A Scrabble Guide to Daily Life

WPC 2010

2010-05-21T18:40:00.003+09:00

I hear that Adrian Tamas, by far the best Scrabble player in the world, might be joining the WPC in Dallas this year. It`s not sure yet, but I`ll keep you up to date...

MISO 2010 ( Pakistan`s Got Talent )

2010-05-18T20:47:00.005+09:00

People love stories. We love it when the unexpected happens. Have you seen "America`s Got Talent"? Or " Britain`s Got Talent" ? I for one love it when someone gets on that stage and shocks the people with an amazing performance. And that`s exactly what Mohammad Sulaiman did this tournament. He shocked the world of competitive Scrabble with his level of play. We all knew he was a good player, but how many of us would have put money on him winning this tournament? I think I know the answer. I remember last year when I met Mohamad Sulaiman in Malaysia, at the Causeway Scrabble Challenge, he was telling me that he can feel how his age affects his play. He thinks slower, acts slower than his younger opponents, and forgets words easily, he told me then. I was amazed by how aware he was of his shortcomings. Mohammad Sulaiman is a very modest player,who loves this game, and who deserved to win this tournament. His extremely good strategy and his consistent level of play won him the tournament. Something tells me that even Nigel was happy to see Mohammad win this tournament. Congratulations, Mohammad Sulaiman!

Malta International Scrabble Open ( The End )

2010-05-18T07:35:00.003+09:00

Game over. The final standings for our team are:

26 Catalin Caba (Romania) 12-9 (+157)
30 Dan Sandu (Romania) 12-9 (-212)
34 Mihai Pantis (Romania) 11-10 (+431)

Catalin Caba`s top 30 finish is like a win! He was rated 50th ( I think ) before the tournament. He finished 24 places better than his rating. It`s like having Dan or Mihai win the tournament. Congratulations Cata! As I was saying before, Dan took quite a few scalps in these two tournaments, proving that he is quite a fighter. Mihai couldn`t find his playing mood, and even though he was higher rated than Cata and Dan, he finished last.
Overall, I think the boys did well, and I hope they learnt something from these two tournaments.

Edward Martin vs Mohammed Sulaiman

2010-05-16T19:13:00.002+09:00

I was following the live coverage for the MISO and I think the game was winnable for Edward Martin. I`m not gonna analyse the whole game now, but it would be interesting to see what would Mohammed Sulaiman do if Edward Martin played WAE for 24 points instead of CLAW for 18, which also sets up Mohammed for a high score play. Anybody interested in looking into it? I think Ed would have probably won the game.

Malta International Scrabble Open after 17 games

2010-05-16T18:27:00.003+09:00

After 17 games, " the three musketeers" are all on 10 wins and 7 losses! Dan is a magnet for stronger players. That explains his negative spread.

20 Mihai Pantis Romania 10.0-7 +542
26 Catalin Caba Romania 10.0-7 +349
31 Dan Sandu Romania 10.0-7 -46

Malta International Scrabble Open ( Day 2 )

2010-05-16T18:06:00.003+09:00

It looks like Dan Laurentiu Sandu will return home with a bag full of scalps. Yesterday, he won his game against Femi Awowade, a very good Nigerian player who played the King`s Cup final in Thailand twice. I had three chances to beat Femi, but I lost every time. I was happy to see that another Romanian managed to beat him. Dan also took Sam Kanthimakhi`s scalp, another very good player from America. Mihai didn`t take any scalps, but managed to get his average up to 422 points per game, which is quite a decent average. Helen Gipson was back for revenge, and beat Mihai 588-402. From the score, I`m guessing it must have been one hell of a game.
Cata is having a very streaky but consistent tournament. A top 40 finish would be a very good result! Mohammad Sulaiman, a good friend of mine, continues to impress. I really don`t like playing against him. He has a gift for blocking his opponents` best plays. He might not have the best word knowledge but his strategy is very good. I hope he keeps it up! One more day to go. Good luck!

A coincidence

2010-05-15T23:09:00.002+09:00

After 10 rounds, Mihai Pantis and Dan Laurentiu Sandu, both average 404.70 points per game! What an amazing coincidence!

26 404.70 6.0- 4.0 +142 Pantis, Mihai (#22/ROM)
26 404.70 7.0- 3.0 +138 Sandu, Dan (#23/ROM)

Malta International Scrabble Open 2010 ( Day 1 )

2010-05-15T08:46:00.003+09:00

Yesterday, before I fell asleep, two questions were haunting me: " Will my Romanians have a good start", and " Will Nigel Richards drop any games the first day"? I got my answers in the morning! Mihai and Dan are both on 3W-2L, while Cata is on 2W-3L. We even had a 100% Romanian match in Malta yesterday.Dan played against Cata. It was 390-322 for Dan. Unfortunately, my team is struggling to score over 350 points per game. It`s almost impossible to win games like this. I remember Mihai`s average was somewhere around 410. I`m still waiting for him to find his playing mood!
With only one exception ( Paloma Raychbart ), Nigel`s opponents gave him the respect he deserves, and refused to score more than 350 points per game. I must admit that I overlooked Paloma`s APOSTASY when I examined their game! I also overlooked POTASSA and SAPOTAS! But then, that`s one of the many reasons why I`m not in Malta now. My Scrabble tiles are...rusty!

MISO 2010 ( Predictions for team Romania )

2010-05-14T20:01:00.003+09:00

Malta International Scrabble Open is even tougher than The European Scrabble Championship! There won`t be many "easy games". If Mihai and Dan manage to find their playing mood, I think they can finish in top 20. if not, I predict that Mihai will finish 23rd and Dan will finish 28th. Of course, I hope I`m wrong and they both make the top 10! I also hope that Cata will finish top 5 in his division. Good luck!

European Open Scrabble Championship Malta 2010 Day 4)

2010-05-12T21:15:00.007+09:00

Day 4 was extremely good for Cata Caba, who managed to finish on the podium. 3rd place in B division is a very good result. Well done, Cata! I`m looking forward to seeing Cata play in A division in a year or two, and why not, even take some scalps.
Both Mihai and Dan had a quiet last day. They didn`t have to meet any "bullies", so I was hoping they would make the top 10. Mihai had a tougher schedule than Dan, and unfortunately, he lost 3 out of the 4 games against opponents who had pretty much his level of play. Dan only had one tough game, which he also lost. He also lost 2 "easy" ones. I`m guessing Dan suffers from the same disease as I do. It`s called playing at your opponent`s level. I don`t even wanna remember how many games I lost because of that! Both Mihai (12th place) and Dan (15th place) finished where I thought they would. That means they didn`t impress, but they didn`t disappoint either.
Dan had 9 impossible games ( against opponents much better than him 4W-5L), 12difficult games (against opponents who had the same level or who were a bit better 5W-7L ) and 11 "easy games" ( against weaker opponents 6W-5L!)
Mihai had 8 impossible games ( against much stronger opponents 2W- 6L ), 10 difficult games ( against opponents who had the same level or who were a bit better than him 2w-8L) and 14 "easy games" ( against weaker opponents 10W-4L!) I guess you could say that Mihai is also a "bully"...
Considering Dan`s tougher field, I`d say Dan`s 15th place is as good as Mihai`s 12th place. Great effort! The two days break will be followed by another international tournament: Malta International Scrabble Open. Good luck to everybody, when they`re not playing the....Romanians!

Final standings:
1
Nigel Richards

Malaysia

27.0-5.0
+4106

2
Helen Gipson

Scotland

24.0-8.0
+1319

3
Joanne Craig

Australia

21.0-11.0
+175

4
Harshan Lamabadusuriya

England

20.0-12.0
+1479

5
Theresa Brousson

Malta

19.0-13.0
+445

6
Cecil Muscat

Malta

17.0-15.0
+1393

7
David Webb

England

17.0-15.0
+646

8
Craig Beevers

England

17.0-15.0
+634

9
Simon Gillam

Scotland

17.0-15.0
-157

10
Vincent Boyle

Scotland

17.0-15.0
-447

11
Terry Kirk

England

16.0-16.0
+198

12
Mihai Pantis

Romania

16.0-16.0
+93

13
David Delicata

Malta

16.0-16.0
-51

14
Jackie McLeod

England

16.0-16.0
-265

15
Dan Sandu

Romania

16.0-16.0
-325

16
Nicky Vella-Laurenti

Malta

16.0-16.0
-462

17
Sam Kantimathi

United States

15.5-16.5
+216

18
Karen Richards

Australia

15.0-17.0
+381

19
Kevin Synnott

England

15.0-17.0
-282

20
Eileen Meghen

Ireland

15.0-17.0
-1225

21
Raymond Tate

Scotland

14.5-17.5
-451

22
John Barker

Australia

14.0-18.0
-62

23
Jojo Delia

Malta

14.0-18.0
-504

24
Mario Saliba

Malta

13.0-19.0
-945

25
Evelyn Wallace

England

12.0-20.0
-1881

26
Alison Pollard

Australia

10.0-22.0
-1321

27
Christine Strawbridge

Malta

9.0-23.0
-1102

28
Gary Pollard

Australia

9.0-23.0
-1605

European Open Scrabble Championship Malta 2010 Day 3)

2010-05-11T09:10:00.002+09:00

Unfortunately, not a very good day for the Romanian team. Mihai`s performance reminded me of mine at the UK Open. He lost all the tough matches and won 4 out of the last 5, against lower rated opponents, as expected. Dan`s performance was a bit better than Mihai`s. If you look at his matches, he had 8 tough games and an easier one. Ironically, he lost the "easy" one and beat Craig Beevers again! He also won his games agains Simon Gillam (expert), Jackie McLeod (expert) and David Delicata ( expert from Malta). He got to play Nigel Richards and Helen Gipson. Dan lost both games as expected, but considering the tough field he played yesterday, his result was not bad at all. In B division, Cata still has a shot at the second place. he is 7th at the moment, but I think he is better than that! Tomorrow is the last day of the European Open Scrabble Championship. All 3 players can finish top 10. Good luck!

European Open Scrabble Championship Malta 2010 Day 2)

2010-05-10T06:15:00.005+09:00

Day 2 was without doubt Mihai`s day. The win against Helen, really pleased me. I remember Mihai started his WSC campaign with a win against Helen, one of the best scrabble players in the world.Mihai also beat the UK National Champion en titre, Craig Beevers, and lost to Theresa Brousson, even though he scored 443 points. Dan lost most of the tough games today, and won the "easy ones". We all know that there are no easy games in Scrabble. Luck has its 30% contribution.Dan also beat David Delicata, the favourite of the home crowd. Both Mihai and Dan are on 9 wins and 8 losses, which is really not bad at all. It pleases me to see that with a bit of luck, we can beat anybody in the world, when 5 years ago we couldn`t hurt a fly!
Cata is doing well in the B division and I really think he can finish second if he focuses enough.He had an amazing find, any of the A division players would be proud of: HEXEREI, which means witchcraft. Good luck to the 3 musketeers for tomorrow!

European Open Scrabble Championship Malta 2010 Day 1)

2010-05-09T07:38:00.003+09:00

I must say that I was more than impressed by Dan`s start. Wins to Harshan Lambadusuriya( master), Craig Beevers (master), Theresa Brousson (expert) and Jojo Delia (represented Malta at the World Scrabble Championship). Losses to Karen Richard(I`ve never beaten Karen), Sam Kantimathi( an expert player from America, once the winner of the famous King`s Cup, and Simon Gillam ( expert )
Dan also played Vella Laurenti-Nicky, but I don`t know much about this player.
At the end of the day, Dan`s 4-4 is an amazing result. If he keeps beating the "eagles" and focuses more against the "lowriders", he can finish again in top 10.
And tomorrow, first thing in the morning, he has to play David Webb, another master from UK.
Mihai managed to avoid all of my favourites for the top 10 today. He did have 3
fairly difficult games against Delia Jojo, Gillam Simon and Vincent Boyle.Unfortunately he lost all of them. But the good news is he won 4 games against lower rated opponents.
A win is a win, and now Mihai is 12th while Dan is 17th, both on 4-4. If this was a boxing game between Mihai and Dan, I`d give this round to Dan.
In Division B Cata Caba is on 5 wins and 3 losses. I know he is a good player.If he stops playing scared, he can even win the division.Good luck to the three musketeers tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I`ll pay my first visit to the Osaka Scrabble Club in 2 years. I`m hoping to get a couple of games. I haven`t studied any words in 4 months, so I feel a bit rusty.

European Open Scrabble Championship Malta 2010 )

2010-05-08T23:08:00.004+09:00

Go Romania! The European Championship has begun. Congrats to Dan Laurentiu Sandu for beating Harshan Lambadusuriya. I must say it took me 7 games to beat him once! Now Dan has to face the Uk National Champion en titre, Craig Beevers. I won 3 games and lost 2 to Craig.Not an easy game! Mihai started with easier draws, but I`m sure thing will change as he climbs his way to the top 10. I guestimate* Mihai will finish in top 15, Dan in Top 20, and Cata Caba, who plays in the B division, will finish top 10.

1000 Games on Facebook

2010-05-08T22:47:00.003+09:00

Today I made it to 1000 games on Facebook.
Games played: 1000
Games won : 547
Games lost: 453
Best word score: Dextrose (185 points)
Facebook Scrabble is still pretty bad, compared to the Internet Scrabble Club. The void option kills the beauty of the game. I`m surprised that the creators of Facebook Scrabble couldn`t come up with something better. After all, Facebook Scrabble had to replace Scrabulous. Not an easy task. I feel that those pretty colors are just not enough.

The Romanian Scrabble National Championship in English (second round)

2010-05-02T23:30:00.005+09:00

Congratulations to Mihai Pantis, who beat Dan Laurentiu Sandu twice, to win the tournament. My father had his first win ever against Mihai in a tournament. Well done, old man! It`s good to see a new player on the Romanian Scrabble scene. Welcome, Iuliu Fabian! There will be a third tournament later this year, that will decide the new National Champion. Until then, good luck to Mihai, Cata and Dan in Malta, where they will join two tournaments: Malta International Scrabble Open and the European Scrabble Championship.
Standings:
1. Mihai Pantis (CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca): 6 wins, 2 losses +868
2. Catalin Caba (CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca): 5 wins, 3 losses (+628)
3. Dan Laurentiu Sandu (Locomotiva Bucuresti): 5 wins, 3 losses (+491)
4. Ovidiu Tamas (CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca): 4 wins, 4 losses (+479)
5. Iuliu Fabian (CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca): 0 wins, 8 losses (-2465)

1: Tamas-Sandu 311-358; Caba-Fabian 497-180;
2: Pantis-Sandu 428-417; Tamas-Fabian 464-193;
3: Pantis-Fabian 571-171; Tamas-Caba 436-333;
4: Pantis-Caba 322-426; Fabian-Sandu 178-528;
5: Pantis-Tamas 382-488; Caba-Sandu 365-345;
6: Tamas-Sandu 388-423; Caba-Fabian 490-231;
7: Pantis-Sandu 450-268; Tamas-Fabian 456-109;
8: Pantis-Fabian 521-244; Tamas-Caba 390-452;
9: Pantis-Caba 373-367; Fabian-Sandu 196-440;
10: Pantis-Tamas 503-301; Caba-Sandu 350-378;

Defunnytions ( Bugout )

2010-05-01T15:07:00.002+09:00

A BUGOUT happens when in a bug fight, one of the bugs knocks the other one out. Other dictionaries might disagree, but I take it you know who the supreme authority in defunnytions is..
.

