This report appears originally on London Scrabble League website.
Big huge congratulations to Michael for winning the 7th WYSC held in Birmingham, UK :)))
I have been looking forward to this tourney so much over the past year it made my stomach nervous. But I had no reason to be seeing as I consistently finish ninth. This tournament would also be where I meet players who I've only talked to on the Internet Scrabble Club and never met in person (that's you Navya and Brad :D)
I'm extremely upset that this is my last WYSC and I still look around 13/14 years old and I feel like all these years of meeting so many awesome people has to come to an end too soon :O(
Onto my report now of the 24 games that reminded me why the WYSC is the best tournament around and how every teenager playing Scrabble should be given the opportunity to play in the WYSC because it makes you realise that there are other kids all over the world just like you who make you feel so welcome and so unbelievably happy that it's a feeling that you'll never forget :O)))
Day 1 Game 1: vs Tim Bryant (US)
I was helping Ronnie out ages before the draw started, and when I finished I went to look at the practise games that were being played (there's a reason I am Qwizical), seeming to pay more attention to the two Americans playing. This was strangely inevitably like fate.. and i hate that word, especially when my stomach has anything to do with it.
I played like a genius (by my standards) in this game, except I usually lose when I do that because my opponent generally plays like even more of a genius (yay!). I will get my revenge later (insert evil Qwak here)
Me : OUTHIRE 72, WANZE 51, HILLY 51
Tim : ACARINES 72, MUNITED 74, MINIVANS 74
Final Score : 405 : 434
Game 2: vs Cheong Yi Wei (MY)
(.........) did I deserve this? Probably, I know what you people think of me! :D I missed a bonus on my first rack.. what on earth is a BEDRITE? ;) I even rearranged my letters in that order in my head because it was easy to remember. I got 3 bonuses (big yay!) and even at this early stage of the tourney, I was still helping Michael's cause by beating one of his closest competitors! He became a 'happy Jan' (is that what they say in Oz? we call them 'happy bunny') :D
Me : TOASTIER 68, ANOETIC 79, STRIPIER 80
Cheong : TAMENESS 90, QOPH 51 (there have been too many 51s already.. I'm unofficially fed up! lol)
Final Score : 454 : 394
Game 3: vs Poh Ying Ming (SG)
I don't know what to think at this point. I hate the computer programs that run Scrabble tourneys, I have more fun getting angry at TSH! :D still.. I can't hate it when I win games ;)
Me : SATIATE 65, REGALIA 74
Poh : RECLINE 65
Final Score : 435 : 288
Game 4: vs some annoying little girl I'd rather not name (UK)
We all know who I mean! hahahahahahahaha. She started with a bonus, it made me depressed.. then i won? lol. Luckily i can outscore her.
Me : COALIEST 82
Tash : DIOPTER 68
Final Score : 408 : 352
Game 5: vs some annoying little boy I'd rather not name (UK)
I hope you all know who I'm referring to this time! :D Luckily there was no need for me to feel a sense of anger during this game.. I guess i got a bonus and never looked back... much...
Me : STRINGY 73
Jack : nothing over 50.. boy I am cruel.
Final Score : 359 : 325
Game 6: vs somebody I can name. he is called Muhammad Shahbaz (PK)
I'm gonna just say I fail at playing sometimes.. failing for me tends to be losing by 2 points ;) should i leave it at that? nahh lol but I just can't think of anything better to say.....
