Our trusty tournament director Wilma Vialle was back from her latest overseas jaunt to direct proceedings. Her sexy new red sports car seemed incongruous parked inside the barbwired gates of the venue entrance. Paul Cleary was back in the melee for a Trans Tasman warm up after a six months absence. David Edmunds, a student from Macquari Uni with online experience, was playing his first tournament and was to go on and acquit himself admirably.
After the players who were missing from the NSW Championships were presented with their 1000 plus games badges, play commenced. I was drawn to play Liz in the first game and she immediately opened up with oVARIES which I was later able to front hook. Also in round 1, a player using an analog clock tried to claim victory by pleading ignorance. He/she thought that five minutes past the vertical meant he/she had five minutes left. Nice try!
In round 2 the last game to finish was the game between John Barker, sporting half a beard, and George Khamis. John must have had his mind elsewhere as he allowed George to extend EX to EXORTED* along the bottom triple file, then a move later George played out with TOELIKE on top of his own false word to win the game. Is that justice?
Round 4 saw two 600 plus games. Paul scored 611 against Hari Nanayakkara who was unbeaten to that point, while Chris May scored the tournament high game 641 against Sue Gergelifi.
A 40 minute lunch break was taken after Round 4 and John Barker had to return to his home for some urgent personal business. The only problem was that his Chatswood home was 35 minutes from the venue, so that by the time he returned for round 5, his clock had ticked over the 20 minutes. The new rule was invoked giving Audrey Newman the easiest she had ever had!
The afternoon’s play was most interesting at the top tables with the lead changing several times between, Edward, myself and Hari. Hari was having a great tournament, accounting for John Holgate, Edward and me in successive games. Only Chris May, who beat him twice on the day, had his measure.
The last two games of the day were pure King of the Hill. I lost to Edward for the second time of the day, while Chris beat Hari to force a play off for first place between Edward and Chris in the last game. Edward was one game clear but Chris had the superior spread.
From what I understand this was quite a game so Chris may post the details of it. Fairly early in the game, Edward played PR(EF)ECTS around an EF on the board for a non-bingo nine-timer scoring the tournament high 135 and a possible national record in that category. Chris was about 150 down but with two blanks unseen there was a glimmer of hope. After an outstanding play of OOGONIAL onto an L, he drew the two blanks out of the bag for two more bingos and ran out the winner of the game by 13 points, and the tournament.
Results after game 12
SPRING MARATHON 2004 -- OPEN
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Chris May 9 1271
2 Bob Jackman 9 765
3 Edward Okulicz 9 623
4 Hari Nanayakkara 9 336
5 Peter Shaw 8 662
6 Rene Chelton 8 361
7 Jean McGiffen 8 57
8 Sue Gergelifi 8 -26
9 John Holgate 8 -60
10 Jan Serisier 7.5 61
11 Paul Cleary 7 686
12 Joan Rosenthal 7 504
13 Hanne Marks 7 153
14 Moana Nepia 7 116
15 Audrey Newman 7 105
16 Susan Macgillivray 7 58
17 Jean Balmer 7 27
18 Sam Greenberg 6.5 74
19 Alastair Richards 6 650
20 Victor Tung 6 321
21 Janine Whittaker 6 105
22 Ann Fiddler 6 73
23 Karen Richards 6 59
24 Krystyna Batten 6 55
25 Judy Hay 6 28
26 Dolores Barbon 6 -28
27 John Barker 6 -63
28 David More 6 -183
29 Cheryl Michler 6 -287
30 David Edmunds 6 -409
31 Rex Shakespeare 5 43
32 Mal Ramsdale 5 -12
33 Basil Sands 5 -126
34 Richard Birch 5 -242
35 Edith Lowbeer 5 -264