Living through the End of the World II

2010-04-20T11:22:00.006+09:00

Our End of the World Survival 101 continues with HER version. If you have the patience to follow me to the end (of this post, not of the world), you’ll most likely agree that women get a better deal when the apocalypse comes.
For once, you’ll have more choices. One—and probably the one you’re hoping for—is that you are the stunning beauty + nuclear scientist who’s a perfect genetic match to the Achilles in the first installment. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. If you’re both so perfect, you will have reached a genetic dead end. There’s nowhere for you to evolve, so probably you won’t even be able to breed. That’s why mother nature will go with this model:

But don’t despair! Here’s your chance to pig out, as you’ll need those fat reserves. Let’s see what fashion models have to say when you’ll be comfortably living off the fat stored during months of entirely pleasurable eating.
Another chance would be given to you if you are the future mother of some great hero. I only have empirical knowledge here, so all I can say is that you need moderately good looks and nothing special. YOU are not special, but your offspring will be. Especially if his father looks like Will Smith and acts like the characters played by Will Smith.
The last possibility I’m going to discuss here is you being slightly overweight and generally not noticeable. However, all you need is to take off your glasses, change into designer clothes and put on some make up, and you’re Jessica Alba. Of course, designer clothes, high quality make up and make-over counselors will be widely available (free of charge) during the end of the world. As you can see, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about here. The more insignificant you feel now, the more chances you have to be the last woman standing. And talking about procreation, in scientific terms, to be sure, here’s what nature has prepared for you:

Living through the End of the World

2010-04-20T10:31:00.004+09:00

It’s been raining these days in Japan like the deluge (I’m talking mythological here) is coming. I mean, it’s just not normal to have, at this time of the year, one feebly sunny day every other week. And a volcano erupted in Iceland, creating an ash cloud which may be seen as romantic—you know, obscurity, raining on a Sunday, nothing to do outdoors—if we didn’t consider that such an ash cloud is supposed to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs. As my grandmother would put it, “The end of the world is coming, I’m telling you.”
So, what do you do if it’s the end of the world? Get rich, of course. And the easiest way to get rich is to write one of those self-improvement + DIY books. Here’s ours, about how to cope with the end of the world.
First, it’s much easier if you’re a woman. If you’re a man, an ordinary man with no superpowers or the skills to take apart a spaceship and put it back in less than 10 minutes, you’ve got zero chances. Unless you’re terribly funny and you get to live so that you could bring the actual hero back to his senses (after he has heroically saved the world) with a witty line at the end of the movie. To which the actual hero would reply with an even wittier line and you would realize that in fact it’s you who’s dying, a shard from Louvre’s glass pyramid artistically sticking out of your chest.
And even if you are the hero. Let’s say you have the looks, the brains and the muscular structure, and the jaw line. Come on, who am I kidding? Nobody has them all. Even Achilles had a weak heel. If you’re still alive, it’s probably because your father was a billionaire and you had wisely hidden in one of his impenetrable shelters, right behind the Ferrari and the shelf with the pickle jars. Well, wise guy, who do you think is going to be your partner for life? Whom do you think you’ll have to re-create the humankind with?
Science tells us that slim, narrow-hipped and flat-chested (surgical enhancements do not count here) females are not exactly fit for procreation. They may be ideal for the process, but nature is interested in the results. Productivity is the key word here. Needless to say, nature will save the female most likely to have lots of offspring. If you want to know how she (aka, your future spouse) looks like, look at some of the prehistoric artifacts or at any of Rubens’ paintings.
I’d say you’ve got a tough one, guys!

To be continued with HER version of Survival Tips.

Facebook Scrabble ( Andrew Fisher vs Adrian Tamas)

2010-04-16T19:34:00.002+09:00

Andrew is one of those player who usually beats the living sushi out of me at Scrabble. A player who cowrote the book "How to Win at Scrabble" definitely knows how to do it.For a while, I was considering writing a book called "How to Lose at Scrabble". I`m sure it would have been extremely popular among the Scrabble players. It usually takes me four or five games to beat Andrew once. After rereading "How to Win at Scrabble" though, I must tell you that I`m 4-1 against him. I "blame" it on the good tiles, but also on the better rack balance. Andrew and I shared the blanks, but I had a better flow of the tiles. I don`t if it`s just a coincidence, but before rereading Andrew`s book, I was on a six loss streak against him!
My bonuses: SOZINES, ADJURES, TABOURIN, LEGALISE, OBELISE, DECANTS, ELUVIATE,WRONGERS, NIMMERS, LAUREATE, SUNDIALS
ANdrew`s bonuses: CANOPIED, FUMETTES, ARROGATE, TOASTED, SARCENET, LEPROTIC, SYNERGIA

This One Goes to the One I Love

2010-04-01T09:24:00.003+09:00

I know our (few) readers are used to funny and ironical posts. This one is different and entirely not related to Scrabble. This is about my grandmother, who passed away last Friday. I was not there and I never had the chance to say good-bye. So this is my farewell to her.
My grandmother was a lovely lady and she stayed beautiful in death. She did not suffer and I am grateful for that. She had pruned her hydrangeas, mumbled and grumbled about the workers in her vineyard (nothing they ever did could match her skills in tending to the grapevines, but she no longer had the strength to do everything herself), cooked and baked some cookies for my parents, then went to sleep. And never woke up. It was sudden and painful, yet I am grateful that she did not suffer and she stayed unchanged to the end.
She passed away with her hair and nails carefully done, as usual. Since I was little, she taught me to always be careful about my appearance and particularly about my underwear, because one could never know when one might suddenly feel sick and be taken to the hospital. And could be more embarrassing than appearing less than perfect in front of doctors? So, the rule was: impeccable underwear and carefully trimmed nails and toenails.
My grandmother was a great cook. She had always been plump and she loved bread, sweets and cheese. I obviously take after her, as neither of us could truly enjoy a life without cheese or without a small dessert after each meal.

My grandmother believed in the old Romanian saying “A fat person is a handsome person” and she did her best to keep me as chubby as possible. She constantly sabotaged all my high school attempts at dieting by making pancakes and cheese pies, because she knew the temptation would be too big for me. Yet she knew moderation, and she had always measured her own food. No more than half a glass of wine a day, two thin slices of bread and small portions. She could have written the health articles on Yahoo.
My grandmother could read the cards. Her ability was uncanny and she knew it. Only once did I convince her to do that for me, and it was enough, because she could read in those cards more than I wanted her to know about my teenage love life.
My grandmother took care of her husband, her two children, a huge house, a vegetable garden and a small vineyard. She used to climb the cherry tree in our yard until she was well over fifty and my mother forbid her to do so. Unfortunately, neither my mother, nor I have inherited her courage and agility. My mother inherited my grandmother’s obsession with cleanliness and I her love for cooking. And baking.
There are many things I could say about my grandmother and I might do so in the future. Today I had the courage to look at her photos again and I’m sharing them with you.
This is for my grandmother, with love.

Do You Speak English? ( A List Sometimes... Words Beginning with BH )

2010-03-23T19:33:00.007+09:00

This one is for the native speakers of English, who think they master their mother tongue. The truth is that English is like an adoptive parent. It`s like The Angelina Jolie of the languages. It keeps sucking in more and more words from other languages. As you will notice, none of the words on this list are actually genuine English words.

BHAGEE+S = an appetizer, in Indian cookery
BHAJAN+S = singing of devotional songs and hymns
BHAJEE+S = an appetizer, in Indian cookery
BHAJI+S = an appetizer in Indian cookery
BHAKTA+S = Hindu term for devotee of God
BHAKTI+S = loving devotion to God, leading to nirvana
BHANG+S = preparation of Indian hemp used as a narcotic and intoxicant
BHANGRA+S = type of traditional Punjabi folk music combined with elements of Western pop music
BHARAL+S = wild Himalayan sheep
BHAT ( no –S) = currency of Thailand
BHAVAN+S = a large house or building, in India
BHAWAN+S = a large house or building, in India
BHEESTIE+S = an Indian water carrier
BHEESTY = a water carrier, in India
BHEL+S = a thorny Indian tree
BHIKHU+S = a fully ordained Buddhist monk
BHIKKHUNI + S = a fully ordained Buddhist nun
BHINDI +S = okra used in Indian cookery
BHISHTI +S = a water carrier, in India
BHISTEE+S = a water carrier, in India
BHISTI+E,S = a water carrier, in India
BHISTIE+S = a water carrier, in India
BHOOT+S = a small whirlwind
BHUNA+S = Indian sauce
BHUT+S = a small whirlwind

Have I Broken a Free Spirit?

2010-03-17T10:29:00.002+09:00

Well, you might have already noticed, the Scrabble Wife is all about winning. Jokes aside, I have always thought that if you think you can’t win a game, you shouldn’t play at all. I’m not going to get into philosophical debates over that. Suffice it to say that the Scrabbler himself has not followed the same creed. Not until recently, at least.
Last night we were talking about our Christmas plans, or rather, I was talking and he was pretending to listen while doing something on his computer. I am sure my female audience is more than familiar with this picture. Don’t be surprised that we were discussing Christmas plans in March; after you’ve lived for a few years in Japan, you’ll have not yearly agendas, but decade planners and try to squeeze a visit from a friend living in a nearby town two years from now, Wednesday afternoon, after work and before manicure.
So my husband announced me (to my great and genuine surprise) that he didn’t want to go to the UK Open next year.
“Why?” I asked, not entirely sure whether to rejoice or to weep (see how I know my religious words?).
“First, because it’s far and expensive, and second, because I lose anyway,” was the answer. My husband, who has always said that he was playing for the pleasure of the game, now would not go to a competition because he’s afraid of losing? I suspect there’s more to this than he would confess, but anyway, I can’t help wondering: have I broken a truly free spirit?

Karaoke ( definition )

2010-03-12T23:14:00.003+09:00

As I was going through David Sutton`s list of Japanese words valid in Scrabble, I saw the definition of the word KARAOKE+S. KARAOKE is defined as being "an instrument of torture". After laughing my head off for about five minutes, I realized that David was right. Karaoke can be used as an instrument of torture. In fact, this is probably how the Japanese army tortured their prisoners during wartime: " Talk, or I`ll get the mike and sing the karaoke version of Happy Birthday to You". And the prisoners usually talked.

Tricktionary

2010-03-11T22:34:00.004+09:00

For today`s Tricktionary*, I chose the word Angklung+s ( an Asian instrument ). I find it difficult to remember the three ways of spelling this word.
1. Anklong+s
2. Anklung+s
3. Angklung+s

How to Win at Scrabble ( Andrew Fisher and David Webb )

2010-03-11T00:18:00.002+09:00

I just finished rereading How to Win at Scrabble. It was an eyeopener. It turns out my strategy was a lot better 4 years ago, when I used to sacrifice points for a better leave. Then, for some reason, I started taking the extra points and sacrifice the leave. This cost me about 150 rating points. My rating dropped from 1960 to 1808, even though I know a lot more words than before. If you don`t have this book you should definitely buy it. It`s a must have, for Scrabble freaks.

A Word with You

2010-03-09T21:32:00.005+09:00

ALALAGMOS!!! It`s a Greek war cry. I have no idea whether it has a meaning or not, but I must say it sounds scary... I`d love to get to play this word. What`s even scarier is that ALALAGMOS has a plural: ALALAGMOI.

Offensive Words in Scrabble ( Q and Z )

2010-03-08T21:37:00.005+09:00

There aren`t many offensive words that begin with Q or Z. As a matter of fact, ZAMBO+S ( offensive word for a Black person ), is the only offensive word I found,beginning with Z. There are 3 offensive words starting with Q: QUEERCORE+S ( gay-oriented punk music ), QUEERDOM+S (gay culture ) and QUIM+S ( taboo word for the female genitals ). There might be more offensive words beginning with Q and Z, but that`s all I could find. Please let me know if you find some more.

Scrabble in Japan ( Kichijoji Cup 2010 )

2010-03-08T01:10:00.003+09:00

The Kichijoji Scrabble Cup 2010 will be held in Tokyo, on the 29th of April( Thursday ) between 13.00 and 19.00 at Musashino Kokaido, near the Kichijoji Station. If you happen to be in Tokyo and if you love playing Scrabble, please feel free to join.
Unfortunately I wont be able to make it, but other players from Osaka will be there.

A Word with You ( A Word a Day )

2010-03-06T20:04:00.004+09:00

Today`s word is INCUBUS. The INCUBUS is a demon believed to have sex with sleeping women. INCUBUS has two plural forms: INCUBI and INCUBUSES.

A Word with You ( A Word a Day )

2010-03-05T20:48:00.003+09:00

Today, I played the word ARQUEBUS on ISC, in a three minute game. I`ve always wanted to play it. An ARQUEBUS is a portable long-barrelled gun dating from the 15th century. It takes an H in front. HARQUEBUS is a variant of ARQUEBUS.

A Word with You ( A Word a Day )

2010-03-04T23:13:00.003+09:00

Today`s word is ONIONSKIN+S, defined as translucent paper.

Scrabble on ISC ( Internet Scrabble Club )

2010-03-04T17:23:00.003+09:00

Today I had a nice game on ISC. My first move was VIHUELA+S ( a Spanish musical instrument ), followed by CARBOYS ( a large bottle ) and TANKA ( a Japanese verse form ) for 53 points. Later in the game, I played VERQUIRE ( a form of backgammon ) and FOREVER through OR for 54 points. Scored 627 points.

A Word with You ( A Word a Day )

2010-03-03T21:18:00.002+09:00

One of my favourite words is WUDJULA+S. I`ve never had the chance to play it in a game, but I`ll let you know if I do. WUDJULA is an Australian word for a non-Aboriginal person.

Offensive Words in Scrabble ( J )

2010-03-03T20:30:00.003+09:00

Here`s a list with all the offensive word starting with J, not included in the Family Edition of the Collins Scrabble Dictionary.

JAAP+S = offensive word for a simpleton or country bumpkin
JACKROLL+S = gang-rape
JACKSY, JACKSIE+S, JAXIE+S = buttocks or anus
JACKY, JACKIES = offensive word for a native Australian
JAFA+S = offensive word for a person from Auckland
JAKEY+S = a derogatory word for a homeless alcoholic
JAILBAIT ( no-S ) = young attractive woman, below the age of consent
JESUIT+S, JESUITIC (no- S), JESUITISM+S, JESUITRY = offensive term for a person given to subtle and equivocating arguments
JEW+S, ED, ING = obsolete offensive word for haggle
JICKAJOG+S, JIGAJIG+S, JIGAJOG+S, JIGJIG+S = engage in sexual intercourse
JIGABOO+S = offensive term for a Black person
JISM+S, JISSOM+S = slang word for semen
JOBBIE+S = piece of excrement
JOHNSON+S = slang word for penis

Again, please let me know if you find more J words that should be on this list!

