GAMES REVIEW
Japan's current national champion, Keiichiro Hirai, details his games:
 | Heartwarming - KC shares his experiences of Sydney |
| All Square - Playthrough of Keiichiro's amazing Round 3 draw
|
After Day 1, I was satisfied with 6.5 wins, ranked #9. At one time I was down to around #20, but I managed to win the last three games, finishing at #6. I can say I did my best and had a great time in playing 18 games, which all became precious experience. I think I had some advantages in terms of pairing. I actually did not have chances to play against strong players like Joan, Rod, Paul, Esther and Bob in the tournament. I'd like to play against them next time. I was impressed by the vocabulary and strategies in the games against John and Naween, and was glad to play against those highly-finished players.
Game 1 - John Spaan
My opening was fishy 'TI', keeping SATIE, then played INSTATE 65 hooking S to TIE. John played GAINlIER 59, and game went on. My second bingo WINTERED 78 gave me a good lead though soon followed by his STATERs 66. Win 442-360.
Game 2 - Trevor Halsall
He started with HERBS(D8a). I made ELOCUTE18(E8d) by mistake. I should have played at E2d. So it was countered by his NERKS52. My lucky pick HOX, then GASELIER gave me some lead. His bingo was AdOPTED 73. Later I was unsure of SQUAmAE, so played AQUA 43. Though I made a silly mistake of putting S to OF, his later rack of GGVY was unfortunate for him. Win 381-349.
Game 3 - Anne Drew
See full colour playthrough. Draw 462-462. I wrote QUID was blocked by COS previously. It was not blocked actually. I didn't like QUID, keeping DMRV. So duumvir came to my mind. To open up the closed board was a better idea.
Game 4 - Alistair Kane
He opened with MODIFY 38. I played COAITA/MA15. Then I played POlLUTER68 (pULPITER#86 was playable. I didn't know it.) He played RETAINED 80 and GUARDeRS70 to widen his lead. In the interesting endgame, I set up ANON, keeping JEES for 2 places to play out. His RONEO had no place to play. I played out with JEES/WE/QIS, but was short of 3 points. Loss 368-371.
Game 5 - John Holgate
His 2nd move TENDRIL 68 is nice. I played COOLANTS 70 soon after. My mistake of WOODLIEr* cost me the game. Late rAYLIKE is unplayable, LEAKY/AJAR 62 was all I could do. His another bingo was TRANNiE 71. Loss 333-419.
Game 6 - Margaret Andres
Her bingo was GARTERs 67. My bingo DETOURS 64. I could have made this game my 2nd draw game. However, my mistake of LITA* gave her a win. Loss 352-359.
Game 7 - Sal Costanzo
My setup of VIATIC to FIAT/VIATICA seemed to perplex him. My StOUTER 70 and late AVeNIRS 69 were lucky picks. His bingos were TEENIER 61 and FEATING 64. Win 418-406.
Game 8 - Jan Serisier
My two consecutive bingos FUNSTER 99(4-timer), HiMATION 89 gave me a lead. Her bingos were LETTINGS 62 and WASPIeR 75. Her Q was stuck at the end. Win 524-360.
Game 9 - Peter Shaw
My early bingo was FoCUSED/SCROW 85. His play of OVERDUES* through D reminded me of OVERUSE at other place, and soon I blocked that place. Later I thought about BIoTYPE, which made a board very open, so I played BEPITY# 42, keeping a blank. Later I played REMAILs 67. Win 485-268.
Game 10 - Chris May
I carelessly placed S on TW lane in the 6th position, when he had FAINTE?. FaNTASIE could score 149 points. Instead FAINTESt 83 was played. Later my TEAPOYs 84, with sAMA, was played. The board became very closed. My B and his FDD were unplayable, deducting scores of one's own. He is good at hooking and scoring well. Win 399-356.
Game 11 - Harry Malcolm
His early two bingos STAIDEST and GAMBITS were nice. He then played RELOCkED. I played HOARSER. His 4th bingo ANTlIEA was unblockable. Board became too open. Loss 323-493.
Game 12 - John Barker
My bingos were StIRRER/VOUGES 81 and StHENIA 94. His bingo was DIARISE 72. Win 502-275.
