I won two games last night:
426-285 against John D. My bingos: VELOURS (73), OVERStEP (83) and INEDITA (70). John: none.
326-378 against Sophia. My bingos: COARSENS (62) and FaCTORs (75). Sophia didn’t play any bingos yet she was always ahead, with the exception of my first few moves since I had played COARSENS as my opening play through her R. She always had a huge comeback and when I kept a U on my rack and played four or five tiles and drew UUW I knew the game was doomed.
390-364 against Dave K. Dave and I both exchanged tiles at the start and then he opened with RAPIERS for 74, followed by SOMEWhAT from the centre S for 98. About two thirds into the game I played cONFERS for 81. This game was an excellent example of it-ain’t-over strategy because I fought back from a 211-86 deficit to pull ahead and always had to consider the repercussions of my plays. It was not enough merely to score points if my play wasn’t also opening up the board. It was an intense game where I needed to concentrate and was glad to have had enough time and never felt under pressure. I challenged off one of Dave’s plays, and while his word did not extend to a TWS, I used that same spot to stretch my own word to the TWS to finally take the lead. Dave might have made his shorter play in an attempt to prevent me from using the TWS for myself. The endgame was certainly winnable for Dave yet he lost a challenge and I played out. Dave took a long time to consider challenging my CERITE, yet had he not challenged and just made his next move, he would have won. Sometimes the only way you can lose a game is if you lose a challenge. If you have a guaranteed win even by letting an uncertain word go, then leave it.