A Word with You ( A Word a Day )

2010-03-02T22:20:00.004+09:00

Today`s word is VAPORETTO. A VAPORETTO is a steam-powered passenger boat, like the ones used on the canals of Venice. This word has two plural forms: VAPORETTOS and VAPORETTI (no-S ).

A list...sometimes ( Words Ending in -logy )

2010-03-01T20:33:00.007+09:00

The words ending in "logy", a suffix inherited from Greek, can be divided into two categories:

A. Words which have the sense of "saying or speaking".

ANALOGY, ANALOGIES = resemblance in some respects between things otherwise unlike
ANTILOGY, ANTILOGIES = a contradiction in terms of ideas
APOLOGY, APOLOGIES = an explanation with expression of regret
CACOLOGY, CACOLOGIES = a bad choice of words
DEKALOGY, DEKALOGIES = a group of ten novels
DOXOLOGY, DOXOLOGIES = a hymn or verse of praise to God
DYSLOGY, DYSLOGIES = dispraise
ELOGY, ELOGIES = eloge (a funeral oration)
EULOGY, EULOGIES = a speech or writing in praise
HOMOLOGY, HOMOLOGIES = similarity in structure and origin
IDEALOGY, IDEALOGIES = a systematic body of ideas
MENOLOGY, MENOLOGIES = an ecclesiastical calendar
MISOLOGY, MISOLOGIES = a hatred of debate or reasoning
NEOLOGY, NEOLOGIES = a new word or phrase
PARALOGY, PARALOGIES = false reasoning
TRILOGY, TRILOGIES = a group of three related literary works

B. Names of sciences or departments of study.

AEROLOGY, AEROLOGIES = science of the atmosphere
AGROLOGY, AGROLOGIES = the science of soils in relation to crops
ALGOLOGY, ALGOLOGIES = the study of algae
APIOLOGY, APIOLOGIES = the study of bees
S+ARCOLOGY, S+SARCOLOGIES = a system of architecture that integrates buildings with the environment
AREOLOGY, AREOLOGIES = the study of the planet Mars
ATMOLOGY, ATMOLOGIES = the science of water vapour
T+AUTOLOGY = scientific study of oneself
AXIOLOGY,AXIOLOGIES = the science of values
BATOLOGY,BATOLOGIES = the study of brambles
BIOLOGY, BIOLOGIES = the science of life
BRYOLOGY, BRYOLOGIES = the study of mosses
CETOLOGY,CETOLOGIES = the study of whales
CHAOLOGY, CHAOLOGIES =　the study of chaos
CODOLOGY、CODOLOGIES =
CYTOLOGY, CYTOLOGIES = a study of cells
DEMOLOGY, DEMOLOGIES = demography
DOSOLOGY, DOSOLOGIES = the science of doses
O+ECOLOGY, O+ECOLOGIES = an environmental science
M,O,P,V+ENOLOGY, M,O,P,V+ENOLOGIES = the study of wines
ETHOLOGY, ETHOLOGIES = the study of animal behaviour
A+ETIOLOGY, A+ETIOLOGIES = the medical study of causes of disease
FETOLOGY, FETOLOGIES = a branch of medicine dealing with fetus
GEMOLOGY, GEMOLOGIES = the science of gems
GEOLOGY, GEOLOGIES = the science of the origin and structure of the earth
C+HOROLOGY, C+HOROLOGIES = the science of measuring time
IDEOLOGY, IDEOLOGIES = the science of ideas
KIDOLOGY, KIDOLOGIES = the art of kidding

MIXOLOGY, MIXOLOGIES = the art of making mixed drinks
MONOLOGY, MONOLOGIES = the act of uttering a monolog
MYCOLOGY, MYCOLOGIES = the branch of botany dealing with fungi
MYOLOGY, MYOLOGIES = the study of muscles
NOMOLOGY, NOMOLOGIES = the science of law
NOOLOGY, NOOLOGIES = the science of the intellect
NOSOLOGY, NOSOLOGIES = a classification of diseases
OECOLOGY, OECOLOGIES = ecology (an environmental science)
P+OENOLOGY, P+OENOLOGIES = the study of wines
OINOLOGY, OINOLOGIES = oenology (the study of wines)
O+OLOGY, O+OLOGIES = a branch of knowledge
ONCOLOGY, ONCOLOGIES = the science of tumors
ONTOLOGY, ONTOLOGIES = the branch of philosophy the deals with being
N,Z+OOLOGY, N,Z+OOLOGIES = the study of bird's eggs
OPTOLOGY, OPTOLOGIES = the study of sight
OREOLOGY, OREOLOGIES = orology (the scientific study of mountains)
H+OROLOGY, H+OROLOGIES = the scientific study of mountains
OTOLOGY, OTOLOGIES = the science of the ear
OUROLOGY, OUROLOGIES = a branch of medicine dealing with the urinary tract
PEDOLOGY, PEDOLOGIEES = the scientific study of children
PELOLOGY, PELOLOGIES = study of mud and its curative effects
PENOLOGY, PENOLOGIES = the science of the punishment of crime
PODOLOGY, PODOLOGIES = the study of the feet
POMOLOGY, POMOLOGIES = the study of fruits
POSOLOGY, POSOLOGIES = a branch of medicine that deals with drug dosages
PYROLOGY, PYROLOGIES = the scientific examination of materials by heat
RHEOLOGY, RHEOLOGIES = the study of matter in the fluid state
SEROLOGY, SEROLOGIES = the science of serums
SEXOLOGY, SEXOLOGIES = the study of human sexual behaviour
SINOLOGY, SINOLOGIES = the study of Chinese
SITOLOGY, SITOLOGIES = the science of nutrition and diet
A+THEOLOGY, A+THEOLOGIES = the study of religion
TOCOLOGY, TOCOLOGIES = a branch of medicine dealing with childbirth
TOKOLOGY, TOKOLOGIES = tocology (a branch of medicine dealing with childbirth
TOPOLOGY, TOPOLOGIES = a branch of mathematics
TYPOLOGY, TYPOLOGIES = the study of classification according to type
UFOLOGY, UFOLOGIES = the study of unidentified flying objects
O+UROLOGY, O+UROLOGIES = the branch of medicine dealing with the urinary tract
VENOLOGY, VENOLOGIES = the study of veins
VINOLOGY, VINOLOGIES = the study of vines
VIROLOGY, VIROLOGIES = the study of viruses
XYLOLOGY, XYLOLOGIES = the study of the structure of wood
ZOOLOGY, ZOOLOGIES = the science of animals
ZYMOLOGY, ZYMOLOGIES = the science of fermentation

A Word with You ( A Word a Day )

2010-03-01T11:42:00.007+09:00

The Collins Dictionary is full of interesting words and definitions. As of today, I will select a word a day, and share it with you. Today`s word is ROSBIF. A ROSBIF is a term used in France for an English person. I`m guessing ROSBIF comes from the English ROAST BEEF. Even though this term sounds offensive to me, the Collins Family Edition also lists it. Still, if I were you, I wouldn`t use it when meeting English people. "Hey, what`s up rosbif?" can send you straight to the hospital, if you meet the wrong person...
ROSBIF+S

Months Valid in Scrabble

2010-02-28T19:44:00.004+09:00

JANUARY (not valid ) + ???????? = INTERJACULATORY
FEBRUARY ( not valid )+??? = IRREFUTABLY
MARCH + ED, ES, ING ( valid )
APRIL ( not valid) = PILAR ( no -S); PRIAL+S
MAY+A,O,S ( valid )
JUNE ( not valid ) + ?? = BUNJE+ E, S; JEUNE ( no-S)
JULY ( not valid ) + ?? = JUMBLY ; JOYFUL ( no-S); JUNGLY ; JUSTLY
AUGUST+ E, S ( valid )
SEPTEMBER ( not valid ) + ??? = OBTEMPERATES + SUBTEMPERATE ( no- S)
OCTOBER ( not valid ) + ??? = CODEBTOR+S ; OBJECTOR+S ;
NOVEMBER ( not valid ) + ??? = UNREMOVABLE ( no-S )
DECEMBER ( not valid ) + ?? = REEMBRACED + ENCUMBERED

So only four months out of twelve are valid in Scrabble : March, April, May and August.

Offensive Words in Scrabble ( N)

2010-02-26T20:53:00.008+09:00

All these offensive words can be found in the Collins Official Scrabble Dictionary, but are omitted from the Family Edition of the Collins Scrabble Dictionary. Use them wisely. Hopefully on the Scrabble board only. You know that words can be sharper than sword...

NADS = testicles
NANCE+S = homosexual man
NANCY, NANCIES = effeminate or homosexual boy or man
NED+S = derogatory name for an adolescent hooligan
NEDETTE+S = derogatory name for a female adolescent hooligan
NEGRESS+ES = old-fashioned offensive term for a Black woman
NEGRO (no -S), NEGROES = old-fashioned offensive term for a Black man
NEGROHEAD+S = type of rubber
NEGROID+S = a member of the Black race (NEGROIDAL)
NEGROISM+S = devotion to the Black civil rights movement
NEGROPHIL+E,S = person who admires Black people and their culture
NIGER+S = obsolete offensive term for a Black person
NIGGER+S, ED, ING = offensive name for a Black person
NIGGERDOM+S = the world of Black people ( ?)
NIGGERISH = of, or like a Black person
NIGGERISM+S = offensive name for an idiom supposedly characteristic of Black people
NIGGERY = like a Black person
NITCHIE+S = offensive term for a Native American
NOOKIE+S = sexual intercourse
NOONER+S = sexual encounter during lunch hours
NUTHOUSE+S = mental hospytal or asylum
NUTSO ( no-S) =insane
NUTSY, NUTSIER, NUTSIEST = lunatic
NUTTER+S = insane person
NYMPHO+S =　nymphomaniac

Here are a few words not considered offensive enough to be left out of the Family Edition Scrabble Dictionary:

NANCIFIED = effeminate man
NEGRITUDE+S = fact of being a NEGRO
NELLIE+S = effeminate man
NERD+ S,Y = a socially inept person
NICOMPOOP+S = stupid person
NINNY, NINNIES = stupid person ( NINNYISH)
NONG+S = stupid or incompetent person
NOODLEDOM+S = state of being a simpleton
NUMBSKULL+S = stupid person
NUMSKULL+S = stupid person
NURD+ S, Y = a socially inept person

If you stumble across more offensive words beginning with N, please let me know!

The Romanian National Scrabble Championship in English ( first round)

2010-02-24T22:16:00.005+09:00

The first round of the Romanian National Scrabble Championship in English 2010 took place in Bucharest, last weekend. These are the final standings:
1. Dan Laurenţiu SANDU 9-1 (+1229)
2. Mihai PANTIŞ 9-1 (+986)
3. Cătălin CABA 5-5 (+413)
4. Ovidiu TĂMAŞ 4-6 (+150)
5. Eduard PETCU 3-7 (-955)
6. Cosmin DONCIU 0-10 (-1823

I was happy to hear that we have a new player in English. His name is Eduard Petcu and from what I hear, he is very young and talented. He extended MOVED to UNREMOVED to win a game by 6 points, and did pretty well, considering that this was his first tournament in English! I hope that he keeps improving and maybe one day he can represent Romania at the WSC.

After 8 rounds Mihai was first with 7 wins, 1 loss and 836 spread, followed by Dan Laurentia Sandu on 7 wins, 1 loss and 458 spread! While Mihai Pantis only managed to get 150 spread points from his last 2 games, Dan Laurentiu Sandu earned a spread of 771 points from his, against his club mates, who only managed to score 125 and 116points, the lowest scores I`ve never seen in 6 years of Scrabble… I`m thinking… noncombat or just really, really, really bad luck! Hopefully the latter. It`s going to be an interesting fight between Mihai and Dan. Two rounds to go this year!
Out of curiosity, what is your lowest score ever at Scrabble? I remember mine was 275 or so.

Check out www.scrabblero.ro for more details.

Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2009 ( Unofficial Prize Ceremony- Open Division)

2010-02-22T21:47:00.007+09:00

This is an inaginary prize ceremony. Please don`t knock on my door to pick up your prizes...
The prize for the longest word goes to Thacha Koowirat who played the word MARATHON.
The prize for the most unoriginal bonuses goes to Abdul Suma for IMITATED and EPIGONE.
The "Who stole the S” prize goes to Jocelyn Lor, who used up nine S tiles in 3 bonuses: SNOWLESS, SLOWNESS and SONLESS.
The prize for the craziest find goes to Ferdy Anthonius for the word INSANEST.
The prize for the sweetest find goes to Wilfredo Padua, for CANDIES.
The "Piece of cake prize" goes to Moses Owugah and Yeap Gim Sai. Both players played the word EASIEST.
The prize for the most politically incorect bonus goes to Liz Fagerlund, who played NONEQUAL.
The “Get your mind out of the gutter” prize goes to Natasha Podesser, who played the words VIBRATOR, AROUSAL,ENTERING and PREGNANT.
The “ I wouldn`t challenge that in a thousand years” prize goes to Nupur Sood, who played the nonvalid word UNFRESH*
The prize for the strangest bonus goes to Lim Mao Fong for the word ODDITIES.
The prize for the most unchallenged phonies goes to Jerry Khoo, who got away with six!
The prize for the wisest play goes to Robert Rubina, who played PROVERBS.
The prize for the ugliest bonus goes to Kim Rubina, who played the word MONSTER.
If you can think of other silly prizes, please let me know...

Tricktionary

2010-02-20T22:16:00.004+09:00

Let us look at two of the most popular words: HARDCORE and SOFTCORE. While HARDCORE can be a noun ( a genre of music) or an adjective (extremely graphic or explicit or intensely loyal, diehard), SOFTCORE can only be an adjective (being less explicit in depicting sex acts), and therefor can`t be hooked with an S.
HARDCORE +S
SOFTCORE (no-S)

Whitney Houston in Japan or the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

2010-02-18T09:39:00.001+09:00

You might wonder what Whitney Houston (and her much expected Japan tour) have to do with collapsed empires. Well, let me tell you that the only difference is that those empires did not have a choice. I know that certain decisions made in certain historical and political contexts led to disastrous consequences, yet I believe the fall of empires was not something that happened in one generation. So they did not have the choice of retiring in full glory. I mean, it’s not like Octavian could have said: “We’re pretty big and famous now, I think we should withdraw our armies from the territories and become a rich neutral country. Switzerland seems to be a nice-sounding name.”
But performers do have the choice of retiring when they feel there is nothing more they can do for the artistic world. And I think they have the duty to retire when they cannot perform anymore. Even if you are a groupie, seeing your idol miserably struggling on the stage won’t enhance your love for him or her.
So let me tell you about Whitney Houston’s concert in Osaka (the first one, February 17. I’m not sure she can perform again tomorrow; she looked pretty exhausted even when she first showed up on stage last night). In short, it can be described like this: less than 90 minutes of panting, sniffling, talking (more or less coherently) in a very hoarse voice, disappearing from the stage for long periods of time, drinking water, and pathetic attempts at dancing, all interrupted by very very short musical moments. And I mean VERY short. And very BAD. But I learned a lot of useful things: Whitney loves us, she loves Jesus, she believes that there is only one god no matter how we name him (aren’t you just amazed by the originality and depth of this thought?), and she is allergic to mangoes. Of course, the climax came at the end of the show, when she made one more bad choice: she tried to sing “I Will Always Love You”. A brave choice, actually, coming from a person who could not sing for 20 seconds without panting and who would definitely not pass the American Idol auditions. She realized it was a bad choice mid song, right before the well-known “I will always love you” line, and she stopped. To inform us that she had broken a nail. I quote: “See how hard I’m working for you guys”, she said, biting the afore-mentioned fingernail. I guess in any other country but the kind and polite Japan she would have been pelted with rotten eggs. Even in Japan, we heard the fearless voice of an old lady: “Come on, sing now!”
Of course she did not. Because it was obvious she couldn’t. And the entire Osaka Jo Hall (several thousand people) had just wasted their money, on tickets which were not cheap at all. If I were her friend, I would probably feel sorry for her. But I am not her friend, and I only feel sorry for the money I spent (I could have bought the National Geographic complete collection, the deluxe edition and still have enough for a dinner with my husband!) and for the time I could have spent watching soap operas on TV or sleeping. Or thinking about the glorious fall of the City of Byzantium. Heroic. Impressive. Very much unlike a hoarse lady who steals money from honest working people under the pretense that she can entertain them.

