against 355 (T) , but the highest Helen can score is SKEIN or KINES (27) from b2. Her opponent played his T to make TUP for 7 points and win the game by 1. (In fact there is a higher scoring move of TOHO (I 11).
 
Here is Graham's close game.
 
 
 
His opponent is leading 381-359 and holding some useful tiles (DGIT) which could score well next turn. Graham (ANOVR?) found the playout OVERRAN (b4)  which scored enough to win by 1 point.
 
 
As mentioned earlier Helen and Graham had to play each other.
 
 
 
A real tussle of a game, but Helen (holding IR) edged into the lead 371-351. Graham held ABCDDST. The highest Graham could score was BACS (H1) for 36, leaving Helen to find a move scoring more than 6 with IR. She could only find FIR (M 13) to score 6, and the game resulted in a draw. Honours even!
 
But...what if Helen hadn't played out in one move? If Helen played KI (18), then Graham played his highest score DID (a1) for 15, Helen couldn't have scored more than 6 with the remaining R, so she would have lost by 5 points.  So playing FIR for 6 points and a draw was the correct move for her.
 
But... there is a different 36 point move for Graham - DIDACTS A1. This means Helen's FIR won't be enough to win as there is only a B to be added/subtracted. Playing KI isn't enough as Graham's B can score 12 at H1. So playing BACS guaranteed a draw for Graham, playing DIDACTS guarantees a win! 
 
Some tough games for both Helen and Graham, and they were both pleased to finish the tournament with 4.5 wins out of 10.
 

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Best improver for the second quarter of the season is Joy Wade, just ahead of Jim Macey in second place and Keith Radbourn in third place.   Welcome to Deborah Tobin-Desson.

High-scoring words:

• 116 STAINED Maire
• 111 FIXATES Helen
• 95 SLANTER Maire
• 94 MOUSING Charles
• 91 BLAZERS Michael
• 90 BREEZES Pat
• 90 TINKLES Joy
• 88 BARTERS Maire
• 88 SWARMED Joy
• 88 UNTILED Jim
• 87 JIBS Helen
• 86 DISGUISE Martin
• 86 MUSCLIER Jim
• 86 SPITTERS Maire
• 84 IMAGERY Michael (an opening move, well spotted)
• 84 PROWLER Keith
• 84 STAPLER Charles
• 83 NAIFEST Jim
• 82 STINKED Maire
• 82 VANDALS Joy
• 81 ANTLIKE Helen
• 80 ATRESIA Jim
• 80 DISPUTE Keith
• 80 POETRIES Joy
• 79 MANNERS Jim
• 79 PLEDGED Jim
• 78 LEFTIES Charles
• 77 QUESTING Charles
• 77 STARTING Keith
• 76 BEAKERS Maire
• 76 RESTAGE Maire
• 76 WAISTER Maire
• 76 WITNESS Keith
• 75 ANGLERS Maire
• 75 ATRESIA Jim
• 75 MARINES Keith
• 75 WEARIES Jim
• 74 BARRIERS Maire
• 74 LATRINES Maire
• 74 MARINES Maire
• 74 REALISM Jim
• 74 SARDINE Jim
• 73 HEATERS Jim
• 73 UNSTUNG Charles
• Other words: 72 CHEROOT Mary, 72 DEARLINGS Gillian (a rare 9-letter bonus), 72 GROUNDED Keith, 72 TOASTED Jim, 71 INVADERS Maire, 71 NETTLED Michael, 71 OORIEST Jim, 70 CRUSADES Maire, 70 ETERNAL Jim, 70 INTENSE Keith, 70 STARTED Keith, 69 STATION Maire, 68 PARTNERS Mary, 68 REACTION Charles, 68 SLINTER Maire, 68 SUNSETS Maire, 67 NEEDING Maire, 66 HOTLINE Mary, 66 LATRINE Maire, 66 NETTLES Maire, 66 STARRED Maire, 66 STINKERS Maire 65 MINSTER Maire, 65 TRAINEE Maire, 64 LARDERS Jim, 64 NASTIER Jim, 64 TOASTIER Keith, 63 COLLATE Mary, 63 SWEETER Maire, 63 ZANJA Helen, 61 UNSTAGED Charles, 58 SLINTERS Maire, 57 ENLIVENS Jim, 31 EXEAT Charles

Many bonuses or high-scoring moves by one player in a game:

