TLW120 - Nomads Results

Newcastle
April 26th (6 rounds)
At the last two tournaments we had no computer, but this year we had two.
Bliss! Not only were challenges checked in record time but results were
processed extremely quickly too. In spite of a delayed start and the extra
6th game, we still managed to finish the day 15 minutes ahead of the
timetable. In Divisions A and B the winners managed to win all 6 games but
in Division C, 7 players finished on 4 wins. A 4th place was awarded in the
larger Division A. Mikki Nicholson Nichols
Newcastle A
Mikki Nicholson 6 842
Joyce Cansfield 5 448
Raymond Tate 4 373
Laura Finley 4 -75
Ratings: Viv Beckman
Malta Open
May 2nd- 4th (18 rounds)
Report from Cecil Muscat
Newcastle B
John Harrison 6 407
Joy Hodge 5 392
Sam Beckwith 3 191
Ratings: Helgmarie Farrow
Scrabble players from Malta, England, Scotland, Ireland, Romania and Israel took part in the
first Malta Open Tournament which was a big success with many of the participants pledging
to return. The hotel rates were very competitive and if one books early, when the flights are
cheap in the winter, the whole package can be quite attractive. Unfortunately the Tournament
Director could not make it on the Sunday as he contracted gastric flu and poor Janet Phillips
had to have a knee operation and retire from the tournament.
The early front runner was Mario Saliba, a Maltese, who won his first 6 games, to be overtaken
by Nuala O’Rourke, then Evan Cohen from Israel, Vincent Boyle and finally for Cecil Muscat
to finish in the lead on his own on 9 wins at the end of the second day.
The final dramatic day saw the favourite Jared Robinson taking the lead for the rest of the
tournament, going into round 17 with what looked like an unstoppable 2 game advantage
and a spread of 977. However, he was stopped in his tracks by a resurgent Paloma Raychbart
whose only loss of the day was against Cecil Muscat. Paloma also registered a good win
against the second favourite Theresa Camilleri in round 16. So in the final round Jared was
leading by 13 wins with a spread of 845 followed by Theresa on 12 wins and a spread of
1002. The last fixture was King of the Hill and in a very tense final game Theresa won by
96pts. Paloma won against Dan Sandu for second place and Jared finished third.
Theresa Camilleri was given a rapturous applause during the prize ceremony as was a delighted
Paloma Raychbart from the strong Israeli contingent. Dan Sandu and Omri Rosenkrantz
won the rating prizes. The tournament was ABSP, Maltese and Internationally rated. Small
consolation for Jared, he is now provisionally the highest rated player in Malta! with 1898pts,
followed by Paloma with 1889pts and Theresa on 1830pts. We hope to see them battle it out
again next year!
10
Newcastle C
Elisabeth Allen 4 451
Barrie Hall 4 234
Gwen Linfoot 4 196
Ratings: Gill Hunter
We aim to make this tournament a fixture in the International World of Scrabble and I am
sure we will have many more than 32 foreign competitors next time!
We tend to run it on the lines of the BMSC with an open division (entry according to the
organizers discretion) and other divisions according to entrants. For enquiries email
cmuscat@blueyonder.co.uk . Cecil@onvol.net.
Theresa Camilleri 13 1098
Paloma Raychbart13 855
Jared Robinson 13 749
Jojo Delia 12 498
Cecil Muscat 12 365
Mike O’Rourke 12 206
Spring Matchplay
May 6th (25 rounds)
Report from Stewart Holden
other Brits:
9. Bob Violett 11 639
11.Chris Keeley 11 322
13.Evelyn Wallace 11 -336
14.Vincent Boyle10.5 468
15.Kevin Synott 10.5 365
17.Nuala O’Rourke10 347
20.Maurice Brown10 17
With the absence of the Durham tournament this year, the ABSP committee decided that a
replacement Major event was needed and so the Spring Matchplay took on this title. A
mammoth 25 games over 3 days in the excellent Staverton Park in Daventry attracted one of
the strongest fields of recent months. Certain names who have become accustomed to playing
in Div A were surprised to find themselves pushed out by the 20 players rated above 165 in
the top group! Two players from Belfast and four from Ireland were a further welcome addition
to the usual crowd.
On the first day Div C was led by Sarah-Jane Jamison and Marjorie Smith. Janet Bonham’s
MRIDANGS was probably the best word of the division all weekend, tied with Ian Kendall’s
GUNMAKER. On the second day perennial lower division winner Peter Ashurst took the
lead and didn’t look back. Clearly a stronger player than the rest of the field, he was Gibsonized
with four rounds to spare.
Div B was notable for having seven games with a 1pt spread and two draws, one of which
came unexpectedly for Anne Hidden when her outplay of EJECTING (104) and 12pts of
countback suddenly levelled the scores with Graham Bonham. However it was the Aylesbury
man who had the last laugh as an impressive 17.5-7.5 record won the division, having
beaten Adrienne Berger in the crucial last round battle.
The strong field of Div A did not disappoint, with impressive plays and scorelines throughout
the weekend. Round 7 saw fireworks between Alec Webb and Elie Dangoor whose game
finished 534-523 in Alec’s favour; Elie took the ABSP record for the highest ever losing score
in a tournament game. Ben Tarlow’s MARTYRED (185) won the high word prize and Terry
Kirk recovered from recent bad form to claim second place, but the weekend clearly belonged
to Martin Harrison who put in a blistering 20-5 record to claim his first Major title. This
awesome performance put his rating from 185 up to 192 and few would deny he is now one
of the UK’s very best players.
11
21.Paul Cartman 10 97
23.Moya Dewar 10 -161
29.George Newman 9 91
36.Claire Violett 8 18
44.Philip Turner 8 -555
46.Ellie Dobson 7 -91
48.Christ’e Cartman 7 -254
54.Sim’ Rosenstone 5 -2146