New South Wales' answer to Jimmy Scarff in 15 year old Christopher May made his debut at the tournament. He had cut is teeth on Maven, and was a regular reader of Onwords, so was expected to do well. However, he was overshadowed by another accomplished novice in Wendy Norton, who took the novice prize with four wins, and with it a certain amount of my hard earned cash to the tournament organiser, Mr Gauci. If only I had have known he had been a talent scout!
A surprise visitor was Matt Dunn from Tasmania, who was on a deejaying working holiday to the mainland. This is the first time I have been aware of a Tasmanian player playing outside of their State in anything other than a National. Or was Marie London at the Victorian? Will this be the start of a new trend?
As the results below will show, the honours went to Paul Cleary, yet again. He is well on target for another big performance in the International arena at the upcoming world championships, as he becomes even more formidable.
As Alan will be posting his own report, I have decided to deviate from the norm and post a summary of my games, Michael Vnuk fashion:
Game 1 was against Daphne Bezuidenhout, rated 979. Daphne had collected some records at previous NSW Championships so was capable of high scoring. We were using Barry's new Swish program which had been found to hiccup after 20 games, so the 8 game format was safe. Swish guarantees all the lower rated players the start in the first round, so Daphne kicked off. Her opening play was TROOP, which I later extended to TROOPERS. She did the right thing and challenged every word she did not know, including FLITTERN, PEGGY and PEONAGES. Daphne held me for a while, but when she spent her blank on QUIT for 36 points, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. I ran out a comfortable winner 461 to 285.
Game 2 was against Kris Logan. Kris and I live in the same suburb, Berowra, and she has been known on occasions to join us for Scrabble and a drop of red, whilst overlooking the Berowra Bushland Valley. She has a great sense of humour, so when she challenged my DEBRIDED on my second move, I explained it was what she was on her honeymoon night. At one stage she played ONCE thinking it safe, but all I could do was extend it to ONCER with AUREI, for a vowel dump and trap, which she did not fall to. Kris struggled with awkward tiles while I picked up a second blank to bingo out with SOREDIA and win 403 to 294.
Game 3 was against the old stayer John Barker. Rumour had it that he had moved back to his Sydney stable, and I knew he had been improving following his recent slump. His first move was GENTLES, which did not seem all that gentle, and later in the game he played INSURES to just about insure victory. In between I managed to get down ANGORAS, but John was scoring freely throughout. In the end game I had the blank in my hand and a rack of ENOPRR? to play onto an A as the eight letter for victory. Sadly there were no solutions and John won 394 to 333 The fourth game was against last year's winner, Robyn Flynn, a player I have much respect for. We both started slowly until she opened up a good lead with ZERO for 69 points. When she played RELINED five moves later she was 74 ahead and I was looking at another loss. Luckily though a blank came my way and I was able to drop WOODSIA on top of RANGE and get the lead back. Robyn was caught with GEX in the end game, and though she scored well with the X, the remaining G was her downfall. This game I was lucky to steal by 3 points, 374 to 371.
Game 5 was against Audrey Newman, a recent addition to the NSW committee. I got lucky on move 3 when faced with AFHINR? Audrey hung a T out for me to get down FARTHING. Late in the game Audrey played ALIENEE, but I was able to dump AERUGO for a reasonable score to boot to hold my lead. An intersesting situation occurred in the end game when Audrey had the pathetic EIIOOVV. There was a spot for her to play VIVO onto JO which I simply could not block. Her 23 points got her to within 15, but I had better tiles to end with, and ran out a 393 to 346 winner.
Game 6 was against Robin Duncan, a fellow Chatswood Club player who never attends big tournaments but usually does plenty of damage in the samll ones. I was able to jump him early with COSTEAN, the T of which he extended to the red square to make TERMLY and 36 impressive points. My fifth play of GALETTES saw me open up a 130 point lead, and this time he could only reply with AA. Later in the game Robin played POSTURER but he was still a bingo behind. Then an interesting sequence of plays occurred. In the next 5 moves he played the K, X, J, Q and Z and managed to get back to within 50 points. But his misery was compounded when I found DISPONGE an available E to run out a comfortable winner 431 to 291.