• IRISATE 72 RENAGUE 72 ETHANOL 92 SOX 63 BOOSTERS 63 ZEE 65 ADERMIN 91 Graham
• ADORING 68 ALLOYED 76 TROELIES 83 ALTERED 82 QUAKY 84 Graham
• DAUTIES 67 WARDING 84 BYRLING 88 AERATING 61 SUSTAIN 82 Helen
• COLONADE 61 (not a valid word!) RELATION 62 SIGHERS 85 TINNERS 61 Graham
• JOINDERS 80 REUNITED 59 BANTERS 61 ETESIAN 78 Graham
• MEATIER 72 AVERSION 72 SARSNET 68 SYLPH 51 Helen
• NASTIEST 77 GREENING 74 METAYER 78 VALERIAN 76 Wanda
• OCEANIDS 83 SABOTIER 80 GASSIEST 72 JAP 55 Helen
• SERRATI 72 CAUDLES 72 TITLING 69 INVERTED 89 Helen
• ADERMIN – UNDATRAS 73 SANTERA 68 Richard
• ALINERS 76 PALADIN 97 VIOLENTS 74 Helen
• APERIES 68 DECAYED 72 DERAILS 77 Helen
• ASTOUND 79 NAILSET 88 SIEVERT 75 Helen
• DAYSIDE 80 NUTTIER 65 REACTING 92 Helen
• DETAILS 83 INERTIAE 62 UNGULAE 70 Richard
• HORNETS 73 ETESIAN 74 EUSTELE 84 Richard
• OUTLIERS 62 LEVITATE 86 RESTOKE 76 Wanda
• PIMENTO 70 MELANGES 74 CRIPPLED 78 Richard
• REALIST 65 TINDALS 85 OPENERS 75 Helen
• RESTRAIN 62 OILERIES 66 ISOGRAMS 80 Richard
• SAIDEST 91 RAVINES 75 ELASTIN 86 Graham
• SEEMING 78 REPEALED 83 TAENIAS 86 Helen
• SHYSTER 106 HOARIEST 122 INGATES 67 Graham
• SURLIEST 59 REARISEN 72 NETSUKE 78 Wanda
• TAINTED 77 FORESTED 76 RECOILED 69 Charles
• TERNION 79 TOWERED 85 GODSENDS 59 Wanda

New personal bests: Ann Boswell 291, Gillian Cranston 470, Graham Harding 693, Lizzie Hewitt 347, Polly Vallance 421, Richard Spencer 674, Tim Charlton 569      Well done to you all!

 

Name Old rating New rating Rating change P W D L Average Highest score Highest ever

Joy Wade 103 119 16 33 18 1 14 334.9 433 484

Jim Macey 114 129 15 13 8 0 5 362.6 413 478

Keith Radbourn 72 86 14 32 11 0 21 301.5 377 418

Polly Vallance 93 102 9 23 10 1 12 320.1 421 421

Hepzi Rodrigues 129 136 7 20 12 0 8 360.9 450 554

Gillian Cranston 101 107 6 16 6 0 10 358.1 470 470

Mary Twomey 105 111 6 14 7 0 7 315.1 421 430

Helen Harding 192 198 6 44 39 0 5 436.5 536 609

Graham Harding 175 179 4 45 33 1 11 432.7 693 693

Fiona Titcombe 161 164 3 18 12 0 6 411.3 479 551

Maire Bennett 58 58 0 35 4 0 31 289.5 440 498

Wanda de Poitiers 176 176 0 35 24 1 10 421.1 581 598

Michael Spencer 70 67 -3 35 7 0 28 278.5 367 502

Pat Llanwarne 122 119 -3 15 6 0 9 348.5 417 516

Martin Stephens 115 109 -6 24 12 0 12 335.7 380 477

Richard Spencer 210 203 -7 39 32 0 7 438.9 674 674

Amanda Lowe 97 88 -9 27 7 0 20 305.6 377 392

Charles Parker 106 96 -10 29 8 0 21 322.3 456 509

Deborah Porter 148 138 -10 31 16 0 15 363.4 502 542

Ann Boswell 67 50 -17 14 0 0 14 231.4 291 291

Insufficient games – a previous quarter’s results, or 13 games in a quarter, needed to qualify

Lizzie Hewitt 68 73 5 8 2 0 6 280.0 347 347

Sharon Hewitt 124 129 5 8 4 0 4 334.0 383 548

Tim Charlton 209 176 -33 10 5 0 5 395.2 569 569

Deborah Tobin-Desson 50 2 0 0 2 185.5 221 221

Maureen Barlow 122 0 0 0 0 0 528

Megel Barker 195 0 0 0 0 0 583

 

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Over the weekend of March 29/30th Richard played in a 15 game tournament in Broadstairs. 

