London Scrabble League the monthly newsletter

SCRABBLE ® is a registered trademark of J.W.Spear & Sons Ltd., Maidenhead SL6 4UB, England, under licence from Mattel Europa BV, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc, © Mattel 2003

October 2009 Newsletter 296... | Stand-in Editor M. Pratesi...
Youth matters | What Katy did next! | Date for your diary | Memorable League evening | Drives | End of Season Report | Final Table | Words | Scores | Tournaments | Word grid update | AGM | Feeling unwell

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VINCE BOYLE won Division A at Kelvedon Hatch. Sharon Landau won B and Valery Jansen won a prize in her first ever tournament. (all pictured above). Find out how other League members performed on page 5 (or via the website)!

YOUTH MATTERS

A UK team will travel to Johor Bahru (Southern Malaysia) in December, to compete against 80 young players from around the world in a 24-game event run over three days. Their progress can be viewed at that time on the website www.youthscrabble.org. Congratulations to these three players, not only on being selected to represent their country, but also for having the courage to travel halfway across the world to defend the honour of all young people in UK. Jessica Pratesi (centre in pic above) comes from London, while Joe Knapper (left) and Tim Butcher (right) live in the Midlands. We wish them heaps of blanks, plus a wonderful experience overall - meeting young players from nearly 20 countries.
    The first winner in 2006 was David Eldar (Australia). In 2007, WYSC it was won by Toh Weibin (Singapore), followed by Charnrit (Thailand) in 2008.
    In December 2006, Austin Shin travelled to Australia to compete in the inaugural WYSC. This was held at University of Wollongong (on the eastern coast, south of Sydney). Fifty young players competed. Austin made it to the final playoff, which was the best of five games. He trounced David Eldar in the first of these games, but unfortunately for Austin, David was too strong over the next three games, so Austin finished a creditable second. (David Eldar was ranked number one Australian player at that time).
    Austin was then too old to compete in WYSC 2007, so Annie Hawes was invited to represent UK that year, in Malaysia. Despite having no tournament experience against adults at that time, she finished mid-field and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, if her eloquent postings on UK Scrabble were a measure of her enjoyment.
    Jessica Pratesi was invited to represent UK at World Youth Scrabble Championship in 2008, but was unable to attend. This year, she will head the UK team.
    Karen Richards, WYSC organiser

WHAT KATY DID NEXT!
By the time you read this newsletter our editor, David Holmes will have married his girlfriend Katy. Taking time out from Newsletter duties David and Katy got married at Marwell Hall in Hampshire on 10th October. League and Committee members wish them every success for the future.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
The London Scrabble League Christmas party is pencilled for Tuesday 15th December at the Swiss Cottage Drive venue. We have the room from 6.30 but a 7.00pm start to allow setting up is more likely. We must vacate the premisses by 10.00pm. Open to all League members and partners. A short Scrabble related quiz and/or marathon round for study throughout evening is planned and answers given just before everyone goes home. £1 50 entry fee to be confirmed.

MEMORABLE LEAGUE EVENING
Sharon Landau reports:
“During the first game between Ruth MacInerney and myself, we were neck and neck. With a floating D on the board I could make the word OVERSIDE - but as I didn't know the word I couldn’t take the chance and played something else instead. I narrowly beat Ruth. Before game 2 I checked in the dictionary to find that OVERSIDE is indeed a word.
During game 2 against Caroline Elliott she was way way ahead of me. With a floating V on the board just one spot away from the TWS believe it or not I could again make OVERSIDE using the V, and I did! I scored 83 points until Ruth, who had finished her game with Jake Berliner, asked who had scored the nine-timer. My score for the move was corrected to 149 points. I won the game and have to give great credit to Caroline who took the loss in extremely good spirit. Ruth felt guilty that she had pointed it out but, as both Caroline and I had not realised that my move was a nine-timer, it seemed fair to alter the score.
At the end of evening I had won my three games, scored 17 points, but only came third!”