Me : DUNITES 75
Muhammad : QUEENIE 109
Final Score : 374 : 376
Game 7: vs Lambhotharan Yoganathan (I had to copy and paste this, its too hard for a British person to remember) (LK)
Erm..... what can I say about this game? Everything he challenged of mine was valid, everything I challenged of his was invalid (I think that made him a bit annoyed)
WORDS CHALLENGED : ODOR, SLANTED, FLOR, BEGONIA, ALEE, AGEE, MUSTIER, CUPPA, ROO (my words) NASHING*, JINGS*, SIE* (his words)
Me : SLANTED 71, BEGONIA 73, MUSTIER 74
Lambhotharan : TAENIAS 63
Final Score : 490 : 300
END OF DAY 1 and I am ninth with 5 wins +456.. that makes me happy :D At some time after one of these games Karen came up to me (i was sitting at the back of the room with Ronnie's parents) and said one of the players went off looking a bit annoyed cos he got beat by a girl.. i can safely say that wasnt me! :D
Day 2 Game 8: vs Amir Andi-Abdoerrachman (TT)
New experience for me, playing a game of Scrabble in complete silence. That rarely happens any more ;) Most importantly I enjoyed playing somebody different :D
Me : READIEST 72, BEAK/B(READIEST) 56, SALTIES 90, POTTERED 80
Amir : AIERIES 64
Final Score : 497 : 321
Game 9: vs Nuttapong Pholthip (TH)
During this game I was feeling NERVIER. Then I get dumped with rubbish like AEEFLOO and bonus... if that doesn't sound like me, what else could? :D
Me : NERVIER 70, FOVEOLAE! 74, AIRLINES 68
Nuttaphong : TREASURE 68
Oh, and the bit that made it more like me was catching him with the Q O_o
Final Score : 483 : 308
Game 10: vs Javeria Arshad Mirza (PK)
I sucked in this game but Javeria was awesome :D us girls must stick together and crush the boys one day! ;)) (Michael did say I was an angry person lol)
Me : IBEX 57
Javeria : GUARDER 67, DEAREST 78, BIZE 62
Final Score : 327 : 445
Game 11: vs Tawan Paepolsiri (TH)
Sumfn's deffo wrong with my luck (and my typing) but who cares
Me : SERRATE 69
Tawan : SLIDERS 70
Final Score : 356 : 372
Game 12 vs Sinatarn Pattanasuwanna (TH)
I completely destroyed the board after about 3 moves of the game.. so common for me haha.. im such an evil little duck.
Me : TOBACCOS 78, ENROOTS 67
Sinatarn : SLAINTE 78
Final Score : 392 : 377
Game 13 : vs Yeshan Jayasuriya (LK)
i didnt do anything right in this game :O( haha
Me : WASTRIE 68
Yeshan : ETALONS 73, EMERGES 90, QI 50
Final Score : 378 : 453
Game 14: vs Michael McKenna (AU)
Michael n I seem to play every year :D we are good friends ;) aside from that i dont think either of us want to beat the other over a scrabble board ;) i was sitting outside the playing room trying to eat some form of solid food before the game.. it wasnt working.. but in that time i taught Michael some of the NATO phonetic alphabet! (why he needs to use it in Oz ive no idea ;) ) Q is for Quebec! (not Qwizical :O( )
Me : SQUARELY 80, BONDERS 77
Michael : BRIDLING 94
Final Score : 404 : 409
Game 15: vs Omari Atiba Blake (TT)
I was just too cruel (lucky) nuff said really.. Omari couldnt do much against 4 bonuses in 5 moves.
Me : RESTAGED 63, INSANEST 85, OUTSTARE 82, EQUALING 107
Omari : XI 53
Final Score : 549 : 330
Game 16: vs Marvi Delfin (AU)
I've never played Marvi in all the years i'd been at the WYSC, She was having a really good first 2 days :D We had a little giggle when she played DICK O_o I loved the koala she gave to her opponents at the end of her game :D its chilling with ducks now :D
Me : ARTISTE 80, DELEGATE 68, SINGLET 86, HOVER 55
Marvi : REENACT 79, RANDIEST 72
Final Score : 538 : 367
Game 17: vs Yasiru Fernando (LK)
At least i had more luck in this game.. doesnt matter to me that i let him get away with a bonus :P
Me : HAULERS 69, POSTAGE 88
Yasiru : ZONDA 50
Final Score : 468 : 325
END OF DAY 2 i am 5th with 11 wins +1140 (i should be +1141 but i dont care)
Day 3 Game 18: vs Tawan Paepolsiri (TH)
My first rack said it all haha.. either that or my stomach told me it would be a bad-ish day.. even tho im not religious i believed that God would get me in the top ten again ;)
Me : ASSORTED 70
Tawan : NEAREST 61, TOAZES 63, ARTSIER 70
Game 19: vs Tim Bryant (US)
My first rack nearly said it all.. luckily this was Collins not TWL so i played EUOUAE ;) this game was a lot like our first one.. except i won this one with a bad assumption by Tim (i do not hog the Q when i want a bonus to win ;) )
Me : XI 52, LENTORS 76, ALIENATE 68, DIETING 63
Tim : TETANUS 93, SPILLAGE 60
PS Tim played barf in this game.. not a wise move haha. and i caught him with QVDRI
Final Score: 456 : 385
Game 20: vs Navya Zaveri (UA)
