Hassall Grove Club Tournament - 4th April 1998


Nine games in one day! I'd like to see that.

And you could have, at the Vegas of the West, better known as the Rooty Hill RSL Club and arguably the best Scrabble Tournament venue here in Sydney. And this was arguably one of the most demanding days of Scrabble staged by a local club, with the nine forty minute games actually being slotted in between breakfast and dinner.

Fifty players paid $30 to contest the $500 first prize on offer, in one single, open contest. Jean Noonan devised an innovative pairing system, which saw players paired according to the order their dues were paid. This effectively meant that that travelling companions, and occasionally spouses were paired against each other in the first game.

John Holgate burst out of the barrier and shot to an early lead with a 283 point win in his first game, but I managed to head him after the second game with two consecutive good wins in my first two games. My showdown with John in game four was a 490 to 454 win to John, thus giving him back the lead.

From that point on, John held the lead right through to the final game, despite going down to Paul Cleary in the second last game. Graham Lock Lee had crept up to outright second with a series of close wins, so three players still had a chance to win going into the final game.

All John had to do was win his last game against my dear friend Ethel Collins, and this is what he did, albeit by the small margin of 17 points. Graham easily beat Robin Duncan to secure second, while I scored a comfortable win over Paul to grab third.

With the large prize pool, prizes were aplenty at the end of the day. George Khamis picked up $50 for coming last with 0 wins, and prizes were also given for 40th (Donna McDonald), 30th (Dulcie Lyall), 20th (Penny Lavender) and 10th (Kris Logan).

Rod Talbot won the prize for the biggest thrashing handed out to an opponent, a mere 370 points, Joan Rosenthal got the high game score of 578, Merle Young from Wollongong the high word score of 131 for TRACTION and Graham Lock Lee the rating gain of 80 points.

And was the formula successful? Yes and no. The nine games were relished by all, but general consensus dictates that next year there will be two Divisions. We can't wait!

Here are the results:

Results after game 9
HASSEL98 -- OPEN

Rank Player            Wins  Mar
--------------------------------
  1 John Holgate         8   756
  2 Graeme Lock Lee      8   494
  3 Bob Jackman          7   899
  4 Joan Rosenthal       6   817
  5 Paul Cleary          6   413
  6 Sam Greenberg        6   396
  7 Ian Close            6   377
  8 Robin Duncan         6   202
  9 Ethel Collins        6   189
 10 Kris Logan           6   172
 11 Peter Shaw           6    33
 12 Gloria Gallagher     6    17
 13 John Barker          5   438
 14 Rod Talbot           5   345
 15 Derek Mckenzie       5   344
 16 Ivana Duria          5   222
 17 Betty Coleman        5   112
 18 Gordon Meggs         5    38
 19 Liz Jackman          5    26
 20 Penny Lavender       5    -1
 21 Ros Gibbons          5   -10
 22 Jeff Spring          5   -20
 23 Linda Dimond         5   -73
 24 Dawn Spring          5  -185
 25 Siva Sivapalasundram 5  -327
 26 Svend Grunnet        4« -402
 27 Jean Balmer          4   239
 28 Edith Lowbeer        4   211
 29 Norma Tracey         4    52
 30 Dulcie Lyall         4    -8
 31 Merle Young          4  -107
 32 Jenny Templeton      4  -108
 33 Colleen Howie        4  -176
 34 Judy Mcguinness      4  -192
 35 Nanette Reynolds     4  -195
 36 Raya Wilkinson       4  -199
 37 Richard Birch        4  -252
 38 Wilma Vialle         4  -333
 39 Alan Gauci           3« -256
 40 Donna Macdonald      3   -33
 41 Daphne Bezuidenhout  3  -114
 42 Hanne Marks          3  -115
 43 Ann Fiddler          3  -180
 44 Diana Field          3  -190
 45 June Brewin          3  -225
 46 Ted Roberts          3  -393
 47 Diana Hilly          2  -246
 48 Andree Lajoie        2  -743
 49 Anne Barron          2 -1049
 50 George Khamis        0  -660
HIGH GAME: Joan Rosenthal    587
HIGH WORD: Merle Young       131
            "TRACTION"

