TLW96 - Nomads Results

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Evan 10: AGEIIST (- 34) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o S OWL U K P E A C I N G J O HEM D WO Y I E E V B I F ZONAE L I E D A OD B T I E R Y A H E A S S T R I G A T E Things are getting very interesting, with both players holding racks full of bonus potential. Evan decides that the tiles to ditch are GI, and I agree with him. Looking at the unseen tiles, there are far more consonants than vowels to come, including four N’s and four R’s, either of which would combine beautifully with AEIST. The real question is where to ditch GI. The three prime candidates are k3d, j9d, and c1a. Evan plays the boldest of the three, making JOG/GI. It’s a straight race to see who can pick the bonus first... GI k3d 14 306 Stewart 10: ADERT MU (+20) Evan’s previous move has worked out perfectly for him. If he’d played GI anywhere else, Stewart would have had MATURED at k1d for 86. Denied his bonus, Stewart has the choice of continuing to fish for a bonus, or trying to maximise his score. The bottom right corner of the board offers several opportunities: MUD at m14a for 21 leaves a lovely RATE on the rack, but it’s probably best to play more tiles and extend the lead. There are a couple of nice 5-letter plays; best is DATUM at k14a, but not far behind is Stewart’s play of MUTED. MUTED k14a 30 356 Evan 11: A E I S T E N (- 50) Evan gets the bonus he was fishing for, although TENIASES at b14a would have scored 5 more points and been less risky. TRAINEES h11a 66 372 Stewart 11: A R CLLRT (-16) Behind for the first time, and with a horrid rack, things have definitely gone downhill fast for Stewart. Being a northerner, CLARTS leapt out at me, but Stewart’s southern roots conspire against him on this occasion, and he has to settle for CARLS instead. CARLS o7d 21 377 28 Unseen: AAEEIOOOUUU CDFLLMNNNNP RRRRSTTTVX Score: Evan 292 Stewart 326 A E G I I S T Evan Evan 12: A F N O P S T (- 5) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o S OWL U K P E A C I N G J O G HEM D WO I Y I E E V B I F C ZONAE A L I E D A R OD B L T I E T R A I N E E S Y A H E A S M U T E D S T R I G A T E Considering how much dross there was in the bag, this is a great pick-up. The question is how best to utilise the riches on his rack... Evan decides to take the points immediately, playing FAST using the S for JOGS. However this sets up FASTI, and the possibility of an immediate comeback for Stewart with NIX for 36, or even worse, a move such as FLUX at l1a for 42. With the GIF hook available, it would be far better to hold back the S and take the points there. FOP for 30 looks great, leaving ANST, but with lousy tiles in the bag and few openings for bonuses a better play is FONT for 28, setting up a high-scoring play from o1 involving FONTS. FAST l1d 38 410 Stewart 12: LRT RROU (-33) From Stewart’s perspective, the unseen tiles are IOOU NNNPVX. Is there any possibility of eking out a win? Somehow he needs a high-scoring move involving the X, and the best possibilities still appear to be at the top of the board. I’m not sure I’d have seen it, but the move the computer likes best is TORR at k12a for 18. It leaves LU on Stewart’s rack, giving the possibility of FLUX, so a pickup which include NIX might still be good enough. Stewart’s move of UR at m13a has the advantage of leaving three tiles in the bag, but there’s surely insufficient potential left on his rack. UR m13a 12 389 Evan 13: N O P NNOV (+21) Evan has a 21-point lead, with IOULRRTX unseen. What’s the worst that Stewart could do? I suppose it has to be FLUX, FLIX or FIXT at l1a for 42, and unless the X is in the bag he has to have one of ‘em. For that reason it might make sense to play a move that blocks these plays - for example ANON at l2a. However Evan adopts the alternative strategy of maximizing his score. EEVN is a difficult word to see; perhaps the presence of “Ev” helped him spot it! The other good thing about EEVN is that it leaves two vowels on 29 Unseen: IOOUU LNNRRRTVX Score: Evan 372 Stewart 377 A F N O P S T Evan