PS. We apologize to our faithful readers for this off topic post. We know you are here to read about my latest fashion achievements and, sometimes, to read about Scrabble, and we promise this post is only the result of temporary insanity caused by very bad music.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW...

2010-02-14T09:39:00.002+09:00

Being snowed in can be a catastrophe for some and sheer delight for others. I suppose it all depends on the circumstances. If you were, for example, in some cozy cottage, with a sitting by a warm fire and drinking hot chocolate (or any other beverage of your choice), I guess snow can only be delightful. On the other hand, if you had to catch a plane to get to the other end of the world, a snow storm loses at least part of its charm.
This year, the UK Open snow caught me somewhere in between. I mean, I was in a warm place doing one of the things I like most (I hope you don’t need me to spell it out for you. Yes, of course, I was playing Scrabble!), yet I had to fly to Osaka in a matter of days. And snow did make my first flight, from London to Rome, a nightmare, but the events preceding it were worth it. England, and most of Europe I think, has suffered one of the harshest winters in the last thirty years. For a country where snow is not a common occurrence (they say in Dickens’ times, Thames used to freeze, but the people who witnessed that are long gone), this winter has definitely caused a lot of problems. Not for the brave Scrabble players, though, who know how to courageously face difficulties. They cheerfully gathered outside and erected a statue in honour of the tournament’s organizer, Len Moir. The dignified snowman was cheerfully christened “Lenny”. Here is proof of one of the greatest acts of bravery accomplished by the Knights Scrabbler: (photo).

BESNOW+S, ED, ING = to cover with snow

SNOW+S, ED, ING = to rain with frozen crystals
SNOWBALL+S, ED, ING = to increase at a rapid rate
SNOWBANK +S = a mound of snow
SNOWBELL+S = a flowering shrub
SNOWBIRD = a small bird
SNOWBOOT+S = a boot for walking in snow
SNOWBUSH = a flowering shrub
SNOWDROP+S = a drooping white flower
SNOWFALL+S = a fall of snow
SNOWLAND+S = an area marked by a great amount of snow
SNOWLESS = without snow
SNOWLIKE = having the appearance of snow
SNOWLINE+S = an area which defines permanent snow
SNOWMELT+S = water produced by the melting of snow
SNOWMOLD+S = a fungus disease
SNOWPACK+S = an accumulation of packed snow
SNOWPLOW+S = to execute a type of skiing maneuver
SNOWSHED+S = a structure which provides protection from snow
SNOWSHOE + D,R,S = to walk on oval frames on deep snow
SNOWSLIP +S = a small avalanche
SNOWSUIT +S = a child`s garment for winter wear
SNOWY ( SNOWIER, SNOWIEST) = abounding in snow
SNOWK+S, ED, ING = to prowl or sneak about
SNOWCAP+S = a covering of snow
SNOWCAT+S = a tracklaying vehicle for travel on snow
SNOWILY = in a snowy manner
SNOWISH = somewhat snowy
SNOWMAN ( SNOWMEN) = a figure made of snow

Dating a Scrabble Player

2010-02-12T15:26:00.001+09:00

Your dream has come true! You are finally dating a Scrabble player! Well, let me give you a little preview of how your date will begin or/and end.

Not so still life with Scrabble player studying The Dictionary

You might say “What if he has to drive?” Who are you kidding? Unless he’s a very eccentric prince from an oil-rich kingdom, do you think a Scrabble player can afford a car?

Where We Live II: Romania

2010-02-10T09:20:00.004+09:00

We told you all about our home in Japan, so we thought it was time to tell you about our home back home. Romania, our country. We guiltily admit to not knowing very much about our own country, but we are trying to fix the problem with the help of two much more knowledgeable friends who explore Romania and write about it. Since they only write in Romanian (for the moment, we hope), we have borrowed some photos from their website and here they are.

Pacuiul lui Soare, an island 150 km southeast of Bucharest, where, according to our friends, you can feel like an explorer in the Amazonian jungle.

I must say that these photos made me want to fly straight there, right now, although it seems that Romania is buried under snow and blessed with a gentle Siberian breeze. However, if you feel like escaping towards an yet unexplored paradise, this is our recommendation. And yes, dear Scrabble players, it seems peaceful enough, so you can study your word lists there.

How to Date a Scrabble Player 101

2010-02-09T16:44:00.002+09:00

Do you want your life to improve dramatically? Do you want to live in the lap of luxury? Do you want to spend your free time (which will actually be most of your time, unless you have to see your beauty counselor or personal stylist) on tropical beaches and cruises in the Caribbean? (Depending on the circumstances, Johnny Depp may be part of the package.)
If you’ve answered yes to at least one of the above, then all you have to do is date (or marry) a Scrabble player. I did and the result can be observed (and admired) below.

However, if you do decide to take this huge step, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
1. Pretend to be in raptures when your hubby tells you how he played ATROPINES for 149 points. Don’t tell me you don’t feel the thrill of that! It’s better than bungee jumping, I’m telling you.
2. Words such as TURGIDER, URCEOLI, CHOREGI or GENIZAH should be part of your current vocabulary.
3. Don’t even think that Jon Bon Jovi may be sexier than Nigel Richards. What, you don’t know who Nigel Richards is? Go home and do your homework before visiting this site again!
4. Be prepared to accept that word lists make as good interior decorations as any. I mean, who needs a Faberge egg when you can have the complete set of four-letter words spread out in your living room?
5. Be confident that if someone were to break into your house or attack you in the street, your Scrabble player’s steel biceps, fortified by months of carrying and lifting the Scrabble Dictionary, will be more than capable to protect you.
6. Of course… to be continued.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Being a Scrabble Wife

2010-02-08T13:34:00.002+09:00

A fellow blogger posted the following question for debate:
“If there were no prize money in Scrabble, would you play as many tournaments as you do now, fewer tournaments, or none at all?”

I must say, that was a tough one. I mean, what would I do without all the money Adrian has made playing Scrabble? I’d probably have to give up my Hermes bags, my Prada shoes, my VanClef and Arpels jewelry and… oh, no, that would be too much, even my personal chauffeur! No, I don’t think I could be married to a man who made absolutely no money playing Scrabble. I know, it sounds extremely superficial, but a girl must look out for herself if she wants to survive in this cruel world.

Now, since I started talking about this profitable business, let me enumerate the advantages and disadvantages of being a Scrabble wife (or a Scrabble widow, as Paul brilliantly put it).

Advantages:

1. All the above-mentioned luxury items. Feel free to look at them at leisure in the shop windows or to browse the internet.
2. You will always have a dictionary handy. I mean, if you are sitting on the toilet and feel the incontrollable urge to know what “wymote” or “grihastha” means, all you have to do is stretch your arm and pick up the dictionary from the shelf. Then you can truly relax.
3. When your husband refuses to accompany you on meetings with your friends (and what can be more delightful than that?), at least you can excuse him and say that he’s training for the next competition.
4. Your husband will never complain if you spend an entire day at a beauty parlor: he would be too absorbed in his games/word study to notice that you’re not there. On the contrary, he would be happy that the usual buzzing which seems to float in your bedroom has gone. Also, considering his high winnings, he won’t ask you how much your new red highlights cost.

Disadvantages:

Honestly, I can’t think of any. I mean, what more can you wish for after you’ve seen the look of pure envy on your friends’ faces when you tell them that your husband is a Scrabble champion? Can anything compare with the bliss of hugging your husband after he’s won a game, you know, one of the “Rocky-Adrian” moments? (And yes, in this case I’m Adrian, not Rocky, although my husband’s name is Adrian.)
Is anything better than knowing that you can buy another sapphire necklace (and I’m only saying sapphire because I don’t like diamonds) using the latest check he has won at Scrabble, even if he only finished in top 60?
No, I’m telling you, Scrabble is a marvelous game, 100% recommended if you’re a shopaholic, brand-freak and luxury aficionado. We are so lucky that Bill Gates didn’t discover it before Microsoft made him famous, because now we would be talking about the Scrabble Empire and brand monopoly and we, poor mortals, wouldn’t be able to enjoy its benefits like we’re doing now.

Coming up next: How to Date a Scrabble Player 101

Tricktionary II

2010-02-05T23:16:00.004+09:00

My job today, my dear reader, is to perswade you that the verbs PERSUADE and PERSWADE are different, even though they have the same meaning.Piece of cake! PERSWADE+D,S is an obsolete form of PERSUADE+D,R,S. I know what you`re thinking... I`m an excellent PERSUADER!

Tricktionary

2010-02-04T17:05:00.011+09:00

I had been planning to introduce the Tricktionary for about three months. I wanted to call it the Scrabble Zone, but when my beloved wife frowned twice, I knew it was a mistake. So I thought harder, and came up with the Tricktionary. What is the Tricktionary? It`s the place where you can find what I like to call tricky words, words that apparently "behave" the same but in reality don`t.
Take the words ROYAL and LOYAL, two of my favourite words, that really come in handy when you try to teach your Japanese students phonics.
ROYAL can be a noun ( a size of printing paper) and an adjective ( related to a king or queen), while LOYAL (faithful) is an adjective and doesn`t take an S. UNROYAL is a valid word in Scrabble but UNLOYAL* isn`t! Both adjectives are comparable. The comparative form of ROYAL can be spelt with one L, while the comparative form of LOYAL can be spelt with one or two Ls. And let`s not forget ROYALTY , LOYALTY, ROYALLY and LOYALLY, the perfect tongue twisters in my ESL book! That is the difference between ROYAL and LOYAL.
ROYAL+S ROYALER ROYALEST UNROYAL ROYALLY ROYALTY
LOYAL(no-S) LOYALER (LOYALLER) LOYALEST (LOYALLEST) LOYALLY LOYALTY

Mihai Pantis @ hotnews.ro

2010-02-03T21:05:00.008+09:00

It took the Romanian journalists a lot of time to come up with a good article about Scrabble. This one is about Mihai winning the B Division at the Uk Open, and it`s written by Marian Chiriac. Well written. I wish I had the time to translate it into English!

http://think.hotnews.ro/pantis-paceaura-pacfong-pachesca.html/comment-page-1#comment-4869

Facebook Scrabble ( David Sutton vs Adrian Tamas)

2010-02-02T22:36:00.002+09:00

David Sutton and I are having quite a Scrabble marathon at the moment. We played 222 games and the score is 111-111! I took 239 blanks and spotted 491 bonuses, while David only took 211 blanks and found 436 bonuses. I wonder if the six extra blanks are the result of a glitch or the result of human error...

Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2009 ( Some nice words in the Open Division)

2010-02-01T21:04:00.003+09:00

Yesterday evening, I spent a couple of hours looking at the played bonuses in the Open Division. I was honestly impressed with some of these plays! I`m sure that at least five of these players will be in the Premier Division next year.

Patrick Mpundu ( CLUTTERING, DIGENETIC, PORCELAIN, UNDRAINED), Thatcha Koowirat ( INSULATOR, OUTLAYING, REARMOUSE, DIAPENTE)and Kevin McMahon ( BLOODIEST, DOPAMINES, TRAHISONS) proved that they really have an eye for long words.

Some nice finds in the Open Division:
Mark Kenas: HARIJAN,
Peter Kougi: KOFTGARI, RUCKMAN
Cheah Siu Hean: SPATZLE, NENUPHAR
Theodoro Martus: GLUHWEIN, VINIFERA
Ralph Lobo: LACTIFIC, CRIMINI, TOROSITY
YEO KIANG HONG: MENOPOME, OGHAMIST, CHIGOES
Allan Oyende: TERAFLOP, PARERGON
Goh Jiang Pern: CRONYISM, GENIZAH
Taewan Sutthasin: CHOREGI, WAINSCOT
Kevin McMahon: SHEQALIM, REVIVIFY, LISTSERV
Mark Schellenberg: PHENAZIN, KULTURS, GUMBOTIL
Michael Akonor: INTIFADA
Carmen Dodd: TEETOTAL, NEINEIS
Michael Gongolo: MEBOSES
Ellie Dangoor: ZEDOARY
Anand Buddhdev: SHEQELS, GINGELI, BITESIZE
Andrew Golding: FOLLICLE, HAROSETH, BASENJI
Karl Chin Hon Yew: BLIPVERT
Thacha Koowirat: STEGODON
Yannakit Sirisup: MEGILPS
Oyeleke Oluwaseun: RUFIYAA
Lim Sha Lyn: OCTOPOD
Cedric Stewart Lewis: QUEENDOM
Willy Mwangi: HORNBILL
Chim Wai main: BREEZILY
Pui Cheng Wui: PANGOLIN
Daniel Srichwala: REPEOPLE, WEEVILED
Graeme Lock Lee: MASTODON
Victor Owokere: FALSENESS, LINGAMS
Antonio Malonzo: ROBORANT
Moses Owugah: QUIDAMS
Olabatoke Aka: PLURALISE, VIDAMES, CATGUTS
Tony Hunt: CARYATID
Phillip Hamilton: UNARMORED
Oscar Rivera: GOUTWORT, BESPRENT
Heather Long: EVZONES
Liz Fagerlund: DRUXIEST
Paul Richards: SHAKEOUT
Thavachai Tivavanvong: TAUTAUG
Sharon Sorensen: TUPPENCE
Larry Serrano: FRUITFUL

My Causeway Scrabble 2009 ( bonuses)

2010-01-31T20:25:00.002+09:00

I took the liberty of " stealing" these statistics from the Causeway site. Here`s the link to the site, if you want to have a look. Causeway 2009 was just one episode of my 2009 Scrabble soap opera. As I was telling my wife, it`s not very likely to be unlucky in five consecutive tournaments! I blame it on my level... I think it`s time for me to focus my attention on other activities, such as learning Japanese, improving my Chinese etc. Of course I`ll still join tournaments if I happen to be in the "neighbourhood", but the good old days of full-time Scrabble are now history. Which reminds me... Last year, at the King`s Cup Scrabble tournament in Thailand, a top Thai player challenged one of the words I played against him: HISTORY

