Share your WSC experience: Brett Smitheram
As the WSC 2011 becomes just a fond memory and real life crashes back in (friendly staff and people replaced by nonstop news reports about misery, whinging ministers and disaster...welcome back to England!) report time comes around again.
Having taken a break from Scrabble for a few years, therefore not qualifying for a WSC since 2005 I was very much looking forward to this year. It's very difficult to try to convey to someone who isn't playing at the event just how electric and exciting it is to stand there, surveying a room full of world-class players and knowing that in a few short days you might be walking away as world champion. Many can probably therefore imagine my concern at being diagnosed with a fairly significant eye problem the day before and having my doctor tell me I shouldn't go....but I decided I had another eye to tide me over and if it got any worse I would fly back immediately.....fingers crossed.
I had already arranged to meet with Stewart Holden at the airport when I arrived in Warsaw, and as fortune had it Susan Dundas was also present, so we were able to split the (extremely cheap) taxi fare to our hotels 3-ways. I had opted to stay in the Westin (as I know Lewis, Mark Nyman and undoubtedly a few others had decided to) since it was a third of the cost of the Hilton when I came to book. Many have expressed disappointment at the fact competitors were not offered a preferential rate at the Hilton, a sentiment I echo, however the 10 minute walk in the bracing chill of the morning each day probably did me some good......
After a quick scout around of the Hilton, during which I saw many familiar faces and had the pleasure of meeting a few new ones (including the omnipresent Saldanhas) I made my way to the Westin to make myself look more human. An hour later I stumbled across a mixed contingent heading over to the Old Quarter of Warsaw (Dean, Dielle, Chris May, Edward Okulicz..and possibly others who I hope won't be offended as my memory is beginning to desert me.) Conversation was wide-ranging, from Oranges, through oranges, and culminating in a long series of the most phallic ice creams known to man (or, more specifically, woman, given who was eating them) while Chris May munched on a piece of cheesy pizza bread-cum-baguette that went by the appetizing name of something approximating to a puffy canker. In any case, it was a delightful multinational group who (on the whole) laughed at my jokes, and they would be the mainstay of post-play dining for my time at the WSC, including such illustrious establishments as....the Red Pig, the Halka (make sure you tip Kate if you ever go there but don't ask about her academic performance), the Florian.....the err....Tramwaj....and umm.....the kebab shop.
Anyway, to the tournament -
The indications were worrying early on. I think everyone had expected a sit-down meal at the reception and were disappointed to receive just canapes, and when news got around that the people who were supposed to be checking tiles etc. hadn't turned up, everyone was a little concerned. But, thanks to the annotators (and I believe Karen Richards) all the tiles were checked, counted and ready for the start of game 1.
I'm not going to go through my games in depth in this report. It would become very long and tedious - some of my best (and undoubtedly worst) plays are able to be viewed on the WSC Games annotation site.
Game 1 vs Mihai Pantis. I'd never played Mihai before, although his fellow countryman Dan Sandhu was my first opponent in a previous worlds (reported in Word Freak...I was the Brit who got lucky!) As with my game against Dan, Mihai got the first bonus, however the game began to turn when I challenged off his BODGY* (an understandable phoney if you know BODGIES and BODGIER/ST)
Game 2 vs Bradley Whitmarsh again saw my opponent get the first bonus, but his overlooking a CSW-only hook of JAMBE-E allowed me to dump exactly what I wanted to, for 56+5.....positive feelings to take into an utter crushing by Nigel in a game I really could do nothing about.
Game 6 brought the next situation of note. 3 bonuses in 5 moves put my opponent totally in the driving seat. Even a phoney of KAPOS* from him left me still well adrift with just 3 moves left. However, he then gave me a place to play ENGORED, and played another phoney (THUJEE*) to give me a win I never expected.
Game 8 saw me drawn for the first time (of three!) against Adam Logan. We have always had great games, and this was certainly no exception - annotated on the site.