Evan’s rack, so the chances are that he can play out in two moves - whereas it’s difficult to envisage a one move out-play for Stewart after his expected 42-point X play. EEVN h5a 22 432 Stewart 13: LORRT IX (-43) With no two move out-play, Stewart settles for the 42 points for FIXT. FIXT l1a 42 431 Evan 14: NNOOP U (+ 1) With Stewart unable to play out, all Evan needs to do is to play out in two. His move achieves this, although there are various alternatives which would have increased his spread. PUN j7d 9 441 Stewart 14: LORR (-10) Best is LOR at k10a for 9, but quite rightly Stewart tries a word that he hopes will be there. Unfortunately for him, it ain’t. (LORRE) 0 431 Evan 15: O O N (+10) And Evan duly plays out to win the game. POON Final score: Evan 452 Stewart 427 j7a 7 448 A Tempting Setup In the Easter Matchplay, I was faced with the following situation in my game against Mark Nyman: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o YOB J C ONEPAT L S N Q B E U V A T A I Z A X F Y R HOAG I ES U E FORE MOWN D UKE V E L D S A W A L G E R I N E C I D U I S O R I C I N E G R I P E E H 30 Unseen: AAIOLTTT Score: Phil 419 Mark 448 DMNOR S T Phil I decided to try something clever, and played MHO at l15a for 11. My reasoning was that if I picked up a vowel I’d have a pretty much unblockable high-scoring play on the O column, making MHOS. Mark could make life slightly more difficult, but I couldn’t see any way in which he could stop me scoring 40+ points - and if he did, he would risk sacrificing the chance of playing out in two. I duly picked up one of the two A’s, but Mark responded with TOWT at k11a for 20, taking a 38-point lead, and after my DANS/MHOS for 48, he played out with TAIL/TON/AWEIGH/IT for 26, winning by 20 points. As it happens, with an A in the bag there is a way in which I can win the game. Can you see it? The answer is on page 32. An Unexpected Opening My thanks to Allan Simmons for submitting the following board position. What move provides the best winning chance in this position? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Z F O B P E R V E R Y AR FELON NOD J AGER O T U G ER L MUM WO I T H A H S B E A X P O O I V A T D I C K ANOD I SE Y E U D A T I N G S Q U I N It would be very dangerous to play ZAIRE because that will empty the bag and there is a realistic threat of a bonus ending in -S or _SE from the opponent down the n column making DICKS. The opponent might well score 42 or 45 so from the Z so how do you counter both the threat of a good Z score and the threat of a bonus? See next page for a possible answer... 31 Unseen: CEEEIILNST Score: You 350 Opp 370 AAE I RSW You Contributions for Across the Board I’m always delighted to receive interesting board positions, games for annotation, clever moves, endgames, and anything else that’s happened to you across the board. You can contact me at: Thorns Cottage, Mount Pleasant Lane, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 8LS or by e-mail at: phil_appleby2000@yahoo.co.uk
Page 1 and 2: C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S A q
Page 3 and 4: 6 MOTIONS These are detailed below
Page 5 and 6: Can-Am 2002, by Joel Wapnick and Br
Page 7 and 8: Southampton 21st March (6 games) Re
Page 9 and 10: In the C division, Joanne Hiley nee
Page 11 and 12: Knowier after the event Alan Bailey
Page 13 and 14: 148 N Fran Thompson 148 Y David Wil
Page 15: Evan 4: CEG AIOP (-82) Evan has an
Page 19 and 20: Forgotten Fives (a word list contri
Page 21 and 22: Herve Bohbot, the French representa
Page 23 and 24: Spotted on the internet: Collective
Page 25 and 26: Ramada Jarvis, Bingley 23rd - 26th

TLW96 - Nomads Results

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