36 Tony Kalayzich 5 -341
37 Margaret Andrews 5 -376
38 Wayne Jones 5 -427
39 Gordon Meggs 5 -457
40 Liz Jackman 4 -124
41 Jenny Templeton 4 -175
42 Jacquelin Hochmuth 4 -253
43 Sharon Sorensen 4 -352
44 Sunny Wright 4 -420
45 Maree Heynen 4 -529
46 Yvonne Edwards 3 -189
47 George Khamis 3 -686
48 Diana Field 2 -1164
HIGH GAME: Chris May 641
HIGH WORD: Edward Okulicz 135
"PREFECTS"
Stats for Tournament : SPRING MARATHON 2004
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating Points |
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
+Section: *OPEN + + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| NSW Chris May | 10 8 | 5 5 | 8.4 9.0 | 1746 +15 1761 |
| NSW Bob Jackman | 6 5 | 3 2 | 8.6 9.0 | 1828 +8 1836 |
| NSW Edward Okulicz :act | 5 3 | 2 1 | 8.6 9.0 | 1840 +9 1849 |
| NSW Hari Nanayakkara | 136 59 | 36 15 | 3.9 9.0 | 1407 +129 1536 |
| NSW Peter Shaw | 54 46 | 14 13 | 6.2 8.0 | 1550 +38 1588 |
| NSW John Holgate | 15 16 | 8 8 | 8.2 8.0 | 1699 -3 1696 |
| NSW Jean McGiffen | 38 36 | 11 11 | 7.5 8.0 | 1606 +11 1617 |
| NSW Sue Gergelifi | 131 118 | 33 34 | 6.9 8.0 | 1410 +23 1433 |
| NSW Rene Chelton | 91 99 | 26 28 | 9.1 8.0 | 1489 -21 1468 |
| NSW Jan Serisier | 74 82 | 19 21 | 8.0 7.5 | 1510 -10 1500 |
| NSW Paul Cleary | 3 6 | 1 3 | 9.7 7.0 | 1865 -41 1824 |
| NSW Joan Rosenthal | 11 14 | 6 7 | 8.6 7.0 | 1731 -32 1699 |
| NSW Moana Nepia | 59 72 | 15 18 | 8.5 7.0 | 1539 -30 1509 |
| NSW Susan MacGillivr :ac | 137 112 | 37 32 | 5.0 7.0 | 1406 +39 1445 |
| NSW Jean Balmer | 259 221 | 60 48 | 4.1 7.0 | 1272 +57 1329 |
| NSW Hanne Marks | 152 141 | 41 39 | 6.6 7.0 | 1394 +10 1404 |
| NSW Audrey Newman | 112 113 | 31 33 | 6.8 7.0 | 1439 +4 1443 |
| NSW Sam Greenberg | 271 257 | 64 61 | 5.4 6.5 | 1260 +22 1282 |
| QLD Alastair Richards | 84 108 | 7 9 | 8.5 6.0 | 1499 -48 1451 |
| NSW Victor Tung | 73 94 | 18 26 | 8.1 6.0 | 1512 -38 1474 |
| NSW Ann Fiddler | 417 375 | 101 92 | 3.6 6.0 | 1062 +48 1110 |
| QLD Karen Richards | 64 81 | 5 6 | 7.4 6.0 | 1529 -27 1502 |
| NSW John Barker | 60 92 | 16 25 | 9.0 6.0 | 1535 -59 1476 |
| NSW Dolores Barbon | 360 324 | 89 78 | 4.1 6.0 | 1133 +40 1173 |
| NSW Judy Hay | 291 278 | 66 66 | 5.0 6.0 | 1232 +20 1252 |
| NSW Janine Whittaker | 503 411 | 124 102 | 1.7 6.0 | 968 +103 1071 |
| NSW Krystyna Batten | 474 437 | 118 108 | 3.9 6.0 | 1000 +41 1041 |
| NSW Cheryl Michler | 295 286 | 68 67 | 5.2 6.0 | 1225 +15 1240 |
| NSW David More | 338 358 | 83 87 | 7.3 6.0 | 1161 -25 1136 |
|*NSW David Edmunds | 0 243 | 0 55 | 6.0 6.0 | 1295 1295 |
| NSW Rex Shakespeare | 294 316 | 67 76 | 7.0 5.0 | 1226 -40 1186 |
| NSW Richard Birch | 176 239 | 44 54 | 8.5 5.0 | 1372 -70 1302 |
| NSW Mal Ramsdale | 371 365 | 90 89 | 4.7 5.0 | 1116 +5 1121 |
| NSW Wayne Jones | 528 503 | 130 128 | 3.9 5.0 | 940 +34 974 |
| NSW Tony Kalayzich | 444 409 | 107 101 | 3.0 5.0 | 1034 +39 1073 |
| NSW Gordon Meggs | 378 378 | 93 94 | 5.0 5.0 | 1103 +1 1104 |
| NSW Basil Sands | 672 600 | 171 152 | 2.4 5.0 | 835 +51 886 |
| NSW Margaret Andrews | 328 360 | 80 88 | 7.0 5.0 | 1168 -40 1128 |
| NSW Edith Lowbeer | 512 497 | 128 126 | 4.0 5.0 | 961 +19 980 |
| NSW Jenny Templeton | 339 371 | 84 90 | 6.1 4.0 | 1158 -43 1115 |
| NSW Jacquelin Hochmuth | 379 397 | 94 99 | 4.8 4.0 | 1102 -17 1085 |
| NSW Liz Jackman | 333 391 | 82 97 | 7.8 4.0 | 1165 -77 1088 |
| NSW Sharon Sorensen | 297 333 | 69 82 | 6.9 4.0 | 1223 -57 1166 |
| NSW Sunny Wright | 507 499 | 127 127 | 3.4 4.0 | 964 +13 977 |
| NSW Maree Heynen | 641 627 | 162 157 | 3.6 4.0 | 853 +8 861 |
| NSW Yvonne Edwards | 639 693 | 160 178 | 4.6 3.0 | 854 -32 822 |
| NSW George Khamis | 382 407 | 95 100 | 4.3 3.0 | 1100 -26 1074 |
| NSW Diana Field | 1212 1204 | 344 342 | 0.7 2.0 | 501 +26 527 |