My stomach told me before the tourney that i would play with one of the youths i play with a lot on ISC. Its usually right :P After the game his mum (or somebody from the UAE at least) wanted me to keep playing with Navya on ISC.. of course i will! Its the least i can do for aspiring youths who feel like learning a diff side of the game with me :D
Me : SARDINES 65, QUAI 52, FAIRIES 64
Navya : erm.. i didnt realise he got nothing over 38! :/
Final Score : 440 : 337
I was also the only person who beat Navya on day 3! Go me! :D
Game 21: vs Michael McKenna (AU)
Neither of us wanted to play this game.. clearly we'd much rather beat someone else than each other.. either way i think both of us got the fairest result considering this is our last WYSC. we checked the scores n went thru everything afterwards when i 'won by one'.. then we drew.. couldnt really be upset i wanted Michael to win :D (sorry guys)
Me : LEGIONS 87
Michael : CAROTID 75, REALISE 74
Final Score : 389 : 389
I could've won the game by playing a diff move at endgame.. I didnt know it.. and when we went thru the recount Michael underscored HUI by one point.. maybe I should have started the recount while my time was running ;) also i virtually did the recount for Michael cos he doesnt write down the moves so i 'helped' him with it by doing it myself.. either way he is one of the people who have made my whole WYSC experience so memorable and lovely that its almost the least i can do :D
Game 22: vs Cheong Yi Wei (MY)
Time to help Michael out more! lol.. My brain must have been brainwashed during the tourney at some point ;) either that or i spread my brainwashed-ness to Cheong, who seemed to do a really weird unforced error due to low time!
Me : AENEOUS 70, OUTSTARE (again?!?) 76
Cheong : STATURES 66
Final Score : 443 : 339
CURRENTLY i am on 14.5 wins.. i think i tried to work out if this was enuf for top ten.. and i think i worked out it was.. i thought my large spread would be unimportant at this point.. little did i know what would happen in the last round (nawty psychic stomach never told me!)
Game 23: vs William Kang (MY)
William and I have never played either.. but it's probably because i never spend much of the tourney in the top ten.. this one i did.. except he wasnt up there when i was ;)
Me : SQUASH 66
William : RESITING 70, FOLIOED 80
Final Score : 383 : 396
Ermermermermermermerm nervous feeling now.. 4 people on 14 me on 14.5 so i was like 'im gonna finish at least tenth regardless of what i do i feel happy :D'
FINAL GAME: vs Yasiru Fernando (LK)
I played my worst game last :D thats the norm for me hahahahaha I just play all the wrong moves at all the wrong times but my psychic stomach was tired and after 2 days of no solids it deserved a break ;)
Me : VIOLERS 78, AIRBASE 75
Yasiru : ELODEAS 68, RUINATE 71, QUARTS 56
Final Score : 387 : 536
Now the dreaded wait to hear me finish tenth LOL. Mum was checking the results on her tablet so we didnt know what had happened until we asked Barry. I seemed to be ninth, then tenth, then ninth, then tenth, then i got a headache, then i got confused, then i was ninth again, then i said ' does that mean there was a draw in the last round?' hmmmmmmmmmm...... who cares :D i got a bit more money outta it ;)) 9th three years in a row is impressive for one little (honestly little) girl.
FINAL PLACING : 9th 14.5 +1181 (should be +1182)
My worst ever wins yet my equal first best ever placing :D im so grateful for everything that Karen has done for the youths of the world. You do not realise how much you will miss a person until you realise you might never see them again :O(((( I was distracted and depressed for the Monday and Tuesday after this.. i just couldnt focus much at all it was like something was taken from me :O(( HOWEVER one day i hope i will get the opportunity to go to the WYSC again (not as a player) and tell the next generation how awesome this tournament is and how they should ALWAYS make the effort to go to it <3 <3 :D :D
Lotsa love to all my friends competing n supporting the players at the WYSC xxx
Jessica
ALSO i am very very proud of how 6 y/o Ronnie did :D his first long tourney and he got 9 wins and his best score was 430 :D u cant get better than that for 6 :D
NICE THINGS:
Congrats to Jessica as well! Our UAE players speak very highly of her as one of the most formidable opponents on the youth Scrabble scene. (Nikhil Soneja, UAE)
Well done to Jessica - she has an excellent margin which often indicates that they deserve to be placed higher. (Marj Miller, Scrabble Victoria, AUS)