South Bend Scrabble Players Championship

Mark and I played in the South Bend Scrabble Players Championship and we arrived on Thursday, July 18, one day earlier than the usual Friday before the tournament. We had left on Wednesday and spent the night in Ann Arbor, Michigan before continuing our journey. Our first meal in South Bend was at the newly-opened and nearby barbecue restaurant Whole Hogz. It was open late and we were the only customers during the last hour of service. Some items on the menu were no longer available because they had been sold out. I enjoyed a heaping serving of chicken wings and thighs, potato salad and baked beans. I wonder if our servings were so huge because it was near closing and the chef may have wanted to use up all the remaining food. Our hotel provided a list of nearby restaurants and we enjoyed going out every night with Scrabble friends.

My win-loss expectation before the tournament was 11.8 wins, exactly the same number, to the decimal, as it was last year in Las Vegas. My position going into the tournament was 42 out of 45 players. I was also ranked in 42nd spot going into the Las Vegas tournament. I had a bye so I only played thirty games and not 31, so my win-loss expectation would have to be readjusted for a slightly shorter tournament. I only won eleven games, so that meant I suffered a ratings decline.

I was feeling fine after eighteen games where I stood even at nine wins and nine losses, believing it would be easy to win at least three more out of the remaining thirteen (or twelve) games to keep my rating as it was. However I tanked during the latter part of the tournament and could only scrape out two more wins. I cannot explain my state of mind that saw me commit the following errors or distractions:

1. I played a backwards two-letter word.
2. I played a short purged slur.
3. My opponent was courteous to remind me that there was still a tile left in the bag for me to draw. He did not have to remind me of anything, according to the rules. In situations like this it is always me who has had to remind my forgetful opponent to empty the bag.
4. When I was playing second, my opponent had to remind me to start his clock. Again, he did not have to prompt me to do anything.
   
   

So where was my mind in all those situations? I see that I had committed two of these actions while I still had a decent record, so being at 10-12, as I was at the time, was not hanging over me.

I have included my bingo count for each round as well as any notes. My bingos are listed first, separated from my opponents’ by a virgule. My score is listed first followed by my opponent during that round.

01 FAJITAS (124) / PHILTRA (82) oUTWILE (75) 393-440 Mack Meller

I was paired with the top-rated player for a game that was livestreamed. It was my first time playing such a game, which is broadcast to a viewing audience and both players’ racks are visible. The audience can comment via chat and see what the most optimal plays are and rank your own plays accordingly. I wasn’t nervous about the livestream experience, yet I was obligated to use the rack that was provided, which was taped down in place to provide the best camera angle. I would have preferred to use my own red rack which I bring to every game. The game can be followed by clicking on the hyperlink above. While the Quackle Report supplies the Championship Player’s best choices each turn, in some instances circumstances turn out to your advantage if you play differently. For example, my play of VAS on page 8 shows that I missed two bingos. I was looking at front-hooking -EX yet did not see ATAVISTS / SEX. Missing that 75-point play ended up being more lucrative because I was able to score 27 for VAS / VAX and 124 for FAJITAS / FE / AD on my next turn, to enable me to take the lead, briefly. After the game Mack told me that my play of FEU / FA / ES on page 14 ruined his chance to play OVERTIPS. Mack told me that I could have played RED- onto BAITED to score an additional seventeen points and take the lead again. My abundance of I’s plus Mack drawing the second blank did me in, yet I was pleased with my game nonetheless. Kristen Chew was the annotator, and after the game pointed out my earlier bingo misses of ATAVISTS or AVIATRESS. On page seven I held the rack AAISSTV and arranged the tiles to form SATIVAS (a type of cannabis) and wondered–while I was playing the game–if the viewing audience was commenting on that. I knew that SATIVAS was not acceptable. I am not interested in watching myself play if this game has been posted on-line and I have not bothered to look for it.