Stats for Tournament : HASSEL98

+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| state     Name           | National  | State   |   Wins    | Rating Points |
|                          | Old  New  | Old New | Exp  Act  | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
+Section: *OPEN                        +         +           +               +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| NSW John Holgate         |    3    2 |   2   1 |  7.4  8.0 | 1946 +11 1957 |
| NSW Graeme Lock Lee      |   66   37 |  17  12 |  4.7  8.0 | 1644 +80 1724 |
| NSW Bob Jackman          |    4    4 |   3   3 |  6.4  7.0 | 1911 +11 1922 |
| NSW Joan Rosenthal       |    7    9 |   5   5 |  7.3  6.0 | 1892 -21 1871 |
| NSW Paul Cleary          |    5    6 |   4   4 |  6.7  6.0 | 1911 -11 1900 |
| NSW Robin Duncan         |   36   33 |  11  11 |  5.7  6.0 | 1724  +6 1730 |
| NSW Ethel Collins        |  162  148 |  44  39 |  4.1  6.0 | 1426 +38 1464 |
| NSW Ian Close            |  140  147 |  38  38 |  6.6  6.0 | 1475 -11 1464 |
| NSW Gloria Gallagher     |   90   90 |  24  24 |  6.1  6.0 | 1595  -1 1594 |
| NSW Sam Greenberg        |  113  114 |  30  30 |  6.3  6.0 | 1535  -6 1529 |
| NSW Peter Shaw           |   25   30 |   9   9 |  7.6  6.0 | 1780 -33 1747 |
| NSW Kris Logan           |   99  102 |  27  28 |  6.8  6.0 | 1575 -17 1558 |
| NSW John Barker          |   31   32 |  10  10 |  5.3  5.0 | 1736  -6 1730 |
| NSW Rod Talbot           |   41   50 |  13  15 |  7.1  5.0 | 1713 -41 1672 |
| NSW Jeff Spring          |  175  170 |  46  45 |  4.8  5.0 | 1410  +4 1414 |
| NSW Derek McKenzie       |  148  146 |  39  37 |  4.7  5.0 | 1461  +5 1466 |
| NSW Liz Jackman          |  245  223 |  61  52 |  2.8  5.0 | 1266 +45 1311 |
| NSW Gordon Meggs         |  322  299 |  79  71 |  3.4  5.0 | 1150 +33 1183 |
| NSW Ivana Duria          |  517  498 | 133 127 |  3.8  5.0 |  885 +24  909 |
| NSW Betty Coleman        |  255  240 |  62  57 |  3.7  5.0 | 1251 +27 1278 |
| NSW Linda Dimond         |  464  408 | 115 100 |  2.0  5.0 |  950 +69 1019 |
| NSW Penny Lavender       |  425  371 | 104  93 |  2.1  5.0 |  995 +68 1063 |
| NSW Ros Gibbons          |  217  219 |  51  51 |  5.4  5.0 | 1328  -8 1320 |
| NSW Siva Sivapalasundram |  159  154 |  43  41 |  4.5  5.0 | 1437 +10 1447 |
| NSW Dawn Spring          |  273  260 |  67  63 |  4.3  5.0 | 1231 +14 1245 |
| QLD Svend Grunnet        |  562  524 |  69  63 |  2.9  4.5 |  847 +32  879 |
| NSW Dulcie Lyall         |  108  136 |  29  35 |  7.0  4.0 | 1545 -61 1484 |
| NSW Edith Lowbeer        |  359  360 |  91  91 |  4.3  4.0 | 1095  -5 1090 |
| NSW Jean Balmer          |  449  443 | 111 111 |  3.4  4.0 |  961 +12  973 |
| NSW Jenny Templeton      |  244  276 |  60  67 |  6.3  4.0 | 1270 -46 1224 |
| NSW Nanette Reynolds     |  315  311 |  78  75 |  3.8  4.0 | 1156  +5 1161 |
| NSW Merle Young          |  615  603 | 155 153 |  3.3  4.0 |  795 +14  809 |
| NSW Colleen Howie        |  441  410 | 109 101 |  1.8  4.0 |  973 +43 1016 |
| NSW Norma Tracey         |  303  305 |  73  73 |  4.3  4.0 | 1177  -4 1173 |
| NSW Raya Wilkinson       |  350  357 |  88  90 |  4.7  4.0 | 1112 -14 1098 |
| NSW Judy McGuinness      |  490  497 | 125 126 |  4.6  4.0 |  927 -13  914 |
| NSW Wilma Vialle         |  769  725 | 193 180 |  2.6  4.0 |  651 +41  692 |
| NSW Richard Birch        |  300  316 |  72  79 |  5.1  4.0 | 1180 -23 1157 |
| NSW Alan Gauci           |  498  505 | 127 130 |  4.0  3.5 |  911  -9  902 |
| NSW Hanne Marks          |  242  283 |  58  69 |  6.0  3.0 | 1274 -59 1215 |
| NSW Donna MacDonald      |  649  630 | 159 158 |  1.7  3.0 |  756 +26  782 |
| NSW Daphne Bezuidenhout  |  698  676 | 171 167 |  1.8  3.0 |  710 +23  733 |
| NSW Ann Fiddler          |  802  792 | 201 200 |  2.6  3.0 |  609  +9  618 |
| NSW Ted Roberts          |  139  184 |  37  46 |  7.2  3.0 | 1477 -82 1395 |
| NSW June Brewin          |  578  617 | 146 155 |  4.5  3.0 |  835 -44  791 |
| NSW Diana Field          |  861  850 | 220 218 |  2.5  3.0 |  558 +11  569 |
| NSW Diana Hilly          |  755  782 | 187 196 |  3.3  2.0 |  663 -26  637 |
| NSW Andree Lajoie        |  851  879 | 218 228 |  3.1  2.0 |  565 -21  544 |
|*NSW Anne Barron          |    0  924 |   0 240 |  2.4  2.0 |  500      500 |
| NSW George Khamis        |  924  988 | 240 262 |  2.0  0.0 |  500 -61  439 |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+--------------