Why am I, a Queensland player, reporting on Lismore's tournament when Lismore is in northern NSW? It's because Karen Richards of Harrisville Club in Queensland had visited the Lismore Club several times when staying in the area and she offered to help them run their first tournament. I went along to play, take the computers, act as tournament director, etc, and so here's a report.
Originally, the field was going to be divided into groups of 8 to play round robins. However, when the names started coming in, it was clear that, based on ratings, most of the tournament novices would have ended up in the one section. So the lowest two sections were combined into one group, section D, and these players played 7 games in the standard format. This meant a more mixed lower group, and all the Lismore novices didn't have to just play against each other. The other three sections, A, B and C, played 7-game round robins. All games were 45 minutes long.
Lismore Club, which is organised by Leah Jackson, had found a very comfortable tournament venue in the Lismore Workers Club, and play proceeded quite well, despite the large proportion of players who had played in two or fewer Scrabble tournaments.
Besides eight Lismore players (including David Kleinig who had played in one Canberra tournament in 1996), there were seven players from Kempsey and South West Rocks Clubs, and Paul Waldstein from near Bellingen. Michael and Merriss Adler, who come from Canberra to visit Queensland every year about this time, played, as did 21 Queensland players from nine clubs. The fortieth player was Manop Phiphatboonserm, 24, of Bangkok, Thailand. Manop arrived in Brisbane just over a week ago to undertake business studies at Griffith University. He is one of Thailand's better players, and came 14th at the Channel NewsAsia World Scrabble Masters in Singapore in June 1999. His unofficial international rating is 1984 in the list maintained by Bob Jackman, so assigning him to section A was obvious. (Manop's full name is too long for the tournament software, so I manually adjusted the print-out.)
Manop lived up to his reputation with a clean sweep in section A. However, his wins weren't all runaway wins. In round 1, Manop pipped Edward Okulicz by 2 points, 363-361. Current Australian champion Edward (Brisbane Southside) says he could have won, but he was under time pressure, which is unusual for him. Patti Ashwin (Southport, Qld) and Karen Richards (Harrisville) also lost closely to Manop, 366-387 and 386-397 respectively. Manop's biggest win was against me (from Newmarket). We were close until halfway. I'd bingoed first with EMIRATE for 84 and Manop then made a neat PEONY for 46. I had a small play to help partly clear an awkward rack and Manop got INITIAL (67). My UNPAVeD was still playable for 72, and I went ahead again by 7 points. However, then Manop rolled out consecutive turns of XI (52), HOOTIER (76) and ARRiVERS (74) to roll over me. A couple of turns later, he went out with OUTBAKES (65) through a B (his 11th turn). I'd been struggling along, but didn't think Manop was likely to find a bonus, as there were few spots and the remaining tiles didn't look so good. He caught me with 21 points, including the Q, for a 529-278 win.
Manop's success gives him an initial Australian rating of 2122, about 200 points above the next nearest, Bob Jackman (NSW). However, as everyone knows by now (or should know!), ratings are not necessarily reliable if they are based on only a few games. Manop next plays at the Coominya tournament in Queensland on Sunday 8 July.
Second in A was Olga Visser (Albert & Logan, Qld). Her only loss was to Manop, 455-356, but the loss could have been greater if Manop had been more confident of a word. With EIINOP?, he didn't risk EPIGONIc (through G) for 140, but played PINIOnED, which he was certain of for 72. (LeXpert shows that PEIGNOIr was also playable.) We're trying to work out possible reasons for Olga's success. She had played heaps of Scrabble on the previous weekend (Kingscliff Travel Scrabble, northern NSW) and during the week (La Mancha Health Farm, near Lismore), but so did Karen Richards. Perhaps it was because Olga started off in the morning rather unwell and was not her usual ebullient self. Or, perhaps it was just the way the tiles fell. Edward had terrible racks against her and Olga caught him with H and V for a 364-354 win. I ran into time problems against Olga, which forced me to use two Ss for only 27 near the end, and Olga went on to win 377-364. Olga also beat Karen by 16 points and Michael Adler by 15. Her rating jumped a healthy 82 points.
The lead changed many times in the game between Edward and me. Early on, I had a rack of ADILNOT and I thought I was close to ADULATION. However, I then realised that it's a 9-letter word and so I nearly dismissed it, as I would need AT on the board to make it. But I looked on the board and there was an AT to play through! Down went ADULATION. Later, I held LIQUORS, but it was unplayable. Edward regained the game's lead with his out-play and won 440-401. (My loss was the day's highest.) Other games gave Edward the section's high game (558) and high word (115)--POLEAXE landed the X on a TLS and it made another word coming down.
