I won one game last night:
433-282 against Kaveri. I played the game’s only bingos, and was happy to play JANNIES (93) for the first time. I also played SOVRANs (79), which is the only bingo in that rack. Our game was cramped from the start, as Kaveri opened with WUZ (30) and I responded with CUZ (15). After two moves she was ahead 37-33, and then we exchanged twice. Had she exchanged a third time I had the power to end the game with a sixth exchange, yet with a four-point deficit I would not have risked it with almost a full bag to choose from.
361-444 against Steve. I played BLEmISH (80) and Steve played cOGNIZE (103) and ROUTEMAN (76). I had just challenged off Steve’s play of GINZO so I knew five of his letters. I opened up the right TWS lane by getting a good score of 24 for the clunky VOE. The V blocked any chances of playing on the TWS on the top right corner. Steve would have to play a 6LW in order to reach the TWS on the centre right. After a while he swooped in with cOGNIZE. So the two tiles he held when he attempted GINZO were E? I was hoping to play BLEmISH on the same spot for 91.
421-429 in another close endgame with Mad. I played STAINERS (82) and SKEeTER (70) as well as a TLS ZA overlap for 65. Mad played NEARLIER (62) and CAGIEsT (83). I had seven minutes to think through the endgame and was not rushed, yet my final rack of EHILNOW, while it looked promising and thus game-winnable, could only yield a loss by eight. Had there been a 6LW within that rack that ended in E I would have won.