Bingos for Adrian Tamas in Causeway Scrabble Challenge 2009
93 bingos. Best score was 149 for ATROPINES.
Long word (length > 8): ATROPINES
Low probability words (PF < 1): QUACKLED, ECOLOGIC
No unchallenged phonies

Round Bingos
1 BINIOUS (76) ERRANTS (81) ORTOLANS (78)
2 DAMPEST (77) RESINATA (77) FERMATA (77)
3 PITTERS (74) NOTHINGS (84) NEONATES (59)
4 STONIER (64) AUREOLES (77)
5 ENLISTED (74) LIMACON (76) YATTERS (77) AERONAUT (77)
6
7 RARIFIED (74)
8 BOLTINGS (67) NOCAKES (78) WINTERED (74)
9 RESCALE (75) RAGULED (79)
10 CINDERS (76) OUTSTEER (71) ADONISE (91)
11 LEVANTED (72) WONKIER (72)
12 URCEOLI (68) TERATOID (74)
13 AERATED (73) RATLINS (73)
14 LINTIEST (64) POETISED (90)
15 ANTICAR (89) LURIDEST (80)
16 LIFECARE (92) SEEDIER (71)
17 RUINATE (61)
18 TURGIDER (66) STRUDEL (69)
19 PERVIATE (72) TORPEDOS (63)
20 IDIOTYPE (66) SIRONISE (64)
21 IDEATES (87) DRILLED (63)
22 CORDITE (92)
23 DERACINE (78) PANSIES (96)
24 RELEASED (83)
25 RECLINE (94) WEEPERS (86)
26 LACINGS (78) UNASKED (110)
27 TATSOIS (71) NATURES (73)
28 ECOLOGIC (69) LOITERED (80) RETIREE (71)
29 SCAUPED (83) ELOIGNED (68)
30 SMARTEN (91)
31 ATROPINES (149) EMETINES (81) AIRIEST (62)
32 PERIDIA (71) GRANTER (69) RONDELS (71)
33 FLATLINE (68)
34 IMPRINT (76) SANCTION (68) ELASTIN (76)
35 QUACKLED (78) ARISTATE (68)
36 TRUSTED (83) RETORTED (66)
37 OBELIZE (124) UNSLAKED (97) TENEBRAE (80)
38
39 ALLOWED (69) INTERNED (86)
40 BONDSMEN (84) TAILERON (81) SOLDADO (78)
41 ENVIRON (69) SENORITA (77)
42 UNHAIRER (67)
43 YEARNERS (82)
44 CARBIES (98) RAILERS (68) CLARION (75)
45 SPATULA (71) VISIONED

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW…

2010-01-28T07:31:00.005+09:00

Uk Open 2010 ( Photos)

2010-01-24T22:48:00.005+09:00

After another two week break, I`m back with some photos from the UK Scrabble Open 2010.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brizana/sets/72157623273421860/

My Christmas Nails (or The Wife Strikes Back)

2010-01-18T10:39:00.005+09:00

Strange things have happened here while I was away (for a well-deserved, much enjoyed and very costly-for my family-trip to Romania). First, I find out that my husband has girlfriendS. The plural must be emphasized. He has not one, but more girlfriends, who ask expensive gifts of him, such as Prince William. I’d rather have, for what I think are obvious reasons, Bill Gates, but well, de gustibus…
Second, this blog has become terrifyingly boring. Even I, who are not “one of his wives”, but THE wife, don’t read his posts. That is why I decided to delight you with… I’m sure you’re not expecting this… my Christmas nails!
The 2008 Malaysia version (we could call it the Causeway design), in a photo taken near the Cameron Highlands, while my husband was toiling away in the competition room.

The 2009 World Scrabble Championship version, executed while Adrian was brilliantly losing game after game in the Championship.

(Photo courtesy of my friend and stylist, Miki-san )

Now, to maintain the Scrabble spirit, the aficionados can think of NAIL words, while the girls can comment on my (I think) pretty nails. Let’s see which team wins!

Uk Open 2010 ( 82 bonuses + 74 bonuses = 45 games)

2010-01-13T06:10:00.005+09:00

As promised, I`m back with the bonuses played by me and against me at the Uk Open 2010. For the native speakers of English who are not Scrabble players, see if you can recognize more than 50% of the played words.

My Bonuses: SPECTRA, LEFTISM, DIAPENTE, SATURNIC, DEFROST, CARINAS, AERATOR, SPRAINT, PILLAGES, BORONIA, SEITENS, TERRANE, BONSPIEL, LANCETED, PAINTIER, DENTINE, ANDESITE, APTERIA, UNATONED, ACTINIAN, DEAFENS, ALNICOS, RETITLE, REPROVAL, MANGONEL, RATOONER, CALMANTS, SWINERY, BOLIDES, NOVELESE, OVERSIDES, TARDIED, TRILLED, ASTERIA, CHENOPOD, PRAWNED, FATIGUES, VINTAGE, SOREDIA, SIDEMEN, SCENTING, SARCODE, NOSHERIE, TANNEST, ROMAUNT, EUGENIA, EXCLAVES, TORULOSE, CONEPATE, TENOURS, SINNERED, ANTLION, HALITES, DEWINESS, ORIENTAL, OVERGONE, SORRIEST, BUNODONT, EXALTING, DIANOIA, VITULINE, TINKLED, DECLINER, ISOGRAFT, ONSHORE, ASSERTER, BARTEND, TENONER, THEWIER, REUNITES, TWEEDIEST, ACIDEST, SOOGIES, NUTMEATS, PERILING, JAILBAIT, FORELAIN, GRANDEES, FORELENT, ADJURES, VAUNTIER, INFERIOR ( 82)

My opponents` bonuses: TETANIZES, OVERHUNT, ARRANGED, UNLOADER, ATONERS, SOLVENT, ITEMISER, BITUMED, SPENCERS, LASQUES, BROILED, SINUATE, LUNARIES, HAULERS, TERRANES, SCOURED, DESIGNS, STANDERS, BEGROANS, SMYTRIE, SURVEYAL, SPOUTED, EPAULET, DERRIES, FETCHERS, BORANES, NEUSTON, RETIRES, PITIERS, DINNERS, AUDIBLE, ROTATOR, HERBLESS, DELICATE, RETRIMS, TINDERY, PURITIES, INERTIAE, SCRIENES, STOOLED, JAGUARS, STORIED, JALOUSIE, ANOTHER, AUSTERER, EPICENES, SUPEREGO, DOGEARS, ANSATED, REJUDGES, GUTTLES, PLAGUES, GLITTER, PLAGUER, ARRIVED, NODULES, ALERION, REPONED, PADRONI, VOMICAE, MUSCATEL, SAVELOY, OVEREDIT, CONSENT, KERATINS, UNSUITED, OURALIS, ASCITES, UNLOADER, CINEASTS, COASTED, ALIENATE, VAGINATE, FACTION. ( 74)

Uk Open- Day 5

2010-01-10T20:23:00.006+09:00

I finished the tournament with two losses. Evan Cohen played CINEASTS as a triple triple to score 140 points and unintentionally block my OUBAASES play while Wayne Kelly managed to get to 470 in his first five moves or so. My last play of the tournament was INFERIOR to go out and reduce the spread. Uk Open 2010 was very enjoyable. I did feel a bit groggy towards the end. My opponents averaged 505 points in the last seven games, and I felt like an observer! And here are my statistics: 17 wins, 21 losses, 111 spread, 431 average/game, 34 blanks to my opponents' 42, 81 bingoes( bonuses) to my opponents' 74. I lost 11 games where I scored over 400 points and won a game where I scored 357 points! Go figure! I`ll upload some photos and make a list of the played bingoes(bonuses)later.

Uk Open - Day 4

2010-01-08T10:25:00.003+09:00

Another glorious day. And some nice words. Against Nigel, I played TWEEDIEST through WE to lose the game by over 200 points and against Phil Robertshaw I played JAILBAIT to lose by over 50. I'm out of the top 15 and that is where I'll probably finish. Tonight we celebrated Mihai Pantis's win. He is the first Romanian Scrabble player to earn money from Scrabble. 1500 pounds is not bad at all. I'm sure that my wife would find something to do with them. Two more games tomorrow, and then off to Japan.

Uk Open - Day 3

2010-01-07T08:35:00.003+09:00

Day 3 didn't bring anything new for me. The same consistent mediocrity. In the morning, Martin Harrison played a nine timer against me: HERBLESS for 181 points. The game against Phil Robertshaw really made my day. Phil was almost 200 points behind but he caught up and reduced the spread to 100 points. He was holding a playable ENTOZOA,(entozoic parasite) when he saw me go out with BUNODONT( having rounded molar teeth) and win by 180 points. I made the tops again... At the moment I am 13th with 13 wins and 13 losses. Needless to say that I'm not too excited!

Division A Average Scores
Rank Average Won-Lost Spread Player
1 478.54 21.0- 5.0 +2718 Nigel Richards (A1)
2 450.00 17.0- 9.0 +1372 Mikki Nicholson (A6)
3 445.23 16.0-10.0 +838 Harshan Lamabadusuriya (A4)
4 442.92 13.0-13.0 +863 Adrian Tamas (A8)
5 441.62 18.0- 8.0 +528 Chris May (A3)

Division A High Losses
Round Losing
Score Winning
Score Class Loser Winner
1 501 513 A Adrian Tamas (A8) Phil Robertshaw (A9)
9 474 484 A Adrian Tamas (A8) Chris May (A3)
22 466 534 A Harshan Lamabadusuriya (A4) Paloma Raychbart (A20)
8 461 490 B Wayne Kelly (A14) Craig Beevers (A2)
8 460 508 A Helen Gipson (A5) Philips Owolabi (A10)

Division A Tuff Luck
Sum Player Losing Spreads
85 Maureen Chamberlain (A24) 1 4 13 20 22 25
97 Steve Perry (A25) 2 2 5 9 32 47
97 Adrian Tamas (A8) 2 10 12 16 20 37
112 Olakunle Ajayi (A23) 5 10 10 22 30 35
118 Ray Tate (A27) 1 14 21 22 27 33

Division A High Combined
Round Combined
Score Winning
Score Losing
Score Class Winner Class Loser
14 1072 648 424 A Nigel Richards (A1) A Chris May (A3)
1 1014 513 501 A Phil Robertshaw (A9) A Adrian Tamas (A8)
1 1002 598 404 A Helen Gipson (A5) A Harshan Lamabadusuriya (A4)
15 1000 581 419 A Harshan Lamabadusuriya (A4) A Mikki Nicholson (A6)
22 1000 534 466 C Paloma Raychbart (A20) A Harshan Lamabadusuriya (A4)

Kidnap Prince William

2010-01-06T17:17:00.004+09:00

At one of my girlfriend's request, my mission in UK is to kidnap prince William and take him to her. I had no idea he was that popular in Japan.So long, David Beckam! Thank God he is a valid Scrabble word. Otherwise I would have had to ask somebody else to do the dirty job. Don't be surprised if I play " WILLIAM" today...

Uk Open - Day 2

2010-01-06T09:15:00.004+09:00

I finished the second day on 9 wins and 9 losses. Strangely enough, there is only one more player on 9 wins and 9 losses! I am quite happy with my average of 447 points per game. My goal is to keep scoring and see what happens... Don`t you think I didn`t make the top though. The highlights of my day were playing 4 consecutive bonuses against Steve Perry, including the low probability CHENOPOD, and playing OVERSIDES (ES was on the board).

Division A Average Scores
Rank Average Won-Lost Spread Player
1 466.56 13.0- 5.0 +1627 Nigel Richards (A1)
2 459.33 15.0- 3.0 +1341 Craig Beevers (A2)
3 454.67 12.0- 6.0 +1189 Mikki Nicholson (A6)
4 449.83 12.0- 6.0 +999 Harshan Lamabadusuriya (A4)
5 447.61 9.0- 9.0 +622 Adrian Tamas (A8)

Division A High Losses
Round Losing
Score Winning
Score Class Loser Winner
1 501 513 A Adrian Tamas (A8) Phil Robertshaw (A9)
9 474 484 A Adrian Tamas (A8) Chris May (A3)
8 461 490 B Wayne Kelly (A14) Craig Beevers (A2)
8 460 508 A Helen Gipson (A5) Philips Owolabi (A10)
14 451 469 C Jojo Delia (A26) Ray Tate (A27)
13 437 513 A Adrian Tamas (A8) Mikki Nicholson (A6)

Division A Tuff Luck
Sum Player Losing Spreads
116 Olakunle Ajayi (A23) 5 10 10 22 30 39
136 Adrian Tamas (A8) 2 10 12 16 20 76
150 Brian Sugar (A13) 7 11 19 21 30 62
157 Ray Tate (A27) 1 14 21 22 41 58
178 Phil Robertshaw (A9) 8 15 27 34 45 49

Anagrams

2010-01-05T09:59:00.004+09:00

Today we played eight games. After the games, Mihai and I taught my father how to play Anagrams. Then, my father and Mihai teamed up against me. Unfortunately for them, I managed to steal their finds, so they finished on zero.

The WSC Car

2010-01-04T18:50:00.001+09:00

An excellent spot by Sanjoy Gupta at the outskirts of Johor Bahru

Scrabble in Romania

2010-01-02T20:31:00.008+09:00

After Christmas, I went to Cluj Napoca to meet my Romanian Scrabble mates. My father was there too. I was pleased to meet Septimiu Crivei, the National Scrabble Champion en titre in Romanian and the guy who supported me the most for the last couple of years. Even though, we often ecxhange emails, it was the first time for us tu meet. And because we couldn't stay away from Scrabble, we decided to play team Scrabble. It was Septimiu and I versus Mihai and my father. As our opponents said, we were extremely lucky to win both games. Here are some photos from Cluj:

Septimiu Crivei, Ovidiu Tamas, Mihai Pantis, Adrian Tamas

Septimiu & Adrian 511 Mihai & Ovidiu 394

Septimiu & Adrian 433 Mihai & Ovidiu 409

My WSC ( Day 1)

2009-12-19T00:00:00.011+09:00

My WSC 2009 ( Day 1)
Following Philip Edwing Mugisha and Neil Green`s phenomenal reports, I give you my WSC report "titled humbly and simply": The Conqueror.

Considering that I probably know twice as many words as I knew two years ago, I was feeling very confident about finishing in top 50 at the WSC.. Deep down, I was hoping for a top 20 finish. Well, to tell you the truth, I was almost sure that I would finish in top 10. Why lie to you? I had a feeling I was gonna win this one.

