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Written by HG

Category: News

Published: 02 February 2023

Hits: 895

Over the weekend of the 27-29 January, 6 East Berks Players travelled to Shanklin, Isle of Wight to take part in two 10-game Scrabble tournaments.

There were 44 players taking part from mainly Southern England, but there were players from further afield including Staffordshire and the Isle of Man.

Players were split into 4 all-play-all divisions, with promotion and relegation for the top and bottom two prior to the second tournament.

For the first tournament Richard and Graham played in A, Wanda and Helen played in B. Maureen played in C and Pat in D. The fixture computer had a sense of humour as one point Richard was playing Graham when Wanda was playing Helen. We thank Steve Perry for taking this photo with all 4 players deep in thought!

At the end of the first tournament, prizes were awarded for the top 3 in each division. Helen, despite a poor start, arranged to win 6 games and secure a small monetary prize for third place. Maureen unfortunately had a poor set of results and was relegated joining Pat in Division D for the second set of 10 games.

The movement of players meant everyone had a few different opponents for the second tournament. This didn’t make the games any easier though! Everyone struggled initially, but Helen and Richard put together a winning streak of games late on to bolster their respective positions. Helen just fell short of finishing 3^rd again in Division B, but Richard overcame strong opposition to finish third in Division A. 

Here is Richard receiving his prize from Steve Perry.

All in a good weekend, great food, fine views across the sea… just the Scrabble could have been better for one or two of us.

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Written by HG

Category: News

Published: 14 January 2023

Hits: 752

Best improver for this part of the year is Martin Stephens, ahead of Keith Radbourn and Joy Wade.

High-scoring words:

• 118 JINGOES Fiona
• 113 SLITTERS Joy
• 107 EGOTIZED Graham
• 104 CARDIES Peter 4-timer
• 101 WHOOPED Graham
• 96 CRIUSES Wanda
• 95 IMPALER Graham
• 94 VISITING Maureen
• 92 FESTOON Graham
• 90 DEAFISH Deborah
• 86 VISITER Keith
• 83 REWRITES Charles
• 82 LEAVERS Maire
• 82 HOOPERS Maureen
• 76 INCITES Peter
• 76 FAILINGS Charles
• 73 LICENSEE Charles
• 71 MARINES Maire
• 70 IRONING Maire
• 69 FANNERS Maire
• 69 TARRIES Maire
• 69 NAILERS Maire
• 68 LINTERS Maire
• 67 SATIRES Maire
• 67 INTENSE Maire
• 67 RATTLES Maire
• 66 TANNIES Maire
• 65 EASTERN Maire
• 62 SWEETER Maire
• 61 RETAINS Maire

·

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

·       FOAMIER 79 JANTIEST 95 TORRIDER 72 TROUGHS 80 ABROAD 60     Graham

·       INVESTS 84 LEARNERS 66 CYLIX 51 COASTING 78                            Helen

·       MORENDOS 86 SLEUTHS 108 HARPIST 93 NEUSTONS 59                 Wanda

·       FIELDER 78 EMOTION 68 SONLIER 70 DENOTIVE 66                          Richard

·       VEINING 80 BEARINGS 83 BAILERS 91 FOMENTED 76                       Helen

·       ELICITED 62 ARTSIER 75 TOLIDINE 78 BORONIA 71                           Richard

·       REQUINS 86 TINNIES 70 ELATING 69                                                  Richard

·       PUNDITS 85 PEDANTRY 63 EMERGING 92                                          Richard

·       REASONED 77 TONNERS 63 EVIRATE 68                                           Wanda

·       CLEARER 77 ANISOLE 70 TERCIOS 69                                               Helen

·       MERLINS 73 DARGLES 70 RECITING 86                                              Helen

·       FITTERS 78 OUTLAID 78 UNLOOSEN 70                                             Peter

·       SNAKIER 102 NEONATE 70 GIRLISH 72                                              Richard

·       ROTTERS 70 DEVALUES 86 UNITAGES 80                                          Richard

·       DENIALS 70 PETIOLAR 80 INDITES 75                                                 Graham

·       TARGETS 69 BLENDES 79 PASTURES 67                                           Richard

·       

Also:

·       New personal bests:      Joy Wade 484, Keith Radbourn 418, Pat Llanwarne 485

·       9-letter words:   WHOREDOMS 48 Charles, FIDGETING 30 Fiona, FORMATING 80 Helen

Details

Written by HG

Category: News

Published: 09 December 2022

Hits: 817

This year the Milton Keynes tournament returned after a 3 year absence. 2 club members played in the 17 game tournament, Pat and Richard. 