02 ROcKETED (89) PHONATED (95) / NOTELETS (70) GUANASe (70) 444-369 Chloe Fatsis

I challenged off TOOMS £ and Chloe held me forever on my outplay SAINED, yet eventually challenged it unsuccessfully. Chloe’s final rack was BDLNVWY, which she was stuck with after I emptied my rack with SAINED, so I earned an extra 38 points for going out.

03 RELACING (94) / CoNVENES (63) EOLOPIlE (68) SENORITA (70) 393-475 Dan Wachtell

I challenged off BEIGIER £.

04 PROFITER (67) ANEmiAS (67) EROTIzE (69) / OCELOID (85) 393-377 Michael Fagen

In this game the rare MMM appeared, as mMM:

ANEmIAS
HELM
–ELMY

Note that I scored 393 in three of my first four games.

05 ROLaMITE (68) FORESEE (83) / none 483-291 Trenton Charlson

The link is to a video shot by John Chew during the moment I played ROLaMITE. You can hear me announce the score and say “A” when I circled the blank designation slip.

06 ELEVATEd (60) ShMOOZY (106) / SERENATE (75) 418-384 Jonathan Lindh

By far my favourite and flashiest play of this tournament was ShMOOZY, which may be the rarest-occurring 7LW I have ever played, ranking 24893 out of all 25473 7LW. Jonathan is a twitchy sparrow who when tracking tiles crosses out the letters with enough force to simulate an earthquake at table level.

07 none / TARtUFI (80) PITIERS (77) SEROSAL (85) 293-468 Noah Walton

08 URALITES (62) INArABLE (60) / INSANER (71) 392-319 Eric Goldstein

09 eNACTION (86) BAGUETtE (78) ONSTREAM (70) / DETAILS (74) EROTICS (81) 408-437 Jeff Fiszbein

During this game I had the horrid rack EOOPPTY and I missed the only 8LW, which miraculously builds through another T, to make TOPOTYPE, which contains three pairs of duplicate letters. There was an open T on the board yet I used it to play POTTY instead.

10 MECHANIC (92) / LOVaBLY (68) RESPIRED (65) 322-410 Wes Eddings

I was delighted to play a natural MECHANIC from the M. My rack, ACCEHIN, does form a 7LW, CHICANE, but I did not see it because the board only permitted 8LW. Much to my surprise that rack can make an additional seven 8LW. I was shuffling my tiles and saw CHANCIER if there was an open R, and then saw MECHANIC.

11 SEAWANt (79) / ACROGEN (67) RISsOLE (71) 385-407 Peter Schwartzman

12 OOGONIA (71) aNISEED (82) / POTHEaD (107) HAULERS (73) 360-436 Paul Holser

I played the first bingo and after I announced the score Paul, in a disgusted tone, said “It begins”. What was that supposed to mean? Was he ticked off that I had played a bingo first? I see that he had lost five of his last six games, yet I found that remark unsportsmanlike and inappropriate, especially since he was able to stack POTHEaD alongside it on the right TWS row to score 107 and take the lead, 158-134 on his very next turn.

13 ReLACING (72) / AEROSAT (79) 406-379 Eric Harshbarger

My first bingo repeat of the tournament. I had played RELACING in round three. Earlier I had played VIRUS for 42, slotting the V on the DLS and the S on the TWS on the bottom row, leaving three places to the left of the V. I remembered the ???VIRUS front extensions and was hoping to stretch it to the bottom left TWS to make POXVIRUS, but used my X elsewhere to score high. I did not want to keep the X on my rack in the hope I would draw a P. I eventually found myself with a final rack that included PRO. PROVIRUS occurred to me yet it was not as immediate as POXVIRUS or REOVIRUS (SUBVIRUS, by the way, was not a possibility). I looked over the board to see if there was a way to win without playing it, as I was not 100% sure that PROVIRUS was acceptable. Even though the word did occur to me I wanted to find a play that did not give me any doubts. When I saw no other play that sealed the win, I dropped PRO in front of VIRUS and Eric let out a sigh that revealed to me that he knew the only way he would lose is if I found it.

14 mOIDORE (77) / INDENTER (65) MAsTERS (93) 394-354 Froilan Mendoza

I challenged off ECOD £ when Froilan played AIYEE above COD.