Here is his report :

 

I played in a two day tournament in Broadstairs which had a "Mods and Rockers theme" so there were quite a few in fancy dress.
 
I played in Division A. Had two tough fixtures to start off which I lost and finished day 1 with 3 wins from 8. Day 2 was better with 5 wins from 7. I was happy to finish mid table with 8 wins out of 15. 
 
 There were a lot of one sided games either for or against me which were decided by the luck of the tile bag but two games were very close. One of these I won by 3 with the opponent affected by the time pressure and going overtime which cost them the game. 
 
The second I won by 2 points. Strangely the opponents final play was BREEDINGS/SNEK with SNEK being an invalid word. Although I was 99% sure SNEK wasn't good I could play out to win with ERGON so decided not to challenge. The more obvious SNAKE would have drawn so I was surprised not to see that go down!
 
 
 
Word highlights were,
 
Me -NAPRONS, LESIONED, MATINAL, GUAIAC, CALOYERS    
Opponents - FETTLERS, DEFROCKS, QUINZE
 
Here is picture of Richard taken by organiser Nicky Huitson, Thanks Nicky!
 

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Between Friday January 31st and Sunday February 2nd, the Shanklin Beach Hotel hosted the Annual Isle of Wight Scrabble Tournament.

There were 38 players split in to 3 divisions of 10 and one of 8. Players played 10 games, and then there was promotion and relegation before a second tournament of 10 games.

5 East Berks players took part. Pat (who started in D), Wanda, Helen and Graham (who all started in B), and Richard who started in A. The hotel is right on the seafront, and a get place to go between games. Here are the East Berks players taking in the winter sunshine!

 

 

 

 

How did each player at the tournament ? Here are their mini-reports ....

Pat :

In the first of the 2 tournaments,  I won D division with 7 games and was promoted. Play in division C was tougher,  and I won 4 of the 10 games.
 
In one of my games I was 104 points behind, went out playing ROTATING for 80 points, winning the game as my opponent was left with a high scoring rack including the Z.
 
At the end of another game, my opponent played MOULE for only 13 points. I suspected this was not valid (it isn't)  but I didn't challenge it as I had no vowels, and was able to use the O to get rid of my remaining high scoring tiles, and win the game.
 
I myself (unintentionally) played 2 invalid words that weren't challenged  - DES and UNDETER. I had some valid words challenged,  including MAXIM, QUEAN and DONUT.
 
I always like the weekend on the Isle of Wight.  We had good weather,  and as well as games of Scrabble,  I enjoyed some sunrises, cliff walks and ice cream. 
 
Here is Pat receiving her prize from organiser James Burley.
 
 
 
 
Wanda :
 

At the start of the first tournament, I was listed as the weakest person in  division B so was pleased to have won 4 out of 10 games and stay in Division B. In the second tournament I fared slightly better winning 5 out of 10 games.

 

In my third game of the second half I was pleased to play SWEATER only to draw VAQUERO out of the bag followed by ISOLATE thus playing three bonuses in a row!

In my fifth game I drew the letters ESQUV??. The only playable bonuses were QUIVERS and QUAVERS neither of which would play but I did manage to play VAQUEROS around a floating A!

In the final round of the tournament I was drawn against the only player in Division B who had won 9 out of 9 games and I beat him! Definitely the highlight of my tournament.

 

Some of the more unusual words I played:-

SPINOUT-75  ECHOISES-84   DELOUSED-63   VAQUERO-93   VAQUEROS-68   ATABRINE-75   TAMALES-82

 

Here is Wanda playing Helen in game 1 of the first tournament.

 

 

 

Helen : 

 

Like Wanda, I played in Division B throughout both tournaments.  I won 5 out of 10 games in the first half of the tournament, and 4 out of 10 games in the second half;  it would have been good to win at least one more game in each half but ... that's Scrabble for you!
 
Some of the more unusual words I played:
SQUALOR 82 points, SQUIRTED 104, ENTAILING 82 - a 9-letter word, QUAICHES 96
 
Some of the more unusual words my opponents played:- VENETIAN 65 points, MOREENS 93, COTEAUS 67, MANDRILS 83
 
And a few of the words I played that my opponent challenged :OBIIT, UDAL. FORESTRY (I was a bit surprised this was challenged!)
 