Game 1 ADRIAN TAMAS vs RON HOEKSTRA
My WSC started extremely well. For Ron, that is. While I had to exchange tiles, Ron hit me with AERATED. I struggled with some awkward racks before playing TENURES. In the meanwhile, Ron kept scoring consistently. Towards the end of the game I got the first blank and played intrepidly, as I always do. I mean, INTREPID. And when I thought that there was still hope for me to win this game, Ron scored 280 points in four moves with ZITI, EXIT, NOVELLA and JOWARS. L:389-542

Game 2: ONG SUANNE vs ADRIAN TAMAS

From the start, Suanne wanted to outrun me. Not an easy task, when you`re facing the strongest player in the word. I invited Suanne to join my friend NETWORKS. I only asked for 110 points in return. She must have thought it was a ripoff, but she accepted. Suanne took the first blank and played LAITIES. A couple of moves later she took the second blank to hit me with LOAMIEST.I considered myself lucky she didn`t have any high score bonuses with the blanks. In the endgame, I used my magic and pulled a REINDEER out of the bag. " Christmas is almost here", I said to myself, as I announced the score. W: 417-399

Game 3: NIGEL RICHARDS vs ADRIAN TAMAS

NIGEL RICHARDS started with INFLATE. From his facial expression, I knew he was extremely worried about the global economy. His poker face betrayed him this time. After missing the beautiful MORTBELL( a funeral bell) as a reply to his bonus, I took the first blank and played TORQUATE. I could see that he didn`t like that. "How about some WIENIES" , he asked me. "That would be 99 cents, thank you very much". I replied right away with UNGOTTEN. Then, the mischievous former World Champion, did something extremely disturbing. He let me think that he was going to play the nonvalid word HEC*. As i was getting ready to celebrate with a challenge, he changed his mind and played the beautiful word YCLEEPE( to call by name) for 101 points. My goose was overcooked. Next move, even though he had ZA for 64, he preferred
playing VIZSLA. As it turned out, he blocked my 86 point bonus DISOWNER. I had to settle for SWOONIER. It was payback time. I played the nonvalid word SWOONEIR*, announced the score and put my finger on the button. I didn`t press it though.
Well, not before rearranging the letters...I took the second blank, but on a closed board and with two Us, there was nothing I could do with it. L: 375-556

Game 4: ADRIAN TAMAS vs PHILIP EDWIN MUGISHA
After three games, I think I was the player with the worst spread of the tournament. It was time for me to face the other best player in the world. It was the Phenomenon against the Phenomenal. The Phenomenon had a good start, but I caught up. He took the first blank and hit me with REJECTED. I didn`t know this word, but decided not to challenge. The Phenomenon is famous for his amazing word knowledge. I decided that it was time for theme SCRABBLE. AIRSIDES and AVIATION put me back in the game. I considered not playing TENOURS, since it wasn`t related to the theme I had chosen: air and airplanes. I must admit that I gave Philip 10 points from challenging PENE and SWEDE. Later, I found out that SWEDE is a common word in English. Well, excuse me, but I have never eaten a SWEDE before. Maybe one day... I`ve always wanted to visit Sweden. Anyway, if you`ve seen Highlander you know what happened between Mugisha and I.There could only be one. While I was filling in the result sheet, I could tell that Mugisha considered chopping my head off. He knew he would be kicked out the tournament if he did that, so he refrained. W: 453-443

Game 5: ROHAINA TANVEER vs ADRIAN TAMAS
Rohaina is one of the nicest Scrabble players I have ever met. Her atitude during the game reminded me of myself. An early phony from Rohaina, allowed me to see
she had a blank. Strategically, I think I played a good game, until my FRENUM play.. That opened the board and allowed Rohaina to play SOLDERS for a lot of points. From there it was nip and tuck. I took the second blank and played FLITTERN, only to see Rohaina play REBOANT. A very close endgame followed, and only my amazing brilliance saved me . W: 406-383

GAME 6: Adrian Tamas vs Patrick Litunya
Patrick took an early lead and it looked like this would be his game, when he started showing me his tiles. That helped me a lot. I realized that he was struggling with KGGU combinations. I can`t remember the played bonuses. I didn`t get the chance to take a photo of the game. By the time I was done taking the result
sheet to Barry, this is what was left from our game. Another close endgame, and I was on 4 wins and 2 losses, after a terrible start. W: 451-389

GAME 7: VANNITHA BALASINGAM vs ADRIAN TAMAS
Against Vannitha, I started with GOUTIER. She replied with ANITRAPE*. Believe it or not, I spotted that now, when I started writing the report. How was it possible that my eagle eyes betray me? Anyway, I took the first blank and bonused* with GRAVIES. That was followed by SPINDLES, using the second blank. Vannitha was very gracious in accepting her defeat. W: 516-356

Game 8: ADRIAN TAMAS vs BLUE THOROGOOD
I started with AURICLE followed by CROCOITE, and never looked back. It was my luckiest game in a very long time. CROCOITE was followed by CILIATES. Then I drew the first blank and played THORNSET to block the triple triple that Blue had opened. I could have played ANOTHER for 10 extra points but chose not to. Blue is a real gentleman. Even when he was 200 points behind, he kept complimenting me on my play. I started feeling bad and wished for some bad tiles for myself.It didn`t happen. W: 552-290. At the end of the first day, I was 14th, with 6 wins and 2 losses. The Tile Gods gave me 9 blanks and offered 7 to my opponents. Not a bad start, I thought. I fell asleep at around one o` clock, while counting the money I was going to win at the end of the WSC. More to follow.

The Merry Wives of Scrabble

2009-12-12T21:55:00.009+09:00

For more than 60 years, wives have played a very important role in the history of Scrabble. Hundreds of thousands of husbands around the world had their Scrabble careers influenced by their wives. It all started when Alfred Butts invented this beautiful game. Even though he loved playing Scrabble, his wife, who was a much better player than him, made him realize that he should be sticking to what he knows doing best: making games, not playing them. This one goes to my wife, who hopefully won't be trying to convince me that it's time for me to quit playing this game,after all these great results I had:)

WORDS BEGINNING WITH "WIFE":

WIFE+D,S WIFING = to marry a woman
WIFEHOOD+S = the status of a wife
WIFEDOM+S = the status of a wife ( my definition for wifedom would be the territory where a wife is the supreme authority, that is, most households in the civilized world)
WIFELESS = without a wife
WIFELIKE = like a wike
WIFELINESS = wifely character or quality
WIFELY = befitting a wife WIFELIER WIFELIEST
WIFEY+S = an endearment for a wife
WIFIE+S = an endearment for a wife

WORDS ENDING IN "WIFE":

ALEWIFE ALEWIVES = a woman who sells ale
HUSWIFE+S HUSWIVES = a sewing kit
FARMWIFE FARMWIVES = the wife of a farmer
FISHWIFE FISHWIVES = a woman who sells fish
GOODWIFE GOODWIVES = a mistress of a household
GUDEWIFE GUDEWIVES = the mistress of a household
HOUSEWIFE+Y HOUSEWIVES = a house wife:)
KALEWIFE KALEWIVES = a female vegetable vendor
MIDWIFE+D,S = to assist a woman in childbirth
MIDWIVE+D,S = to assist a woman in childbirth
OLDWIFE OLDWIVES = a marine fish
SEAWIFE SEAWIVES = a bony fish
SPAEWIFE SPAEWIVES = a fortune teller
SUPERWIFE SUPERWIVES = a super wife :)
SWEETIEWIFE SWEETIEWIVES =
UNWIVE+D,S = to deprive of a wife

Yew Tee 2009 ( Scrabble Report- Day 2)

2009-12-10T20:47:00.016+09:00

Day 2 started with an easy game. I had to play Nigel Richards, the strongest player in the world. The game started very well for Nigel. After five moves, he was ahead by 100 points. I told him to wait for me, but he wouldn't listen! One thing I noticed is that World Champions tend to be a bit stubborn... Anyway, not even the two consecutive bonuses I took from the bag, didn't help me win the game. Nigel's bonuses were EVENTUAL, BRANGLED and LEPTOMES while mine were ROSULATE(no-S), ERASION+S and NIPTERS (ceremonial washing of the feet).

ADRIAN TAMAS 435 NIGEL RICHARDS 522

My next opponent was GOH JIANG PERN from Singapore. The final score doesn't show how close this game really was! I played ANGUINE (no-S like a snake), followed by LIFECARE+S. GOH JIANG PERN tried a phony which came off the board, but the next he used an E floater I kindly provided, to bonus with LOVELIER. A desperate late opening from GOH JIANG gave me a home for my ASTEROID+S bonus.

GOH JIANG PERN 331 ADRIAN TAMAS 470

Now I had to play HUBERT WEE, another Singaporean. Hubert finished 7th at the WSC two years ago. I knew he was a very good player. The tile gods smiled to me this game. My first move was PARERGA (no-S a composition derived from a larger work). PARERGA was followed by TOILETED. I chickened out of SALTIES and almost got punished for it. Hubert played LIONIZER for 101 points and CURARINE+S ( a poisonous alkaloid). I hooked an S onto CURARINE, and when he challenged, I knew it was my game.

ADRIAN TAMAS 459 HUBERT WEE 423

I was paired against TOH WEIBIN, a former WORLD YOUTH SCRABBLE CHAMPION, also from SIngapore. This time, the tile Gods were not smiling. They were laughing! And they only stopped laughing, when the game was over. I started with NAPOLEON+S ( a type of pastry). TOH WEIBIN replied with BEDSORE+S. And then followed what I like to call bonus flood. REMOUNT+S, ENDURES and LATERAD (no-S) from me, killed the game.

TOH WEIBIN 426 ADRIAN TAMAS 528

I had to play HUBERT WEE again. He started with ENDLEAF+S and never looked back. DIATRIBE+S, PANDECTS for 179 points( a complete body of laws) and GENETRIX from HUBERT gave me my worst defeat of the tournament! I played ETESIAN+S and ESTRONES to finish the game and catch HUBERT with 50 points on his rack, yet still lost by over 200 points!

HUBERT WEE 609 ADRIAN TAMAS 398

My next opponent was Michael Tang, the popular organizer of the WSC and CAUSEWAY SCRABBLE CHALLENGE. I started with DELICTS followed by SIENITE+S, EBONISE+D,S and BORANES. I could even afford not to play a triple triple for 149 points I was only 99% sure of. Michael bonused with TREFOIL+S and LANIARD+S ( a fastening rope on a ship).

ADRIAN TAMAS 533 MICHAEL TANG 429

My next victim was HUBERT WEE. I started well and kept scoring well, while HUBERT was struggling. Then, towards the end of the game, I completely switched off, and played my worst game of the tournament. I bonused* with INFLATES AND TREADLES while HUBERT bonused with EUCAINS and DATCHAS ( a Russian cottage).

HUBERT WEE 462 ADRIAN TAMAS 376

The last game of the tournament was against BOB LINN. My bonuses were SAURIAN+S and TELETRON+S ( a cathode ray- tube). Bob only had one bonus: COLLATED. He also played a three letter word phony that came off the board. Then we both tried to extend the word QUAFF, but failed...

ADRIAN TAMAS 448 BOB LINN 387

I finished the tournament 5th. After 18 games, I had 10 wins and 6 losses. My average was 448 points per game while my opponents' average was 432. I had a good time and I hope to go back one day!

Yew Tee 2009 ( Scrabble Report- Day 1)

2009-12-08T22:11:00.015+09:00

My first game of the day was against Ricky Purnomo, my host for the weekend. Ricky played the first bonus ( LAPWINGS a shore bird), after trying a phony the previous movie. I replied with ANTITYPE+S followed by INFESTER+S. It was my turn to play a phoney. Needless to say that it came off the board and it was followed by ADHESION+S from Ricky to win the game.

RICKY PURNOMO 421 ADRIAN TAMAS 403

My second opponent was Shim Yen Nee, another Singaporean. While she struggled the whole game with terrible pick ups, I played two bonuses: UNSENSED and and REARGUE+D,S. Towards the end of the game, she bonused* with TOLTERS and AIRLINES, but it was too late for her to catch up.

ADRIAN TAMAS 484 SHIM YEN NEE 349

Jocelyn Lor from Malaysia was my third opponent. She bonused first with LEAKERS, followed by the nonvalid word EDUCTING*, which later became DUETTING. I replied with the bonus TEAGLES and tried to balance my rack for another bonus. I failed to do so, and lost the game.

ADRIAN TAMAS 372 JOCELYN LOR 432

My fourth game saw me face my good friend TONY SIM from Singapore. Tony's opening move, gave me a T for SAXONITE+S ( igneous rock). HERNIAE and SMOYLING from TONY and GELLIES from me provided a very interesting endgame. Both TONY and I failed to see for a couple of moves, that my V was playable, which made NIGEL RICHARDS, who was lurking around, smile.

TONY SIM 443 ADRIAN TAMAS 484

CHEAH SIU HEAN, another friend of mine, was my fifth opponent. He had a dream game against me. He had four bonuses: FIREPOTS, ROBOTIZE+D,S , DOTTRELS and FREEDOM+S, while I had two: ANOETIC and RIVIERAS.

ADRIAN TAMAS 409 CHEAH SIU HEAN 484

In my sixth game, I played QUEK SIM Ho, a Scrabble veteran from SIngapore, who represented his country at the WSC a while ago. It was a very close game. I started with PITEOUS followed by his THEATER. WINIEST gave me a 40 point lead and when he opened with VILL, I hooked an I onto it to make VILLI/QIS for 44 points to win the game.

QUEK SIM HO 378 ADRIAN TAMAS 459

In game seven I had to face MIHAI PANTIS , my compatriot. MIHAI started with the suboptimal bonus TIERCETS, which allowed me to play CRAZED for 84 points! He had two more bonuses( OUTEARN+S, MOSSING), while I only had one ( CASEMENT).

ADRIAN TAMAS 467 MIHAI PANTIS 402

In the last game of the first day, I had to play ROBERT LINN from USA. It's always a pleasure to play ROBERT. He bonused* first with VEILERS, while I offered him some CIGARETS. Robert took the second blank from the bag, but the board was already blocked, so there was no home for his bonuses.

ROBERT LINN 406 ADRIAN TAMAS 426

I finished the day with five wins and three losses.

Causeway 2009 (Day 5)

2009-12-07T14:28:00.005+09:00

Day 5 was a daymare. I lost the game against Anand missing an easy bonus ( ENTRISM) as an out play, I lost the game against Henry Yeo by 8 points after bonusing* and taking the last four tiles from the bag (EEER), I lost the game against Karen Richards by 7 points after challenging two of her words ( words I was almost one hundred percent sure of!), and another game where my opponent saw the word OAKIER on the board next to us, and decided to try OAKIEST for 96 points! That gave him the win!. In my last game of the tournament, Bob Jackman from Australia played EUIO* against me. I challenged it off. Bob is my friend. A part of me wanted to let him have another go, while the other one ( the player) look at him and said: " Sorry Bob". I know that in Scrabble, these mistakes don't go unpunished... I remember how last year at the UK Scrabble Open I wanted to play the word HANGS. After I pressed the clock, I realized that I had played the nonvalid word HAGNS!!! It was challenged off by one of my good friends, Phil Robertshaw. We' re still friends. Or so he thinks...
In the same game, Bob and I realized after we finished the game, that there was still a tile in the bag. It was my mistake, since I failed to find it, thinking that there was only one tile left! We didn't know the rules. Bob had another turn, and since he couldn't go out in one, I played the tile left in the bag for 8 points.
So the Causeway Challenge 2009 has come to an end. The same players who fought in the final of the WSC (Nigel and Pakorn) finished first and second, which shows that luck is just a part of the game!
On the way to the airport, Sanjoy Gupta, a Scrabble player from India, offered me a beer. At first, I thanked him and said that I wasn't a beer person. Then, I accepted his present. It was my first beer this year. After the firt sip, I remembered why I didn't like beer. It had a bitter taste. Just like the taste of defeat...:))

Causeway 2009 (Day 4)

2009-12-06T01:26:00.007+09:00

Michael Akonor (Ghana) Adrian Tamas (Romania)

Another good day for me. After two days of struggle, I made it back to table one. Just for one game...I didn't throw any games away today. On top of that, inspiration and luck gave me two nice wins against Michael Gongolo and Kevin McMahon, two of the strongest players in the open division. I also played a nine timer: ATRopINES for 149 points against Victor Chua, to win a very exciting game.
The last game of the day put me in a very interesting position. Michael Akonor, the leader of the Open Division, played a word that I challenged. He took it back right away saying that it wasn't good. He didn't even want to go to the computer for the adjudication. Even though I challenged the word, I was almost sure that it was ok, so I insisted that we should check it. It was valid, so Michael didn't lose his turn. He thanked me many times after the game. I said that I enjoy winning, but that I would rather lose than win games like that. Michael Akonor seems like a nice fellow. I hope he wins the tournament.