Pat writes

This is a long running tournament but had not been held since 2019. It was over a weekend with 9 games on Saturday and 8 games on Sunday.  The first game was at 11.30 on Saturday, which allowed for easy travel to the venue. I stayed at the hotel on Sunday night too, which made it more relaxed than last time I went, when I had to dash off for a train home.   I played in Division C and won 8 of the 17 games, and was pleased to increase my ABSP rating by one point.

Some of my bonus words were DEEMING for 100 points, REBITTEN which was a gamble but won me the game, and I'm glad I had the bottle to play COJONES.

Richard writes

I had a difficult first day losing 4 of the first 5 games but secured a vital 5 point win in game 6 with 3 bonuses in the last 4 turns. Day two was better with some hard fought wins and I was pleased to come away with 7 wins overall and perform to his rating. 

Best bonuses played were - ULCERATE, MISENTRY, ADMONISH, MELILOT, OLIVINES, FLOREANT and BASILECT.

Well done both!

Details

Written by HG

Category: News

Published: 14 November 2022

Hits: 845

These statistics cover the two quarters in 2019-2020 before the club closed for the duration of the pandemic, and the period since the club reopened in August 2021. 

The quarterly improver prizes went to Evelyn Wansbrough, Joy Wade, Anne Connolly, Charles Parker, Joy Wade, and Pat Llanwarne.  In the League (2019-2020), Division 1 was won by Helen, Division 2 by Hepzi, and Division 3 by Charles.  The All-play-All (2022) was won by Richard Spencer and Pat Llanwarne won the Handicap (2022).

 Highest game scores were:

•           618       Graham Harding

•           614       Graham Harding

•           593       Richard Spencer

•           587       Graham Harding

•           586       Richard Spencer

•           582       Wanda de Poitiers

•           577       Richard Spencer

•           573       Graham Harding

•           570       Richard Spencer

•           568       Helen Harding

•           568       Richard Spencer

•           558       Richard Spencer

•           557       Richard Spencer

•           556       Graham Harding

•           556       Graham Harding

•           553       Graham Harding

Other players scoring over 500 points in a game were: Peter Tart (highest score: 539), Fiona Titcombe (535), Hepzi Rodrigues (506), Michael Spencer (502)

 The highest single moves were:

•           185       COMMERCE                Keith

•           167       HIDEOUTS                   Wanda

•           149       CHERRIES                   Charles

•           149       RETWISTS                   Charles

•           134       QUERIED                     Hannah

•           131       STIRRING                    Joy

•           115       REFLECT                     Graham

•           113       YORKERS                    Peter

•           107       REMAKING                  Charles

•           106       CAMPSITE                   Graham

•           105       UNDYING                     Fiona

•           104       HUTTING                     Graham

•           104       QUARRIES                   Charles

•           104       SEPTORIA                   Fiona

•           103       BURGLED                    Sharon

•           103       CHORTLE                    Richard

•           103       SHEARED                    Wanda

•           102       CAVERNS                    Michael

•           102       HEARKEN                    Charles

•           102       QUID/DIRK                   Joy

•           102       SAVAGES/JAMS           Michael

•           101       QUERIES                     Michael

•           100       FOLDERS                     Maureen

Most years, the qualification for ‘Best Improver’ is 52 games or more ie at least one per week.   This time, 80 games has been chosen because the period covers the time from October 2019 to mid-March 2020, when the club shut for the pandemic) plus the time between mid-August 2021 and the end of September 2022.