END OF SEASON REPORT
No prizes for guessing who has won the League Trophy this season. Yes, it’s Sandie Simonis!! Despite a poorish start (29th after 3 matches) a consistent performance throughout the season has given her the trophy once again. The real battle was for second, third and fourth places with Lynne Kay, Vincent Boyle and the two Mikes (Lott and Chappell) continually changing places. But in the end it was Mike Lott who held on for second place.
John Meikle Cup 1 17.67 436.59 21 Sandie Simonis 2 17.04 440.41 27 Mike Lott 3 16.78 448.12 23 Vincent Boyle 5 16.38 424.61 12 Lynne Kay
Billy Gray Memorial Trophy
This is awarded to the player who has made the most improvement having played ten games in this and in the last season. They cannot have won the trophy before. This season the members in the first three positions had already won it. Mike Lott in April -October 1988, Sammy Idowu-Johnson in October 07-March 08 and Stella Magnus in April-October 04 This means that the trophy goes to Clive Whichelow. The top seven players all receive £6 in prize money.
Mike Lott 3.50 Sammy Idowu-Johnson 3.40 Stella Magnus 3.38 Clive Whichelow 3.37 Jenny Albon 2.32 Pamela Kikumu 2.22 Rick Joseph 2.20
High Word Scrolls
There were ninety-seven reported moves scoring 100 and over this season. Jake Berliner, Vince Boyle , George Gruner, Ruth MacInerney and Cody McCormick all had three but Alastair Keens-Douglas managed to get FOUR!! CONQUEST, GROTTIER, HORNIEST, QUATRES and REJOINED all appeared twice in the list with QUATRES being played on both occasions by Joe Bridal.
Colin St. Hill HACKINGS 248 Gold John Simon ZESTIEST 203 Silver Ralph Obemeasor BREATHES 176 Bronze Joyce Hoffbrand CERAMICS 176 Bronze
High Game Scores
These are awarded when a player achieves a score of 450 (Bronze), 550 (Silver) and 650 (Silver) for the first time. There are no gold winners, 3 silver and 4 bronze winners.
Betty Balding 568 Silver Josephine Colman 580 Silver Colin St Hill 578 Silver Judith Abraham 453 Bronze Mike Elman 505 Bronze Reeyaaz Goolamhossen 484 Bronze Jonny Maitland 500 Bronze
Six people scored over 600 in a game this season, four of them beating their seasons best but not quite reaching 650. They are Jaya Kannan (628), David Shenkin (617),Victoria Kingham (615) and Pam Vahed (604). Also beating their previous best were Viv Bishop (522), Ann Chivers (405), Maggie Fleming (519), Charles Gale (526), Lyn Hourahine (514) Monica Marden (423), Joel Stanley(511), Jennifer Turovski(400) and Michael White (433). Well done to all members.

A ROUND-UP OF TOURNAMENT NEWS

HAVERING. Kelvedon Hatch again saw the Autumn Scrabble Tournament played on Saturday, 5th September. 72 players attended and split into three equal divisions along with 18 London Scrabble League members who made the trip into Essex to play six rounds of Scrabble.
    In Division A Vince Boyle led with 5 wins and 389 spread from Karen Richards, Lou Brundell and Paul Bassett on 4 going into the last round. Vince beat Lou by 167 points to easily win the top prize with maximum wins and 556 spread. Karen beat Paul Bassett by 28 points to come second, the only person finishing with 5 wins. Calum Edwards continued his prize winning streak by beating Danny Bekhor by 38 in the last round to finish 3rd with 4 wins and 362 spread. Lou finished in seventh place with 4 wins. Ruth MacInerney scored 108 for playing the move SWEARER/KIPE/DOR. Bob Berry, Dave Shenkin and Chrystal Rose also featured in this division.
    In Division B and going into the last round, Phyllis Fernandez led with 5 wins with 286 spread from Jaya Kannan, Sharon Landau, Feroza Bartlett and Sue Ball on 4. Feroza lost to Derek Bower by 20 points. Derek thus overtook Feroza for fifth place. The top four played each other in the last round where Sharon defeated Jaya by 95 and Sue defeated Phyllis by 55 and positions switched dramatically with three of those players ending up on 5 wins. Sue’s win was not enough to overtake Phyllis in the table. Phyllis had a 231 final spread ahead of Sue on 176 spread. Sharon’s final round win sent Jaya to fourth place on 4 wins and Sharon won Division B with 5 wins and 337 spread. Reeyaaz Goolamhoosen finished 13th with 3 wins and won the ratings prize. Heather Laird, Jake Berliner, Linda Bird, Barbara Dein, Norma Galley and Cody McCormick also played their parts in this division.
    In Division C Paul Carter led with 5 wins from Valery Jansen, Joan Ress and Michelle Minnaar and Susan Thorne on 4 wins going into the last round. Paul defeated Valery by the narrowest of margins, 2, to finish with maximum wins and 299 spread, Valery dropping to third. Michelle’s 41 point win against Joan enabled her to finish in second place with 5 wins and 458 spread, while Susan Thorne’s loss to Esther Kaskett by 38 demoted Susan to eighth. Brenda Young and Renée Gilbert also played in this division.