15 LEGATER (65)* / WhELMING (102) SOLACErS (158) ADVERTED (65) 355-481 Marty Gabriel

With the possibility of playing either RELEGATE or REGELATE through an open E, I opted for the phony 7LW instead. Either 8LW would have slotted the final E just above the centre right TWS, which is a volatile position when there is a triple-triple opportunity. After a reflexive motion to pause the clock to challenge off LEGATER, Marty decided to put me on hold. I remained on hold forever, not knowing what to expect. I hoped that if he did challenge it off I would still be able to play one of those two 8LW bingos on my next turn. Marty let it go, and then played the triple-triple SOLACErS through the L. As it turns out, if I had played either 8LW to begin with, there was still a triple-triple opportunity for Marty to play through the E: CASEOSEs for 140. I believe, in retrospect, that it would have been harder for Marty to find CASEOSEs. He in fact had two other triple-triples through the L: CALlOSES and CELOSiAS, both of which, in my opinion, are easier to find than CASEOSEs.

16 TASERED (77) DEVOuTLY (65) / BUNCHINg (94) 409-357 John Luebkemann

My first bingo made two new words when I hooked the D onto the end of ABYE. I challenged off AGITATOS*. The rack for my second bingo was the awful DLOTVY? which makes no 7LW and only one 8LW, which I played through an E.

17 ENTOILs (69) / none 344-359 Scott Appel

I played my bingo in my third-last move and picked the second blank. I may have sealed the win if I hadn’t chickened out of playing NONmETAL through an A. At the end of the game, with the rack DINNRW? I saw INDRaWN but the only bingo lane was through an E or to find a word beginning with U. I found uNWINDER and UNWINDeR yet Scott blocked both since the U and E were in the same row. After the game he said that he did not see my 8LW possibilities.

18 ANDESYTE (167) ROOFIES (74) DIGiTAL (70) / none 556-408 Frank Tangredi

Frank had just played TEDIUM, slotting the T in the left row above the bottom TWS. I saw ANDESYTE immediately. The rack ADEENSY only yields one other 8LW, YEARENDS.

19 TINNIER (71) / DRESSiNG (65) INCITER (63) hAWKISH (110) 345-420 Ed Roth

My bingo was an outplay which Ed did not see. I unsuccessfully challenged hAWKISH.

20 CHErOOTS (78) / PoNIARDS (83) WEIRDIES (92) 364-354 David Pearl

I challenged off TAXIStAND*, which David played through -XI-. He reasoned that it might be acceptable since CABSTAND is.

21 TIdERIP (70) ROTENONE (59) / AREOLAE (72) ROADIES (77) OUTINgS (71) 361-503 Stefan Fatsis

22 none / MISLEAD (76) OBVIATED (78) CARINAE (69) TaLLIERS (74) 252-581 Dustin Dean

I played FO* by mistake in my third move. It was challenged off of course, and I simply removed it without needing to get up to do a computer adjudication. After this error, by three turns each Dustin was way ahead 200-47.

23 CHAGRINS (176) BOONIeS (76) INTERTIE (77) / OvERSEE (72) ABLATING (62) 557-417 Josh Kopczak

My second triple-triple of this tournament was played through the G. I also played JOTTY for 62. My first rack was AAAAFHZ and decided to play FAZE for 32, going second. I managed to get rid of my overload of A’s with ALPACA for 23 on my second turn.

24 bye

25 ANNULED (70)* NONTItLE (68) FERVORS (83) / DETINUES (131) HISTONEs (80) 421-434 Ben Withers

I played first and my opening rack was ADELNNU. I saw UNLADEN and doubted it, so looked for something else. Ben held me for a long time on ANNULED and talked out loud to convince himself that it was acceptable. I could easily have looked harder for my second bingo so that I didn’t slot the first N in a triple-triple lane. Other easy words that played were INdOLENT, INsOLENT and LENITiON. The N gave Ben DETINUES.