In section B, the lowest-rated player, Alastair Richards (Harrisville), had a good first game. He scored the section's high game of 504 (more than double his opponent's score) and high word (ADVICES, 94). Alastair also prevented Jack Ashwin (Southport) from winning the section by beating him in the final round, courtesy of AIRINGS. Jack's loss allowed Ian Hoffman (Southport) to come first. Nonetheless, Jack gained 55 rating points to reclaim some of the points he's lost in the last few tournaments.
Section C had four Queenslanders and four NSW players, but the Queenslanders were more successful--all racked up 5 wins. Svend Grunnet (Stanthorpe) came out ahead of Martin Waterworth (Newmarket), helped along by two games in which he scored 443 for the section's highest game. And Svend also got the high word of REQUITE (107).
We were about to start the day's play when local player Alan Foley rang on his mobile while driving back from some work at Nimbin. Since we had an odd number in section D and Alan was unrated, we slotted him in, and he went on to win the section D unbeaten. Alan beat Maureen Aberneithie (Albert & Logan) by one point and won his last game on a forfeit because his opponent wanted to leave early. (Both players received their average score for their previous 6 games.) Alan also took the high game with 454. Second place went to another Lismore novice, Adrian Schooth, a university student. Adrian also found the highest word of anyone at the tournament with REQUIRES for 124. His only loss was to Alan. The computer has given both players initial ratings above 1000.
We look forward to Lismore running more tournaments, and we hope that Lismore players might be able to attend other tournaments (in Queensland and NSW) occasionally.
Before game 4, one player hadn't returned from lunch, so we had a message put over the intercom at the Workers Club. The latecomer did show up soon, but we also had another person who'd heard the call about the Scrabble tournament. I gave him Leah Jackson's number, so perhaps there'll be another player soon.
Other prizes
Highest word starting with:
L LARDERS 75 Olga Visser
I IRISING 76 Martin Waterworth
S SQUIRES 93 Ian Hoffman
M MINTING 78 Alan Foley
O OBTUSER 82 Michael Vnuk
R REQUIRES 124 Adrian Schooth
E EMIRATE 84 Michael Vnuk
Most unusual word:
A Karen Richards SARCONET
B Alastair Richards AIRINGS
C Martin Waterworth RACEMISE
D Jacky Booth HOKI
Nov Rita Loise REQUIT
Results
40 players, 7 games
Ranked by wins and aggregate
Rank Player Wins Aggr
-----------------------------------
A
1 Manop Phiphatboonserm 7 2939
2 Olga Visser 6 2659
3 Edward Okulicz 5 2982
4 Michael Vnuk 4 2779
5 Paul Richards 2 2527
6 Michael Adler (ACT) 2 2371
7 Karen Richards 1 2563
8 Patti Ashwin 1 2445
HG Edward Okulicz 558
HW Edward Okulicz POLEAXE 115
B
1 Ian Hoffman 5 2796
2 Jack Ashwin 5 2532
3 Linda Williams 4 2664
4 Alastair Richards 4 2613
5 Paul Waldstein (NSW) 3 2454
6 Erica Williams 3 2428
7 Bill Bates (NSW) 3 2164
8 Karen Telford 1 2286
HG Alastair Richards 504
HW Alastair Richards ADVICES 94
C
1 Svend Grunnet 5 2731
2 Martin Waterworth 5 2622
3 Doug Hodgetts 5 2609
4 Mary Bone 5 2512
5 Kate McDonnell (NSW) 4 2567