HB HOLIDAYS. Scarborough was the place for the next round of matches during 4th-7th September. Four groups of eight including London League members Moira Conway and Philippa Morris. Moira was edged out of first place in Division A finishing third with 8 wins and and 151 spread, behind Stephen Balment and Jill Bright on 9 wins with spreads of 460 and 20 respectively. Three players finished Division B with 9 wins from 14 rounds and happily Philippa finished in front of Hilary Birdsall and Esther Bacon on spread. Anne Darby and Anne Atherton won Divisions C and D respectively both scoring 10 wins.
    Southsea 18th-21st September. 34 players in four divisions attended but neither Moira Conway or Philippa Morris graced the Southern Seas!

NSCT On Saturday 26th September 8 teams played for the right to be 2009 National Scrabble Club Teams champions at Bradford. The Essex Essential team consisting of Bob Violett, Christina French and Robert Richland who qualified from the South East final were well off the pace and finished well behind the Lincoln Allstars. Lincoln consisting of Mark Harrison, Ben Wilson and Gerard Fox finished top with a combined 13½ wins ahead of the favourites and many times winners Nottingham Nomads with a combined 12 wins.

NORWICH. Six London Scrabble League members competed at the Norwich Tournament on Sunday 20th September. In Division A Philip Aldous, John Ashmore and Alec Webb all finished with 5 wins with spread separating them for 1-2-3. Lou Brundell and Victoria Kingham were 7th and 8th with 4 and 3 wins respectively.
    Heather Laird won Division B scoring 5 wins and 525 spread ahead of Pat Friend who had the same number of wins but a 75 spread. Phyllis Fernandez and Cody McCormick each had 4 wins and finished 8th and 9th respectively. Valery Jansen managed 2 wins and finished 19th.

HOCKLEY. On Sunday 27th September 36 players were invited to play 9 games at the Old Fire Station in Hockley, ten of which were London Scrabble League members.
    Division A saw the top of the table clash in round 7 going to Calum Edwards who beat Steve Perry 431-371. Calum was on top. Diane Pratesi beat Cecil Muscat 366-304 to go 1 win behind Calum but level on wins with Paloma Raychbart and Steve Perry. Calum further went ahead defeating Paloma 393-308. Diane Pratesi and Steve Perry remained in contention having defeated Vince Boyle and Barry Grossman respectively. In the last round Calum led by one win and played Steve while Diane entertained Paloma, both matches were second time pairings. Diane got the better of Paloma for a second time winning 418-389 while Steve demolished Calum 561-316. The top three all had 7 wins and final positions determined on overall spread. Steve had 778, Diane had 550 and Calum had 237. The highest scoring word prize in A went to Mike Chappell who played VALIDEST for 167 to win the prize.
    Division B saw Nick Jenkins take the lead from round three. By round 7 Nick was on six wins with Ann Golding, solely in second place on 4½ wins, with their round robin pairing to come in the next round! Ann won 342-314. With Dave Shenkin beating Len Edwards 413-330, both Ann and Dave had a chance to topple Nick if Nick faltered in his last round match to John Garcia. Nick did not falter and beat John 397-378. Ann lost 350-465 and surrendered second place to Dave Shenkin who finished on 6 wins having beaten Phil Kelly 384-374 in the final round. Chrystal Rose was eventually placed third winning her last game 402-101. Victoria Kingham scored the highest word score in B with DEFACING for 101 in the final rounds.
    Marian Hamer led from round one in Division C after a 507-214 win. By round 5 four players including Marian and Phyllis Fernandez had 4 wins. By round 8 Derek Bower was the leader when he beat Marian 388-294. Phyllis Fernandez, having beaten Marie Perry 357-312, had tied with Derek on 7 wins going into the last round. The fixed round robin format had Phyllis and Derek matched in the last round. Phyllis overcame Derek 376-306 to win C. Derek held onto second place. Marian finished with a 439-314 win against Marie Perry but it was not enough to take third from Damian O'Malley. Damian won his last game 461-281 and with it, third place. Natasha Pratesi had led the highest scoring word prize with WINNERS/FOES for 76. In the end, Derek Bower scored 95 for PEWTERS to take the prize.