Life as a Single Wife: the End of the Road

2009-12-06T00:39:00.009+09:00

As I told you before, being a single wife does not mean I am the only wife until further notice. It means I am a kind of semi-bachelorette until my beloved husband comes back. The happy event will take place in about 30 hours, so tonight I thought I'd take advantage of my freedom and I went out (for the first Christmas party of the season) with some friends.
Here's a photo of our dinner (I'm pretty sure sashimi is a valid Scrabble word, but you will have to ask the specialist if you want to be one hundred per cent sure).

After that, we went to my favourite bar in Japan, a small place called Michi (The Road) which has been in business since 1957. The owner is a kind and funny old man who chooses his customers and has a special price for each of them, depending on the degree of likability. Fortunately, I'm on the list of favourites. I strongly recommend it; it's right in the center of Osaka, near the Hozenji temple, and if you're lucky and the owner likes you, you can have many great drinks for a very low price.

I apologize if I haven't been very funny. After been awake for 18 hours, my inspiration has left me. But I'm sure Adrian will be here soon, with news from Causeway Challenge. As I suggested before, for the pancakes... attaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!

Causeway Scrabble Challenge ( Day 3)

2009-12-04T23:20:00.002+09:00

Day 3 was good, but could have been better! I felt that two of my three lost games where winnable. The third game was " whinable". I really need to work on my stamina. At one point, I almost fell asleep on the Scrabble board. When I "almost" woke up, my opponent was already filling in the result sheet. Tomorrow is another tough day, with ten games waiting to be played. Who knows, we might even have a winner by the end of the day...

"If Only" ( Scrabble)

2009-12-04T08:05:00.010+09:00

"If Only" is a Scrabble variant invented by a player from UK. If you know his name, please let me know. Howard Warner from New Zealand introduced us to this game, a couple of days ago. Yesterday, the nine games of Scrabble were followed by three games of "If Only" against Martin Harrison. Since you have a blank on your rack almost every turn, it's easy to score more points and to come up with nicer words.

Game 1: Adrian Tamas 541 Martin Harrison 476

Game 2: Martin Harrison 528 Adrian Tamas 514

Game 3: Adrian Tamas 715 Martin Harrison 572

Causeway Scrabble Challenge ( Day 2)

2009-12-03T23:14:00.006+09:00

Today was a good day. For my opponents. I played my worst Scrabble ever to lose a won game against Waseem Katri, I "managed" a six game losing streak, and not even the 6 phonies played by my opponents couldn't end it! For lunch, I had a J served by Charnrit, the World Youth Scrabble Champion. That will teach me! Starting today, I will stop counting the " goodies".
Did I have enough? No! Tomorrow I'll be back for more!

Virus Alert: the Scrabble Bug

2009-12-03T17:35:00.002+09:00

This is a very serious warning. The Scrabble virus has a long incubation period and the risk of contagion is extremely high. When the Scrabble virus strikes, it strikes violently.
The first symptoms:

 You are on the train with your friends, one of whom (hi, Chad!) is teaching you American slang. The only thing you can think of is “Are these valid Scrabble words?” You actually utter out loud the question and your friends cast pitying glances in your direction.
 You are in Nikko, one of the most beautiful and famous places in Japan, soaking comfortably in an open air bath. The sun is slowly rising and the steam turns into a delicate rose mist which floats around your shoulders.

A maple leaf falls into the water, near you, and you rest your head on a moss covered rock. All of a sudden, the water is rippling and you can feel the kraken (ha! I’ve read my pirate books!) lurking beneath: “Is rotenburo—an open air bath—valid in Scrabble?”

I’m not yet sure about the second stage of the disease, but I guess I’ll be afflicted with an incontrollable shaking when I see a Scrabble board. After that… DOOM follows! If you want to prevent infection, the first thing to do is stop reading this blog.

Our House

2009-12-03T09:39:00.006+09:00

In order to avoid misunderstandings, here is our house.

It does belong to the temple you saw in the photos and it is right across the street from it. Jean, unfortunately we do not live quite inside the temple, but very close to it. The invitation to come visit us stands.

Causeway 2009 (Day 1)

2009-12-02T21:58:00.004+09:00

As I walk into the game room, I hear Harshan Lamabadusuriya say: "This is what Scrabble deserves. This is how it should be treated". I couldn't agree more. Michael Tang has taken this game to the next level!
Today was a pretty good day for me. I finished on seven wins and two losses. I took about seventy percent of the blanks which is no bad at all... My wife said she would wait for me with pancakes ( my favourite dessert) if I win. I remembered that, when I played the bonus NOCAKES against Esther Perrins! My first game tomorrow will be against Charnrit, the World Youth Scrabble Champion . The Open Division looks pretty strong too. I see Odette Rio, Martin Harrison, Kevin MacMahon and Cheah Siu Hean, are out of the top 20 at the moment. In my opinion, any of these players could win the Open Division!

Where We Live

2009-12-01T12:17:00.000+09:00

A story to take your mind off Scrabble at least for a few minutes. Here it goes.

My grandmother has always been afraid of graveyards. A deep, inexplicable fear which prevented her from ever going to a graveyard alone or from passing one by at night. Now we live surrounded by graveyards. There are four temples, each with its own graveyard, on our street. The moment I step off the train, I smell the incense and within minutes I’m on the sacred street, which feels amazingly peaceful and safe. If I met any ghosts, I was not aware of it.
Our temple (yes, after three years here I think we can say “our” temple, despite the more than obvious difference between our religious systems) is called Gatsuzōji, more precisely 青陽山月蔵寺 and it has a 500-year history.

The Temple of the Hidden Moon. The Dwelling of the Gods on the Mountain of Eternal Spring. Now we are part of its history. We were here when the little boy who will (hopefully) become its 44th head priest came into this world and we shared all of his birthday cakes.
We traveled around the world with its head priest.
We took part in its annual events. I helped make o-hagi, and cold somen noodles, and bento boxes.
We witnessed ascetic practices and helped with the cleaning before and after the event.

Now we are all very proud that Gatsuzōji has become the newest attraction in the tourist circuit of Sakai City and almost 2000 people visited it in only five days.
The leaves of the maple tree are turning red. Autumn again, my favourite season. Don’t avoid us if you’re ever in Sakai!

The Battle of the Titans, or Scrabble Reloaded

2009-11-30T20:39:00.009+09:00

This afternoon, Martin Harrison and I(representing the Causeway Open Division) played three games of Scrabble against Lewis Mackay and Phil Robertshaw ( representing the Causeway Masters Division).
Game 1: Lewis and Phil started with the beautiful ROCKABY( a song used to lull children to sleep). It was followed by our MELTAGE+S, making ROCKABYE. WORDINGS, PEERAGE+Sand DISCANT+S gave them a well deserved win:LewisPhil 597 MartinAdrian 446

.

Game 2: Martin and I exchanged one tile in the first move, and bonused the next move with CORONET+S. Lewis and Phil played EYEPATCH, a nonvalid word, that stayed on the board. ABRIDGER+S and CELERITY put us well ahead, but a hidden bonus from us, combined with a bad pickup for the masters, won us the game: MartinAdrian 481LewisPhil 453

Game 3: We decided to play a decider. Martin and I started with KINKIER. While Lewis and Phil where struggling with consonants, we kept scoring. To make Martin happy, I let him hook an S onto KINKIER to make SKINKIER(not a valid word). OUTHIRE+D,S, ANHINGAS( an aquatic bird) and JAILORS comfortably won us the game: MartinAdrian 554 LewisPhil 293

So the final result was Open Division 2 Masters Division 1, winning us the fight, and with it, a lot of compliments from our "master brothers".

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (World Champion 2009)

2009-11-30T09:16:00.007+09:00

I met Pakorn four years ago at the King's Cup, my first international tournament. I remember finishing my game and going to the" better tables" to see who won. Pakorn was there laughing, and talking to his opponent about his game. I asked one of the onlookers if Pakorn had won the game and the answer was: "No, he lost by over 100 points". I was quite impressed by his attitude towards this game. If you do your best, there is absolutely nothing to be sad about. Put a smile on your face and move on to the next game. And I believe that along with his amazing word knowledge, strategy and intuition, this attitude has won him many games. At this WSC, Pakorn played his third final. I believe this says much about his level of play. Nobody has made the final three times. How did he get to this level? The first step was falling in love with this game. The second step was learning the words. The third step was improving his strategy. And the last step was perseverance! I remember Pakorn telling me: " Wherever Nigel Richards goes, I go." Nigel Richards is another monument of Scrabble. Out of all the Scrabble players, he has the best word knowledge. He is a " trophy collector". The secret to improving yourself is matching your powers with the best players. And this strategy worked for Parkon. I forgot to mention another thing one needs in order to win games: self confidence. "I will win this year's World Scrabble Championship", Pakorn told me while we were playing some games on ISC in October. I knew he wasn't joking. Nigel and Pakorn are both my friends. Before the final I went to them and wished them good luck. I knew that luck would play an important part. I wanted both players to win, but I knew that this was impossible! I was sorry that Nigel lost the final and happy that Pakorn won it. When he came into the room where we were observing the final, he was crying. He had to wait for three finals to win this one. But he finally did it. Congratulations, Pakorn!

Been there, done that, got a T-shirt

2009-11-29T09:18:00.003+09:00

As my wife was saying, this is the end of the road. At the next WSC there will only be one Romanian. Unless we organize the event. I think that would be good for Mattel. In Romania all the students study English in Elementary School, High School or University, but very few play Scrabble in English. The good thing is that Scrabble has a good image in Romania and even though it's not as popular as chess, it's considered a sport. And we have a Michaeltanglike* organizer: Septimiu Crivei. Regarding the WSC, I can say that I've been there, played there, got a T-shirt and a Scrabble board.(since I won my last game and the winner took the board while the non-winner took the tiles).My average score was 433, which I'm quite happy with, while my opponent's average score against me was 436. Needless to say that I'm not happy about that!!!

WSC ( Day 3 - the afternoon games)

2009-11-29T02:04:00.005+09:00

In the afternoon I had two unwinnable games against Irfan Siddiqui and Rasheed Ateeq Khan, and two one sided wins against Dielle Saldanha and Robert Linn. Despite my disappointing performance, I won 20 rating points. Unlike yesterday, today I had a better flow of the tiles.
Game21: Adrian Tamas SSSQZ?(exchanged twice) Irfan Siddiqui ?JSX Lost
Game22: Adrian Tamas SS?ZQ Rashid Ateeq Khan SSJX? Lost
Game23: Adrian Tamas ZSS? Dielle Saldanha QJXSS? Won
Game24: Adrian Tamas SSZ? Robert Linn QJZSS? Won
Romania loses a spot but wins a lot of experience. We will be back...

The End of the Road

2009-11-28T20:12:00.002+09:00

To avoid misunderstandings, this is the wife speaking. I have just seen the standings on the WSC official website. Not exactly what I would have expected, so I thought I should count the positive and negative aspects, to see whether I should mourn or rejoice.

Minuses:

1. Romania is (I think) back to the one-player team.
2. The very supportive people back home (Septimiu and the U Cluj club, for example) may be disappointed.
3. I'm afraid my husband would get drunk if he drank alcohol. Honestly, I'm sorry he doesn't. As I mentioned before, I'm a terribly sorry loser, so I'd probably be suicidal were I in his shoes.
4. The surprise breakfast (pancakes!) I had planned for him is off. That was the breakfast for champions.

Pluses:

1. Our house has been very clean and neat for the past seven days.
2. I can eat my favourite cereal every morning because the bag stays miraculously full during the night.
3. I don't have to watch TV wearing headphones anymore (Adrian doesn't watch TV).
4. The strange ringing in my husband's ears (it sounds something like: "How many times have I told you not to leave your dirty socks on the floor?" "Take your feet off the desk!" "Dry the dishes and put them back in the cupboard after you've washed them!" and other such endearing words) has completely disappeared.

Another minus: all the pluses enumerated above will magically disappear as soon as Adrian is back from Malaysia.
Another plus: pending on the Causeway Challenge results, the pancake breakfast might be back on schedule.

Congratulations to all the players, good luck tomorrow to the two Lords on top and, as the Japanese put it, お疲れ様でした (otsukare sama deshita = your efforts during the day are much appreciated).
Carmen

WSC( Day 3 at lunchtime)

2009-11-28T14:51:00.004+09:00

Today started with four interesting games. Joel Wapnick and Brian Bowman played a nine timer each to win their games against me while I had a late nine timer against Michael Tang which won me the game.That's three nine timers in 4 games!!! In the game against Victor Ikawa a late setup for my E gave me the win. I have started picking good tiles. Whenever my opponent looks away, I take some " goodies" out of the bag! The strategy works and I am planning to keep doing that...
Game17: Adrian Tamas SS? Joel Wapnick JQZXSS? lost
Game18: Adrian Tamas ZXSS?? (exchanged 3 times!) Michael Tang QJSS won
Game19: Adrian Tamas S?X Victor Ikawa JZQSSS?
Game20: Adrian Tamas SSJX? Brian Bowman ZQSS? Lost

I hope that the non- scrabble players don't think that this game is just about luck. It requires a lot of concentration, intuition and word knowledge. If you don't have this, you can take all the goodies from the bag and still lose! It's time to go back for my next game.

WSC ( Day 2- licking my wounds )

2009-11-28T00:28:00.010+09:00

Harshan And I before the game

As you already know, today was not such a good day for me. A lost game to Sherwin Rodriguez after being 140 ahead and holding a blank, a balanced game against Trevor Mark Hovelmeier( more balanced than the score shows), five games where I was just an observer and a win against Harshan Lamabadusuriya. And how sweet that win was! I have played Harshan seven times and this is the first time I beat him! He is not having a good tournament either. And neither is Joel Wapnick, a former World Champion and finalist of the World Scrabble Championship, who will be my next " victim" tomorrow...
Out of curiousity I had a look at the "goodies" I picked today. In Scrabble, QZJXSS?? are called goodies, because they make one's life a lot easier during play.