Game 10 is also annotated and perfectly illustrates how a "lucky" rack doesn't need to look like AEINRST. I managed to mistrack at the end of this game (very very careless) and needlessly blew 10 or so points of spread (if you're playing through, imagine my play if Andrew has MUD instead of MUID)
Game 11 vs Neil Scott. Heavy scoring from both sides, I get a nickel from Neil for NOUMENAL...which sets up his CLOZE for 78. With AEUIWNG? unseen I could see only one way I could lose. The U had to be in the bag and Neil had to play a bonus from AEIGNW?...as it happens, that's exactly how things fell. Despite playing the suboptimal REsAWING instead of BEWArING, I couldn't block the 22 point outplay for the U. Any other combination from my previous pickup would have won me the game.
Game 13 vs Patrick Nderitu saw me play the lowest possible nine-timer (104)
Game 15 vs Stewart Holden - Stewart was averaging not far off 50 per move for the first 5 moves. Fortunately I was averaging more. A romping game.
Game 17 vs Mikki....UNIJET*? No idea.
Game 18 vs Howard Warner....CERVETS*?? Still no idea. It was a hybrid of about 15 other words
17 and 18 were very demotivating. I played poorly and rightly dropped from pole-position. To then be smashed by Tony Leah in a rather one-sided game in 19 put the cherry on an unfortunate triple-whammy. However, wins against Lewis McKay and Craig Beevers got my mojo back, and even the next loss to Andrew Fisher wasn't that bad as I *almost* eked a win from a game where every pick was golden for him...seriously, to play STOITER and pick OTARIE?...bad karma for the finals!
My remaining games saw me playing (unsurprisingly) yet more highly capable players. Hubert Wee took me to 1-1, as did Komol. Dave Wiegand beat me 2-0, with the second game being incredibly frustrating..I played three bonuses yet barely broke 300 as the racks in between were outstandingly awful. Nonetheless, Dave has been vaunted as one of the best players never to make the final, and he certainly played well against me. My second game against Chris May was less one-sided than the first, but a (truly annoying) get-out-of-jail play of PIEDFORT secured the game for him....I think Chris possibly now has the best record of anyone anywhere against me.
Final game was my third against Adam Logan. Not as much of a classic as the others...I got a lead and defended it like mad....but when the dust had cleared I found myself the winner and in 6th place.
Considering my fall from grace after being in 1st, this wasn't a bad outcome although I can and will do better next time ideally with two fully functioning eyes! 6th is my best performance to date though, and while I'm pleased to be the top Brit, I believe our team has more strength and depth than almost any other so look forward to seeing a much better showing in future.
As has been reported extensively, the final between Andrew and Nigel was played to a very high standard. I found it particularly interesting how Nigel opted for plays that I (and in most cases the assembled players) would have thought second best. SNOTTY (instead of STONY) and NEMNED (instead of MEN, the preference of many ex-champions in the room.) Yes, Nigel got 9/10 blanks, but I don't think an extra one or two tile turnover was the reason!
Ultimately though, the blanks were not the deciding factor. Andrew pulled the match to 2-2, and but for a couple of marginal decisions in the final (DAVY vs TOADY, POTAE vs APO) could still have won it.
I would like to express my thanks to everyone who contributed to making this such a pleasurable event. Mattel (Philip) for organising what, on the whole, ran very smoothly. Wilma Vialle for continuing to be as delightful as ever, and for remaining consistent despite utterly unacceptable behaviour from some people. All of the helpers and annotators who did such a sterling job. And last (but certainly not least) to the ever-changing group of diners and drinkers I spent the evenings with and learnt to pull a pint for (to be shown up by Dielle who was a much quicker study...who'd have thought an HR degree would include the dispensing of alcohol?)
As I remarked to Naween, Scrabble is a weird phenomenon. Time seems to freeze between tournaments and sometimes it can be years between seeing someone, yet when the players congregate and the tiles start rattling, it's like you have never been away (with the odd exception like the Causeway 2010...."Hi Dave (Boys)"...."Hi....who are you?")
For me, this is what makes Scrabble camaraderie special, but it also gives me an incentive to play significantly more international tournaments. From here, I'll be a lot more active on the world scene, so for those travellers among you - I'll see you soon.