6 Vicki Underhill(NSW) 2 2308
7 Joy Smith (NSW) 2 2303
8 Mollie Pearson (NSW) 0 1834
HG Svend Grunnet 443
HG Svend Grunnet 443
HW Svend Grunnet REQUITE 107
D
1 *Alan Foley (NSW) 7 2456
2 *Adrian Schooth (NSW) 6 2423
3 Rowena Vnuk 4 2337
4 David Kleinig (NSW) 4 2216
5 *John Vanderbyl (NSW) 4 2165
6 Maureen Aberneithie 4 2120
7 Valerie McCall 4 2039
8 Jacky Booth (NSW) 4 1891
9 *Rita Loise (NSW) 3 2181
10 Merriss Adler (ACT) 3 2134
11 *Monica Huf (NSW) 3 2078
12 Terry Aberneithie 3 2055
13 *Sue Ross (NSW) 3 1853
14 *Leah Jackson (NSW) 2 1915
15 Nancy Haig 2 1828
16 *Taran Tula (NSW) 0 1697
HG Alan Foley (NSW) 454
HW Adrian Schooth (NSW)
REQUIRES 124
* = novice
Players are from Queensland, unless indicated
Nat rank State rank Wins Rating points
Name Old New Old New Exp Act Old Chg New
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
QLD Manop Phiphatboonserm 0 1 | 0 1 | 6.7 6.7 | 2122 +0 2122
QLD Olga Visser 96 53 | 8 6 | 2.8 6.0 | 1507 +82 1589
QLD Edward Okulicz 4 5 | 1 2 | 5.4 5.0 | 1848 -6 1842
QLD Michael Vnuk 45 45 | 4 5 | 3.6 4.0 | 1600 +8 1608
QLD Paul Richards 83 94 | 7 9 | 3.1 2.0 | 1539 -21 1518
ACT Michael Adler 239 230 | 61 60 | 1.1 2.0 | 1288 +17 1305
QLD Karen Richards 53 87 | 5 8 | 3.5 1.0 | 1583 -49 1534
QLD Patti Ashwin 177 188 | 16 18 | 1.8 1.0 | 1389 -17 1372
B
QLD Ian Hoffman 340 320 | 33 32 | 3.8 5.0 | 1127 +26 1153
QLD Jack Ashwin 414 378 | 43 39 | 2.7 5.0 | 1025 +55 1080
QLD Linda Williams 274 284 | 23 24 | 4.8 4.0 | 1229 -15 1214
QLD Alastair Richards 461 436 | 53 50 | 2.1 4.0 | 968 +39 1007
NSW Paul Waldstein 316 344 | 84 86 | 4.1 3.0 | 1158 -32 1126
QLD Erica Williams 276 298 | 24 28 | 4.8 3.0 | 1224 -34 1190
NSW Bill Bates 457 444 | 105 101 | 2.2 3.0 | 974 +25 999
QLD Karen Telford 358 395 | 35 42 | 3.6 1.0 | 1108 -50 1058
C
QLD Svend Grunnet 556 528 | 71 71 | 4.0 5.0 | 887 +20 907
QLD Martin Waterworth 507 493 | 64 65 | 4.4 5.0 | 925 +12 937
QLD Doug Hodgetts 663 615 | 89 88 | 2.9 5.0 | 789 +46 835
QLD Mary Bone 598 569 | 82 78 | 3.6 5.0 | 849 +29 878
NSW Kate McDonnell 651 622 | 164 154 | 3.1 4.0 | 805 +28 833
NSW Vicki Underhill 694 718 | 176 180 | 2.6 2.0 | 760 -18 742
NSW Joy Smith 632 668 | 156 166 | 3.3 2.0 | 825 -39 786
NSW Mollie Pearson 541 676 | 128 169 | 4.1 0.0 | 897-123 774
D
*NSW Alan Foley 0 370 | 0 37 | 6.2 6.7 | 1064 +29 1093
*NSW Adrian Schooth 0 418 | 0 46 | 6.0 6.0 | 1022 +0 1022
QLD Rowena Vnuk 782 767 | 118 118 | 3.4 4.0 | 684 +13 697
NSW David Kleinig 0 871 | 0 223 | 2.7 4.0 | 566 +42 608
*NSW John Vanderbyl 0 796 | 0 122 | 4.0 4.0 | 678 +0 678
QLD Maureen Aberneithie 893 849 | 147 139 | 2.6 4.0 | 579 +48 627
QLD Valerie McCall 961 938 | 167 164 | 2.8 4.0 | 514 +35 549
NSW Jacky Booth 873 879 | 225 226 | 4.0 4.0 | 597 +0 597
*NSW Rita Loise 0 972 | 0 175 | 3.0 3.0 | 513 -1 512
NSW Merriss Adler 939 945 | 246 247 | 3.0 3.0 | 542 +0 542
*NSW Monica Huf 0 962 | 0 169 | 3.0 3.0 | 522 +0 522
QLD Terry Aberneithie 884 894 | 145 151 | 3.1 3.0 | 585 -3 582
*NSW Sue Ross 0 1093 | 0 214 | 3.0 3.0 | 500 -2 498
*NSW Leah Jackson 0 1105 | 0 218 | 2.8 2.0 | 500 -53 447
QLD Nancy Haig 969 1100 | 171 217 | 3.3 2.0 | 507 -26 481
*NSW Taran Tula 0 1107 | 0 219 | 3.1 0.4 | 500-171 329
* = novice