26 RENOUNCE (64) RIMInESS (80) LATIGOES (68) / UNDERLIT (80) AUREATED (68)* DROWNING (92) 432-460 Chris Cree

I had possibly two chances to win this game. I chickened out of playing BODySUIT through a D. Why would I doubt that word? And then with the rack AFIOSS? (holding on to the same blank) I missed the only bingo, FIAScOS, which would have played. I even played that word relatively recently, at the Milton tournament, albeit naturally. I admit that finding it with the blank is a harder task. I drew the remaining five tiles left in the bag. The last tile out was the second blank.

27 none / none 313-329 Jeremy Hall

This was a horrific closed board and I had the win at hand with the score standing 217-202, with our scores still needing to be adjusted by subtracting the values of our unplayed tiles. Thus my modified score would have been 210. After four consecutive turns of exchanging tiles or passing, Jeremy tried a desperation play by extending CHON to ELECHON*, also making HATE. If I challenge ELECHON off, then I had the power to end the game with a sixth consecutive score of zero when I pass my turn. But I let ELECHON stand. I kicked myself afterwards as I had nothing to lose by challenging it. Even if the word was acceptable, with such a closed board, Jeremy would have an extra turn to open it up even more, which I could use to my advantage. Jeremy ended up pulling both blanks and while the more open board still permitted no bingos for either of us, it gave him the power tiles to win. Over the course of the entire tournament, Jeremy’s 329 was the second-lowest winning score in our division. But imagine if I had won this game with a 210!

28 DAUTIES (71) / WITnEYS (82) TURNABLE (61) TROILITE (77) SENECIO (81) 309-493 James Donnelly

I blew the game right from the start. With the opening rack ACDENOV I saw CONCAVED yet missed the seemingly easier VOIDANCE through the I in WITnEYS, which was James’s opening play.

29 ReFINES (80) / CELERIEs (67) 373-435 Ed Roth

Ed challenged GRIFfENS* off, and I see that those letters make an acceptable 8LW, REFfINGS. I do not recall if that word would have fit. I mistakenly played JEW and we did not go to the computer to adjudicate. What got into my head to play this slur? Ed also scored 72 for AZOLE.

30 FEEDiNGS (63) SAUTOIRE (70) / WALIEsT (76) PASSANT (87) 341-437 Jackson Smylie

31 PLoWERs (82) / ELUANTS (71) MURRAINS (61) ESTRONE (86) 339-420 Mike Early

I played first and the first and third tiles I revealed were the blanks. The game was by no means a runaway for Mike as he didn’t score his third bingo until his second-last move. He could only play a 7LW bingo, in the TWS lane, if the S was in second position. That is not an easy position to play an S-bingo, and I only feared that he might make a 6LW starting with S to the lower right TWS instead. I should have considered the ramifications of a 6LW there anyway, yet left that spot and played for points somewhere else. After the tournament during lunch I analyzed the endgame to see if I could have won by blocking the bingo lane. In retrospect a 6LW stretching to the TWS would have yielded a lot of points, as there was still an unseen GHX in the bag. I needed to play four tiles to block the lane yet if I played somewhere else (which I did) I still ended up using four tiles, so would have had to pick the same number to replenish my rack anyway. The four tiles I picked were EGHX. Had I made my blocking move instead, the score would have been 317-304 in my favour and my final rack would have been ugly: CEEGHHX. With the unseen pool AEENOOSTR I didn’t stand a chance. Incidentally, the play I made elsewhere kept the S so my final seven were EEGHHSX, still ugly. It is important to note that my rack, before I made that play, was AACEHSV which makes no 6LW beginning with S, so I couldn’t have used that spot for myself.

47 for me / 57 for my opponents

My final record with the bye win was 12-19. I went into the tournament ranked 42nd in my division and ended up in 42nd place.

Playing Mack Meller during round one, which was livestreamed. I wish my rack was more photogenic than the ugly OOREERA.

A beautiful in-focus shot of the table sign

The roped-off livestream table scene. Kristen Chew is annotating.

My 557 game against Josh Kopczak in round 23, where I played CHAGRINS for 176.

All photos by Steve Grob