Game 9: Adrian Tamas ZQXSS Martin Harrison ??SSJ lost
Game 10: Adrian Tamas JXSS? Sherwin Rodrigues ZQSS? lost
Game 11: Adrian Tamas QZ? Nathan Benedict JXSSSS? lost
Game 12: Adrian Tamas S Mark Nyman QZJXSSS?? lost
Game 13: Adrian Tamas QXSSS? Harshan Lambadusuriya JZS? won
Game 14: Adrian Tamas X Helen Gipson QZJSSSS?? lost
Game 15: Adrian Tamas QS Ayorinde Saidu JZXSSS?? lost
Game 16: Adrian Tamas ZXSS? Trevor Mark Hovelmeier QJSS? won

I will look at my first eight games tomorrow. I'm sure I picked better tiles than today! Tomorrow I am planning to pick all 16 blanks:))

Me celebrating the historical win against Harshan:))

World Scrabble Championship (II)

2009-11-27T21:06:00.002+09:00

Well, sad news today. Adrian went down to position 63, after having lost 6 games today. And I have no photos to show you. As he put it, the only chance he had of beating one of his opponents was to actually use his fists. I can't say I would mind it. I mean, there are no rules in love and war, and this is war! You Scrabble players are so lucky I don't like the game!

Scrabble and the Real Life

2009-11-27T10:37:00.002+09:00

While WSC 2009 has us completely entranced, I find out, by pure accident, that in Romania all TV channels and newspapers debate a short movie in which the current president apparently hits a boy. The authenticity of the movie has not been proved and many think it may be an election scam. Honestly, I couldn't care less. What I wanted to say is that we do live a happy life if we can afford to care more about Scrabble than about who is going to be the next president of Romania. I pray it stays that way.
Players, have another good day!

World Scrabble Championship (I)

2009-11-26T22:00:00.003+09:00

I have just found these photos on the official site of the championship and I thought I'd share them with you. Together with the news that my husband finished the day on position 14. I could burst with pride!

Life as a Single Wife: Make Up

2009-11-26T12:14:00.006+09:00

I thought the "lords of the board" need a break from so much Scrabble (please don't tell me there's no such thing as too much Scrabble; don't take from me the hope that my husband might tire of Scrabble one day), so I decided to share some images from Japan with you.
Those who have been here, and maybe some of those who haven't as well, know of the Japanese custom of putting on make up on the trains. The well educated, polite, older Japanese think it's absolutely disgusting, even worse than eating or drinking on the train. Yes, eating a sandwich, a doughnut, or even nibbling on a piece of chocolate or drinking some coffee while riding a train is frowned upon in conservative Japanese circles. I must admit I do it sometimes, the train ride being the only time I get for lunch or dinner (unless I am willing to eat dinner when it's way too late for my diet efforts). I guess this is the argument women who put on their make up on trains can give: they don't have the time to do it at home. Sacrifice manners for a few extra minutes of sleep. I'm not judging them, but I must admit I find it strange to see women who do the complete routine: face cream, foundation, drawing the eyebrows (in case you didn't know, that's the fashion here: shave your eyebrows and draw the desired design every morning. I'm pretty sure Japanese men have really strong hearts if they are still alive after waking up next to a woman with no eyebrows. De gustibus...), several layers of eye shadow, eyeliner, powder, blush, lipstick, mascara. One thing is to be admired: the perfection with which they apply this make up. I can't use eyeliner even in the stillness of my own bathroom, not to mention a moving crowded train.
The bad news is that putting on make up on trains is slowly becoming more than a no no and posters discouraging it are found together with posters which urge people to take action agains molesters. Do it at home, ladies!

Let the Games Begin...

2009-11-26T09:23:00.007+09:00

Today is the big Day, when the Championship actually starts. Adrian must be in the game room by now (as far as I remember from last year's Causeway Challenge, a pretty impressive place), so I'm writing this post with the information and photos he sent me last night. He didn't say much about the Opening Ceremony (honey, you were writing to your wife, where was the description of dresses, jewelry, hair and make up?!?), just that Michael Tang is an awesome organizer. I can testify to that, having met Michael last year and being impressed with his skills and composure.
Since we have no red carpet photos, here are some with the presents all the participants received from Mattel:

a bag

a book of official lists

a panel shade (?)

and The T-shirt

I hope that when my husband gets home, he'll be able to say more than "been there, done that, got the T-shirt".

Johor Bahru (day 2)

2009-11-25T18:02:00.003+09:00

Yesterday,we started with a "bowling tournament" for a change. Lewis Mackay, Kevin McMahon, Rick Kennedy, Pall Allan, Craig Beevers and I went to a mall called "The Leisure Mall". When we got there, we decide to split into two teams: high rated versus low rated players. Kevin has a provisional international rating, so he joined Rick and I. Together we formed the strongest three player team this sport has ever seen. Unfortunately, we had bad "tiles" and lost the first game. This is a photo with the winners of the first game. We asked for out and discussed the strategy for the next game. It was time for revenge. Four strikes for me in the first 5 frames, and a couple of strikes and spares from Rick and Kevin put us ahead by more than 100 point. That's when Allan Paul had a magic run of three consecutive strike. Lewis Mackay played a very consistent game too. Craig Beevers, the Uk National Champion en titre, had a very bad tournament, and lost a lot of rating points.Because of this, he might have to play in the Open Division next time.
We went back to the hotel and celebrated with more scrabble games. The dinner saw Peter Kougi, Martin Harrison, Phil Robertsaw and I do some more anagrams. I ordered
the " BUMBU" fish. " BUMBU" is not valid in Scrabble and you need three blanks to go with it, in order to form two valid words: BUBBLEGUM+S and TUMBLEBUG+S (I'm guessing it must be a bug...). After dinner we played a game called anagrams. Allan Paul was the "tournament director". I finished my evening with two losses to ETA KARO, a very strong Nigerian player. The second game was winnable, but not at two o' clock in the morning! I would like to share some pictures but the internet connection is not very good... I will upload them when i get to Japan.

Lords of the Board

2009-11-25T10:26:00.000+09:00

Today the World Scrabble Championship 2009 begins and I would like to congratulate all the participants for having made it so far. As a person who hates sports and has never been good at any—it’s not just that I’m chubby, slow and clumsy, I’m not a team player and a sore loser as well—I sincerely admire all who have to strength and patience to go this far. With Scrabble, things seem to be particularly difficult. I mean, if you’re young, it’s one thing to be a tennis/ football/ basketball player, or a swimmer, or something similar, which would definitely bring you some fame and popularity, and it’s another thing to be a Scrabble player. First, not many people see Scrabble as more than a fun way to spend rainy days or evenings when there’s nothing better to do. Scrabble is a kind of chess plus poker: you need brains and luck at the same time, but the gains are infinitely smaller. And most of the times you have to accept being called a nerd, suffer your wife’s nagging (i.e, “Can you please tell me how Scrabble is going to help our family? Are you going to feed our kids Scrabble tiles?”) and your friends’ irony.
Yet you all made it so far and I think it’s great. Congratulations and good luck!

NB: This post is obviously a way of showing support for my husband and its validity does not extend beyond December 7th, 2009. On that day, the admiration goes back to its safe box and we go back to house chores and nagging.

Johor Bahru (day 1)

2009-11-24T15:11:00.010+09:00

Mihai and I got to Johor Bahru yesterday morning. The taxi driver could only speak Chinese and Malaysian.It was a good opportunity for me to practice my Chinese. When we got to the hotel, I was pleasantly surprised with the room. It seems ten times better than the room my wife and I had last year.
For lunch, Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Phil Robertshaw and I went to a Chinese restaurant. The food was good, but I was more interested in the anagrams that Phil and Harshan kept feeding me: AEHORSSW, AAADKLMN, BEIKLNS, FMNOOOOR, DEHILNPY, ADEILMOX, EFIIPRTY, CMNOORRW,
HIILPSST,HIILPST, EIKLPST, ACIKMPST. I will leave a comment with the answers.
For dinner, we had some more anagrams: BCELLRUW, ACHLOSW, EKLNOOOR, AGIKLORY, CEHINPU, AHILMOPT, AMNOPRSW, ADEHLMOY, ACEIOPVW, DLMNOOTY, EEGKNRU, and DOOOMMRT.After dinner, Lewis Mackay,Martin Harrison, Paul Allan, Rick Kennedy, Peter Kougi, Kevin McMahon and I played some "team scrabble". Mark Nyman and Andrew Fisher were there too for a while. We played some nice words and missed some even nicer ones. Here are some nice plays: AGOROTH ( no-S a market place in ancient Greece), TOWPLANE+S (an airplane that tows gliders)WEBPAGE+S( played as an opening move), SUTLERY (a camp hawker's stall), CINQUES ( the number five), DAYSIDE+S (the sun side of a planet)and HARIANA+S ( a breed of cattle).The missed bonuses were ROOTHOLD(maintenance of position by roots), POLTROON+S( a base coward)and OMNIVORY( 230 points!) Unfortunately the internet connection is not very good here, so I cannot upload too many photos!

Hotpot Scrabble

2009-11-23T15:20:00.004+09:00

After the tournament, Ricky Purnomo, Lie Ying Purnomo(Ricky's wife), Mihai Pantis and I, went to a hotpot restaurant. No, we didn't play any Scrabble. I just couldn't think of a better title. After all, "hotpot" is a valid Scrabble word. We, the Scrabble freaks, heroically tried not to talk about Scrabble. If you're a man, imagine having dinner with 3 women who for 3 hours only talk about make up, shopping and jewelry. That's what Lie Ying must have felt like, when we succumbed to our urge of talking about Scrabble. I must proudly inform you that no anagrams have been exchanged over the scrabble board though. The food was amazing. I think I could have hotpot for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Mihai Pantis, trying to run away with our food!

Singapore ( day 3)

2009-11-23T01:27:00.011+09:00

ADRIAN TAMAS 435 NIGEL RICHARDS 522

I love being a "full-time" scrabble player. Today we had eight more games of Scrabble. In the morning, I started my day with a loss against Nigel Richards but a 3 game winning streak took me to the top 5. The most interesting game of the day is definitely the one against Hubert Wee, where he beat me by 200 points, playing some beautiful words:ENDLEAF+S (endpaper), GENETRIX (a mother), PANDECTS ( a complete body of laws). Today I had way more bonuses than yesterday. I counted 21: ERASION+S, NIPTERS(ceremonial washing of the feet), ROSULATE(no-S arranged in the form of a rosette), ASTEROID+S, ANGUINE, LIFECARE+S TOILETED, PARERGA(no-S a composition derived from a larger work), ENDURES, LATERAD(no-S toward the side), REMOUNTS, NAPOLEON+S(a type of pastry), ETESIAN+S( an annually recurring wind), SIENITE+S(an igneous rock), BORANES, DELICTS, EBONISE+D,S, TREADLES, INFLATES, SAURIAN+S TELETRON+S( a cathode-ray tube).My compatriot, Mihai Pantis, had some beautiful bonuses. My favorite were URANISCI(no-S the roof of the mouth), EPIGAEAN(no-S living close to the ground)and IODYRITE+S.My host, Ricky Purnomo, finished third, after he had to play Nigel four times!Two wins for Ricky, two for Nigel. It's not too bad if you ask me! These are the final results:
Results after round 16
NOVEMBER 21, 2009 -- MASTERS
Rank Player Wins Mar
1 Nigel Richards 13 1575
2 Hubert Wee 11 866
3 Ricky Purnomo 11 106
4 Goh Jiang Pern 10 670
5 Adrian Tamas 10 256
6 Michael Tang 10 -82
7 Robert Linn 9 -2
8 Cheah Siu Hean 9 -121
9 Mihai Pantis 8 4
10 Shim Yen Nee 8 -155
11 Tony Sim 7 337
12 Victor Chua 7 156
13 Dianne Ward 7 151
14 Toh Weibin 7 34
15 Marlon Prudencio 6 5
16 Jocelyn Lor 6 -153
17 Quek Sim Ho 6 -344
18 J Goutham 6 -831
19 Wong Zhi Yuan 6 -983
20 Arul Inthirajah 3 -1489
HIGH GAME: Goh Jiang Pern 662

HUBERT WEE 607 ADRIAN TAMAS 398

Singapore ( day 2)

2009-11-22T01:03:00.008+09:00

ADRIAN TAMAS 409 CHEAH SIU HEAN 484

Today, it was time for Scrabble. 20 players joined the Yew Tee tournament. I started my day with a loss against Ricky Purnomo. I had to let him win again!I also played against my compatriot, Mihai Pantis.It was my turn to win. Tomorrow morning, my next victim will be Nigel Richards, none other than the world champion en titre.
My game didn't seem to flow very well today. I only had 12 bonuses in 8 games! That is certainly not enough at this level. My bonuses were ANTITYPE+S(a contrary type), INFESTER+S, UNSENSED, REARGUE+D,S, SAXONITE+S(igneous rock), TEAGLES, GELLIES(gelignite), RIVIERAS( a costal resort area), ANOETIC(no-S feeling without understanding), PITEOUS, WINIEST and CASEMENT+S( a type of window). After the tournament Tony Sim, took us to a place with a lot of Singaporean traditional food. It was delicious! Now I need to recharge my batteries for tomorrow...

Results after round 8
NOVEMBER 21, 2009 -- MASTERS
Rank Player Wins Mar
1 Nigel Richards 7 789
2 Ricky Purnomo 7 503
3 Hubert Wee 6 346
4 Goh Jiang Pern 5 612
5 Toh Weibin 5 256
6 Adrian Tamas 5 196
7 Wong Zhi Yuan 5 -89
8 Victor Chua 4 87
9 Mihai Pantis 4 -27
10 Robert Linn 4 -194
11 Michael Tang 4 -257
12 Cheah Siu Hean 4 -349
13 Tony Sim 3 80
14 Marlon Prudencio 3 58
15 Jocelyn Lor 3 -132
16 Arul Inthirajah 3 -613
17 Dianne Ward 2 141
18 Shim Yen Nee 2 -193
19 Quek Sim Ho 2 -356
20 J Goutham 2 -858
HIGH GAME: Goh Jiang Pern 662

ADRIAN TAMAS 467 MIHAI PANTIS 402

Life as a Single Wife (Day 1)

2009-11-21T16:44:00.002+09:00

Well, as you might have noticed, my husband is frolicking in Singapore. So I'm a single wife now. By single I don't mean that he doesn't have any other wives (honestly, I think I wouldn't mind having another woman in the house, to do all the chores while I'm at work), I mean that I get to experience the life of a single woman for two weeks. The day started extremely promising: I woke up at 6:20 instead of the usual 5:30, prepared for the morning English lessons, taught English for 3 hours, cleaned the house and did the laundry for another 2 hours and a half, then had lunch. Now I'm gloomily thinking that I have to teach one more lesson in the evening. But I have something to say to all the Scrabble players in the world: I'd rather be me :))
Good luck to you all! (Not too much though, because my present from Malaysia depends on what position Adrian ends up on)