REPORT FROM LAST CHANCE TOURNAMENT
An eager crowd of Scrabblers ventured to Logan City Tavern on Saturday, 29th December to have their final chance to gain points for the year. The tournament was round robins with a promotion/demotion feature. There were 13 round robins and a final group of 7 (A Bye was invited to play as well), a total of 59 people.
Even though we played in robins of 4 people, the final results on total games won reflected the success of players within their close circle of opponents. Rising to the very top was Anne Drew (Toowoomba) who played in group A all day, losing only one game. Coming a close second was Robyn Corbel, (Southport) also on 8 games.
Robyn told me after the games that she was so excited at having done so well. She was one of our Shooting Stars, having started in Group G and being promoted to F and to E. Her excitement was somewhat tempered by the fact that in her last game she was so far ahead and feeling so confident that she became a little complacent. Her opponent played out with a bonus. Robyn thought it was an acceptable word and this was strengthened by other top players commenting that it was good. Only one observer declared it to be unacceptable. Robyn went with the majority and did not challenge, losing the game. The word, however, was not acceptable. Moral of the story: DonŐt be swayed by the opinions of others. If there is a shred of doubt about the word, challenge it. Had she challenged, Robyn would have had 9 out of 9 and been the clear winner, but she was still joyous at having come second.
The other Shooting Star was Karrin Henderson, (Greenbank) beginning in C and finishing the day in group A, with Anne, Sheryl Davidson (unaffiliated) and Brenda Nord (Redcliffe).
The beauty of a round robin tournament is that players are confined to a small group of peers, and so they can show their strength within their closed circle. It was gratifying to see Beth Peters (Greenbank), Rita Humphrey (Albert & Logan) and Mary Honan (Coorparoo) coming 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. They played very well against their immediate peers.
Other players below 1000 rating points who showed their true colours to record 6 wins were Margaret Burkert (Toowoomba), Wayne Willis, Carol Johnston, Jan Jones (all of Redcliffe) and Barbara Nakkan (Ocean Shores). Congratulations to all these deserving players who showed most of us a clean pair of heels during this tournament.
The desperate Jane Brown ventured SHITPAN* which was challenged off. Her opponent later told her that the more sedate HATPINS would have been successful. In my really close game with Helen Maurus, I was looking at a final rack of EGIIIIO, and feeling rather sorry for myself. HelenŐs rack was something like ?LLNRT and she was not a happy camper either. I was able to maximise my score nicely, while she played a desperate L onto the end of SADZA to no avail.
The Last Chance tournament was organised as a fundraiser for our Nationals bash in 2013. More than $600 has been added to the fund. My thanks to all players who contributed to that effort.
Olga