While I was playing the above games, Paul Cleary had been bowling along undefeated to this point. My early loss to John Barker had delayed this inevitable pairing. It was my turn for a win against Paul, and this would have been a handy one. I pulled the coveted start and played MOE, deciding to keep IEST. In normal circumstances, I would play MOITS for 10 more points. On my fourth move I threw down EROTISE, but pulled it up just as quickly when Paul challenged it off. Only EROTIZE is allowable. Paul's next play put him 48 ahead so I needed to throw caution to the wind. I opened a triple-triple with the R of TOEIER, holding back the S, and was then holding DEEFOOS for a play around the R which was at O4. Paul blocked with LIAR for only 12. I then created another triple-triple playing off FEOD, and again Paul could only block for 18 points. A nice pick up saw me with CAROUSE in my rack, and I was able to play this onto the L of LIAR to make CAROUSEL and 83 points. My lead was now 50 points. Paul played NUCULES two moves later to pretty well even the scores, but we were both in time trouble. Paul scored well with the Z and X, while I managed to pull back 28 points with ZANJA. Paul blocked my late bingo of NITERIE, and then found himself with QOTTN? going into a tight end game. I could not stop him getting rid of the Q, but he had to take the blank with it. His last play was QUaT for 12 points and I only had three seconds on the clock and an I left to play out. I just managed to drop it down for 5 points with 1 second to spare, and win by 10 points, 374 to 364. Had the clock gone over it would have been a tied game. Without a digital clock, this exciting scenario would not have been possible.
I needed to win game 8 against my old sparring, travelling etc partner John Holgate to snare either second or first place, depending on whether Robyn Flynn could beat Paul at Table 1. I got off to a good start with OVARY, being well aware of the useful front hook. John's next play was the most impressive I encountered during the tournament. Barely flinching, he quickly wrapped ARBORETA around my opening R for a handy double-double and 90 points. When I replied with INDURATE for 63, John was only 3 points behind. John had some dreck, then came out with ESTREAt for 81 to reply to my previous move of WHEY for 60 points. Unfortunately though he was still 55 points behind after my reply to his bingo, plus I had picked up the last blank. We were playing at a 45 degree angle, and it was only very late in the game I realised he had created a bingo opportunity playing vertically down from the top row to end hook to PAW. The game was sewn up, so my final play of GROUNDS was just icing on the cake. I won 481 to 351 to secure second place in what for me had been a most satisfying tournament.
Results after game 8
HILLS OPEN 1999
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Paul Cleary 7 999
2 Bob Jackman 7 554
3 John Barker 6 270
4 John Holgate 6 213
5 Siva Sivapalasundram 6 135
6 Ted Roberts 6 55
7 Robyn Flynn 5 350
8 Audrey Newman 5 269
9 Colleen Howie 5 268
10 Tony Hunt 5 158
11 Jan Serisier 5 152
12 Peter Shaw 5 98
13 Matte Dunn 5 86
14 Nanette Reynolds 5 74
15 Liz Jackman 5 -65
16 Kris Logan 4 287
17 Robin Duncan 4 138
18 Graeme Lock Lee 4 102
19 Joanne Craig 4 97
20 Fay Van Oyen 4 88
21 Elizabeth Ho 4 53
22 Andre Lajoie 4 44
23 Edith Lowbeer 4 25
24 Richard Birch 4 -21
25 Raya Wilkinson 4 -42
26 Wendy Norton 4 -100
27 Peggy Womersley 4 -149
28 Daphne Bezuidenhout 4 -172