Game 13 - Chery Michler
She had 7 consecutive wins til Game 13. Her bingos were PONDERS 71 and requited 88. I couldn't stop her winning streak because I couldn't see common word ISOLATED, only saw unfitting SODALITE. I fished with O, keeping SALTIE, only to be blocked by VAR. She will then play against Naween. Loss 312-391.
Game 14 - Sue Kyatt
I missed AXONEmE $ in my opening. Then I played STONiEr 76. She played EMITTED 67. Very defensive plays by each other continued. I opened the board with SWANK, then NOVA. My play of CONGOU 27 from the rack of FGOOONU was a lifesaver. She later had shortage of vowels, I think. Win 379-311.
Game 14 - Naween Fernando
Naween wrote in his report:
"KC plays DEFLATED thru LA for 52 points early on only to block my VILLANOUS also thru LA! However I manage VIHUELAS later Then I liked my play of TRAGIC, overlapping 5 letters with vihuelas. A tight endgame followed which swung my way thanks to some very lucky picks. Won 412-383."
For my bingo rack, I considered GLOIREs, GLORIEd, GOdLIER and GOLdIER. GLORIEs does not allow AQUA(H1a), so anyway I chose it. I think I need to do some practice sitting on Table 1, where Naween was sitting most of the games, leading the tournament. I was nervous but glad at least to sit on the seat just before King-of-Hills pairing started from Game 16. I thought I could win this one until my 9th move, and the game is worthy of some analysis.
| Turn |
KC |
NAWEEN |
| Word (left) |
Grid |
Score |
Word |
Grid |
Score |
| 01 |
YAMEN(EE) |
h4 |
28 |
LEBENS |
g5 |
27 |
| 02 |
EUOI(FED) |
f9 |
12/40 |
POO |
e10 |
21/48 |
| 03 |
DEFLATED(X) |
d5 |
52/92 |
VINO |
a4 |
28/76 |
| 04 |
XI(TRIGO) |
j6 |
53/145 |
VIHUELAS |
a4 |
92/168 |
| 05 |
TRAGIC(O) |
b7 |
28/173 |
AYU |
c3 |
23/191 |
| 06 |
MOB(FAOS) |
d12 |
24/197 |
JOT |
c13 |
42/233 |
| 07 |
FATSO(OE?) |
a15 |
36/233 |
HIVE |
h10 |
23/256 |
| 08 |
GLORIEs |
e2 |
64/297 |
WAN |
c9 |
7/283 |
| 09 |
PADDLE(T) |
j1 |
41/338 |
RIZ(QUE?) |
h14 |
43/326 |
I missed SEAFOOd in my 7th move. His 9th RIZ is better than bEZIQUE(g13)68, as he said after the game.
On the board below, RIZ was just played. It is my turn and I hold CEIRTTW. Naween holds QUEAN?. (unseen tiles from me: AGIKNRRST QUEAN?) What's my best move? 7 tiles in bag. Maybe TREZ(j11) was the best.
 |
Blanks: K2=S |
Game went as follows.
| Turn |
KC |
NAWEEN |
| Word (left) |
Grid |
Score |
Word |
Grid |
Score |
| 10 |
TIC(WERT) |
a2 |
15/353 |
QUEAN(?.) |
k11 |
41/367 |
| 11 |
KOB(WENTRT) |
b14 |
30/383 |
GiRR(AS) |
l10 |
24/391 |
| 12 |
TIN(WERT) |
i13 |
7/390 |
AS |
a1 |
14/405 |
|
(WERT) |
|
-7/383 |
|
|
+7/412 |
Game 16 - Judy Hay
Her early bingos were PEONIEs 78 and SHAVING 77. I caught up with YOW/COCKSY 34 and LAUDING 85 etc. Endgame favored me. I played EH 28, keeping FAGUE. Picked up Q and F. QUAG and then EFF out-play was advantage for me. Win 392-361.
Game 17 - Anne Drew
I was relieved she played TRULY some other place, because then I played AZURY/YFERE 78. In the middle my PEBRINE 74 widen the lead. I picked up two blanks and S's at best times. Win 391-265.
Game 18 - Matte Dunn
I opened with BATTERs. Soon he bingo-ed with CREAMIEr. I played HI/HI 18 just before he played QI 14. In a semi-closed board, he played INACTS*, challenged off, however, ANTICS would have brought him a win. Win 366-359.
Best regards,
KC Hirai
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