 
Graham :
 
I  played in Division B, and after 5 games was 2-3 down. with relegation threatening,  I managed to win the last 5 games, finish on 7-3 wins and get promoted to Division A.
I struggled to score in the Division A games, only managing to exceed 400 twice (the last two games) and won 3 games in total in A.
 
My most interesting words over the weekend included : the 9-timer BAGGIEST (140)  as the last move of the game, AEDILE, ULYIE, DETOX (twice), and CREWE.
One of the higher scoring words played against me was WALTZERS for 97!
 
Here is Graham's BAGGIEST board, and him receiving his prize for coming 2nd in Division B.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Richard :
 
 
I played in Division A for both events winning 5 in the first event, and 6 in the second..  Four games stood out for me :
 
The first was a close game that I won by 16. Opponent opened with VOTEABLE. I got level with ENLISTEE and AGNOSTIC. After opponents TORMINA I bonused back with SWEIRED for 95. He then scored 38 for FACED. OGEED for 42 was the winning play.
 
In another game my opponent seemingly took the game away with back to back bonuses of SPAINED  and SOILAGE, followed by 41 for CHIV and 60 for JUDO to lead by 117.
 
I snatched the game with 3 bonuses out of the last 4 plays -LADRONS, CODETTA and finally bonusing out with MISENTRY to win by 11.
 
My third interesting was a key game in round 2 as I was 1 win from 4 overnight so badly needed a win. Pleased with bonuses of OUTYELL, MECONATE and ATISHOO though opponent made a fight of it with EDITINGS, ANVILED and RERAISE.   
 
One other key moment was the game I lost by 2 to the eventual winner in round 2 . I think I did as well as I could in the endgame but mid game I wanted to play CUTUP for 30 which was good and dumped both U's but I wasn't certain so played CULT for 12. An opportunity missed but overall was very happy with the tournament. 
 
My best bonuses of the tournament were UNTURNS, EPITONIC, MISENTRY, ENLISTEE, OUTRANCE, KARYOTIN, OUTYELL, MECONATE, ATISHOO, RESILIN, LEERINGS, OUTREMER, SWEIRED Opponents - MOATLIKE, DURGIEST (9x), OVERMINE
 
Here is the board form one of Richard's games.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2024-2025 WINTER LEAGUE

 

                      Played   Won      Lost      Draw   Win-Bon  AvgBon   Total    AVERAGE

Division A

 

Tim

  

11

10

1

0

0

8

140

12.73

Richard

  

30

26

4

0

0

18

350

11.67

Helen

  

31

26

5

0

0

20

360

11.61

Wanda

  

31

23

8

0

0

18

320

10.32

Fiona

  

16

10

6

0

0

11

155

9.69

Graham

  

29

20

9

0

0

12

260

8.97

Deborah

 

27

14

13

0

0

10

190

7.04

Megel

 

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

0.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Division B

 

Mary

  

5

3

2

0

0

3

45

9.00

Pat

  

19

9

10

0

3

9

165

8.68

Sharon

  

17

9

8

0

0

9

135

7.94

Gillian

  

8

3

5

0

1

4

60

7.50

Jim

 

17

8

9

0

0

7

115

6.76

Charles

  

28

11

17

0

0

15

185

6.61

Hepzi

  

22

10

12

0

0

9

145

6.59

Joy

 

34

13

21

0

0

17

215

6.32

 

Division C

 

Martin

  

19

11

8

0

3

9

185

9.74

Polly

  

18

8

10

0

2

14

170

9.44

Keith

  

29

8

21

0

3

14

180

6.21

Amanda

  

32

9

23

0

2

17

195

6.09

Michael

  

24

4

20

0

0

11

95

3.96

Maire

 

31

4

27

0

3

7

105

3.39

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the season (up to the end of January, subject to bad weather etc), every player will have fixtures rearranged, broadly a range of different players each week. You may play some people more than once.                    A WIN is worth 10 points, a DRAW 5 points. Sadly nothing for a LOSS.

 

If you beat a player one Division above you, you get a 10 point bonus (WIN-BON). If you have beat a player 2 divisions above you get a 20 point bonus.

 

If anyone, winner or loser, in any division,  exceeds their average score they will accrue a 5 point bonus. (AVG-BON).

It doesn’t matter if you can’t play every week, as the total scores are averaged by the number of games played to see who won the league.

 

 Promotion /  relegation for those that play more 17+ games.

 

 

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  1. Best Improver – October to December 2024
  2. UK Open – East Berks members appear on Websites, TV & Radio
  3. UK Open 3-10 January Main Event and Final Fling
  4. UK Open 3-10 January Warm-up Tournaments
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