29 Stacey Lock Lee 4 -267
30 Ram Mohe 3 219
31 Chris May 3 -23
32 Jeremy Lee 3 -62
33 Pat Schuberg 3 -75
34 June Brewin 3 -138
35 Ivana Duria 3 -195
36 Thea Gaia 3 -238
37 Ann Fiddler 3 -354
38 Roslynn Parnell 3 -424
39 Eleanor Carlisle 2 -56
40 Beryl Luck 2 -149
41 Diana Field 2 -263
42 Joy Morris 2 -504
43 Anne Gash 1 -346
44 Jason Teh 1 -1090
HIGH GAME: Paul Cleary 550
HIGH WORD: Paul Cleary 101
"CLEARED"
Stats for Tournament : HILLS OPEN 1999
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating Points |
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
+Section: *OPEN + + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| NSW Paul Cleary | 1 1 | 1 1 | 6.5 7.0 | 1899 +8 1907 |
| NSW Bob Jackman | 4 3 | 2 2 | 6.3 7.0 | 1881 +11 1892 |
| NSW John Barker | 63 44 | 16 12 | 4.0 6.0 | 1608 +44 1652 |
| NSW John Holgate | 13 13 | 5 5 | 6.0 6.0 | 1795 +2 1797 |
| NSW Ted Roberts | 230 197 | 56 51 | 3.6 6.0 | 1301 +53 1354 |
| NSW Siva Sivapalasundram | 150 150 | 41 41 | 6.2 6.0 | 1436 -2 1434 |
| NSW Peter Shaw | 44 50 | 12 13 | 6.0 5.0 | 1650 -19 1631 |
| NSW Robyn Flynn | 62 62 | 15 15 | 4.9 5.0 | 1611 +2 1613 |
| TAS Matte Dunn | 236 236 | 27 27 | 5.0 5.0 | 1281 1281 |
| NSW Audrey Newman | 60 63 | 14 16 | 5.6 5.0 | 1617 -10 1607 |
| NSW Jan Serisier | 129 135 | 34 36 | 5.6 5.0 | 1470 -11 1459 |
| NSW Colleen Howie | 388 384 | 96 94 | 4.5 5.0 | 1031 +10 1041 |
| NSW Tony Hunt | 657 485 | 157 116 | 0.6 5.0 | 736 +193
929 |
| NSW Nanette Reynolds | 239 237 | 58 57 | 4.4 5.0 | 1268 +12 1280 |
| NSW Liz Jackman | 246 245 | 62 61 | 5.0 5.0 | 1254 -1 1253 |
| NSW Graeme Lock Lee | 66 92 | 17 27 | 7.4 4.0 | 1592 -63 1529 |
| NSW Kris Logan | 169 184 | 46 49 | 5.3 4.0 | 1403 -21 1382 |
| NSW Joanne Craig | 35 43 | 11 11 | 5.9 4.0 | 1687 -34 1653 |
| NSW Robin Duncan | 46 51 | 13 14 | 5.0 4.0 | 1647 -16 1631 |
| NSW Raya Wilkinson | 314 309 | 77 76 | 3.3 4.0 | 1134 +13 1147 |
| NSW Richard Birch | 290 299 | 74 75 | 5.0 4.0 | 1182 -19 1163 |
| NSW Elizabeth Ho | 240 259 | 59 65 | 6.1 4.0 | 1268 -37 1231 |
| NSW Edith Lowbeer | 380 372 | 93 90 | 3.7 4.0 | 1046 +6 1052 |
| NSW Fay Van Oyen | 533 501 | 127 124 | 2.0 4.0 | 866 +41 907 |
| NSW Stacey Lock Lee | 688 610 | 166 150 | 1.0 4.0 | 705 +74 779 |
|*NSW Wendy Norton | 0 399 | 0 98 | 4.0 4.0 | 1019 1019 |
| NSW Andree Lajoie | 765 734 | 181 175 | 2.2 4.0 | 621 +37 658 |
| NSW Peggy Womersley | 583 568 | 142 137 | 3.5 4.0 | 810 +16 826 |
| NSW Daphne Bezuidenhout | 423 449 | 103 107 | 5.1 4.0 | 979 -22 957 |
| NSW Ram Mohe | 350 387 | 87 95 | 5.1 3.0 | 1080 -42 1038 |
|*NSW Chris May | 0 469 | 0 113 | 3.0 3.0 | 939 939 |
| NSW Pat Schuberg | 406 402 | 99 99 | 2.6 3.0 | 1001 +12 1013 |
| NSW Jeremy Lee | 663 664 | 160 163 | 2.9 3.0 | 730 +3 733 |
| NSW Ann Fiddler | 522 526 | 125 129 | 2.8 3.0 | 874 +4 878 |
| NSW Ivana Duria | 545 578 | 130 142 | 5.0 3.0 | 851 -35 816 |
| NSW June Brewin | 556 554 | 133 133 | 2.8 3.0 | 832 +5 837 |
| NSW Roslyn Parnell | 543 587 | 129 145 | 4.7 3.0 | 855 -50 805 |
|*NSW Thea Gaia | 0 669 | 0 165 | 3.0 3.0 | 729 729 |
| NSW Beryl Luck | 761 747 | 180 178 | 1.3 2.0 | 627 +14 641 |
| NSW Eleanor Carlisle | 931 917 | 230 229 | 1.0 2.0 | 460 +29 489 |
| NSW Diana Field | 916 922 | 226 231 | 2.1 2.0 | 484 -2 482 |
| NSW Joy Morris | 959 957 | 238 240 | 1.3 2.0 | 410 +13 423 |
| NSW Ann Gash | 857 908 | 211 228 | 2.3 1.0 | 538 -40 498 |
|*NSW Jason Teh | 0 964 | 0 242 | 2.5 1.0 | 500 -93 407 |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+----------------+