Briefly:
COCK OF THE NORTH. October 3rd-5th. Moira Conway won Division B with 17 wins and 1607 spread.
BOURNEMOUTH. October 4th. Janet Bonham won Division D with 6 wins and 486 spread.

More in depth reports, pictures and statistics can be found on the League’s website at http://www.btinternet.com/~m.d.pratesi/mp/londonleaguenews.html.

WORD GRID UPDATE
The Word Grid puzzle featured in previous newsletters caught the attention of erstwhile LSL member and 2008 National Scrabble Champion Allan Simmons, who came up with the following effort for 54 points:
J E F F A X A L C O Z E K N E W
However, he was pipped by current LSLer Vince Boyle, with the following 55 point grid:
W A Q F A J A R K A D I F R I Z
This is the first one to get in the Q, J, Z and K. Can it be beaten? Let our editorial staff know.

SOLUTIONS TO BENJAMINS PUZZLE The solutions to last month’s Benjamins puzzle are as follows: 1) WAVE, 2) BOTTLE, 3) BOX, 4) SHELL, 5) PIKE, 6) LIN, 7) PORT, 8) WORK, 9) GRAM, 10) BULL, 11) ROSE, 12) SUIT, 13) HOG, 14) PIKE, 15) SLIP, 16) MEAL, 17) IO, 18) WAR, 19) STYLE, 20) PENNY. The five ‘QUIN’ words were: HARLEQUIN, MANNEQUIN, PALANQUIN, BALDAQUIN, DAMASQUIN.

LONDON SCRABBLE LEAGUE AGM
Swiss Cottage Drive venue (see above)/1st November 2009 @ 1.00pm
The Agenda was published with the last newsletter. Everybody is invited to attend the AGM and share their views or raise any problems of areas which need improving about the London League Scrabble, do come along.
There will be a Drive afterwards but may only consist of 3 games depending how long the meeting takes. We do have to be out by 6.00pm which means last game must be over by 5.45pm !

FEELING UNWELL?
The ongoing saga of members being unwell continues. Fed up of staying at home with the sniffles? Thinking of going out to a Scrabble evening to cheer yourself up?
At this time of year with the sudden change of temperature, cold and flus rear their ugly head. Infecting three other seemingly fit League members with your germs does not make a fun evening! Two solutions, arrive with a mask and dosed up with germ fighting medicines or simply find a substitute, explaining your predicament, get an early night, take two tablets and see me in the morning!

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SCRABBLE ® is a registered trademark of J.W.Spear & Sons Ltd., Maidenhead SL6 4UB, England, under licence from Mattel Europa BV, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc, © Mattel 2003

October 2009 Newsletter 296... | Stand-in Editor M. Pratesi... Youth matters | What Katy did next! | Date for your diary | Memorable League evening | Drives | End of Season Report | Final Table | Words | Scores | Tournaments | Word grid update | AGM | Feeling unwell

New Malden - 27 September 2009 (4)

Swiss Cottage - 4 October 2009 (4)

Chigwell - 11 October 2009 (4)

© 2009 Mauro Pratesi

October 2009 Newsletter 296... | Stand-in Editor M. Pratesi...
Youth matters | What Katy did next! | Date for your diary | Memorable League evening | Drives | End of Season Report | Final Table | Words | Scores | Tournaments | Word grid update | AGM | Feeling unwell