Winter Masters - 29th & 30th July 2006


Report from John Holgate

Forty-two adept anagram addicts took part in the 2006 Sydney Winter Masters on the weekend.

A goodly number of interstaters participated – Naween Fernando and Trevor Halsall from Victoria, Carmel Dodd from S.A., Richard Jeremy Susan Macgilli vray and John Spaan from A.C.T. and the ubiquitous Richards family from Queensla nd via Wollongong.

Some of the favourites got off to a shaky start and by lunchtime on day one Trevor and Esther Perrins were vying for the lead. Her WOOLSHED, VERRUCAS a nd INVESTOR (158 ) were excellent plays. As were Hanne Marks’s HERDMAN and Audrey Newman’s TEENAG(ER)S. During the afternoon Edward Okulicz crept back into contention with brilliant moves like DESMINES/SIDEMEN around U(*) and REPRI VE around WE (**). During this session Bob Jackman (a Sydney Swans supporter) fittingly played SWANNERY. I was travelling well at 7/1 until I met Edward. I opened with AZURITE (102) and he countered with BEARHUG. My missing RESPE LT (and its three anagrams) hooking L onto AZURITE. I can blame this oversight on my recent spell from spelling. A 444/427 loss was the result. Meanwhile Mar k Smith found the clever HI/LARIOUS – hopefully evoking the response from h is opponent “You must be joking!”

Day One ended with Bob Jackman leading on 9/2 but dropped the first three o n Sunday to make it an even contest. Richard Jeremy’s nine-timer ABOIDEAU a gainst Bob was a smart find. Esther took over the running in the afternoon but in sight of the post was headed by Edward and Naween who notched up the quinella wit h Bob in third place.

Round 19 saw a couple of interesting games. In an intriguing match between Jean McGiffen and Robyn Flynn Jean scored 101 for a five-letter word (must be a record) - QUOTA double trebling the Q and doubling the word. Later Robyn pl ayed REJOINER* and announced 60. Jean commented “Don’t forget the fifty poin ts” and wrote down the score – 112. Then she realized that only REJOINDER is okay . Maybe if she’d heard ‘112’ she would have instinctively challenged su ch a big score. And John Spaan played TITTUPS (no, it doesn’t mean that) against S tuart Pridham who was stuck with the tiles J-U-M-P-Y-H-Q (33). That leave would b e enough to make anyone jumpy – and tittupy to boot.

In accepting the $300 first prize Edward made a witty speech on behalf of t he ‘true Scrabble believers’ then, in keeping with tradition, shouted the drinks at the bar.

The tournament was ably directed by Liz Jackman. Thanks Liz.

Jyoti Chandna won the ratings prize with a whopping 178 point gain. Karen Richards topscored with 555 and Esther’s INVESTOR (158) won high word.

Hopefully next year there will be an overseas contestant so we can official ly rename the event the Sydney Winter International Masters and then we can al l have a SWIM...

(*) SEMINUDE (**) PREVIEWER

Results after game 20
30.07.2006 Winter Masters -- OPEN

Rank Player Wins Mar
--------------------------------------
1 Edward Okulicz 15 1295
2 Naween Fernando 15 1013
3 Bob Jackman 14 751
4 Esther Perrins 14 452
5 Carmel Dodd 12 707
6 Karen Richards 12 651
7 John Holgate 12 74
8 Paul Richards 12 59
9 Richard Jeremy 12 -87
10 Rex Shakespeare 11.5 -25
11 Joanne Craig 11 697
12 Rod Talbot 11 541
13 Trevor Halsall 11 450
14 Alastair Richards 11 76
15 John Spaan 11 48
16 Jyoti Chandna 11 -35
17 Greg Pinchbeck 11 -197
18 Robyn Flynn 11 -402
19 Hanne Marks 10 164
20 John Barker 10 47
21 Peter Shaw 10 -29
22 Tony Hunt 10 -91
23 Pat Schuberg 10 -144
24 Margaret Berliner 10 -203
25 Stuart Pridham 10 -363
26 Wayne Jones 9 424
27 Jean McGiffen 9 122
28 Susan Macgillivray 9 76
29 Cheryl Michler 9 -19
30 Jan Serisier 9 -271
31 Ian Close 9 -365
32 Audrey Newman 8.5 -395
33 Betty Foreman 8 93
34 Sue Gergelifi 8 -89
35 Mark Smith 8 -460
36 David More@21 8 -521
37 Hari Nanayakkara 8 -619
38 Ivor Zetler 8 -914
39 Raya Wilkinson 7 -471
40 Jenny Templeton 7 -676
41 Sharon Sorensen 6 -316
42 Denise Smith 2 -1048
HIGH GAME: Karen Richards 555
HIGH WORD: Esther Perrins 158
"INVESTOR"

Stats for Tournament : 30.07.2006 WIN MASTERS

+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating Points |
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
+Section: *OPEN + + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| NSW Edward Okulicz | 9 5 | 4 2 | 12.9 15.0 | 1750 +43 1793 |
| VIC Naween Fernando | 2 2 | 2 2 | 15.1 15.0 | 1856 1856 |
| NSW Bob Jackman | 7 8 | 2 4 | 13.3 14.0 | 1750 +14 1764 |
| NSW Esther Perrins | 15 7 | 7 3 | 11.3 14.0 | 1718 +54 1772 |
| SA Carmel Dodd | 24 25 | 4 4 | 12.1 12.0 | 1644 -2 1642 |
| QLD Karen Richards | 26 20 | 1 1 | 9.8 12.0 | 1623 +43 1666 |
| ACT Richard Jeremy | 21 19 | 1 1 | 10.9 12.0 | 1649 +22 1671 |
| NSW John Holgate | 20 15 | 9 7 | 10.2 12.0 | 1650 +37 1687 |
| QLD Paul Richards | 89 51 | 9 7 | 9.4 12.0 | 1480 +56 1536 |
| NSW Rex Shakespeare | 36 46 | 11 11 | 13.2 11.5 | 1581 -33 1548 |
| NSW Joanne Craig | 13 14 | 6 6 | 12.1 11.0 | 1728 -22 1706 |
| NSW Rod Talbot | 12 21 | 5 8 | 14.7 11.0 | 1736 -74 1662 |
| VIC Trevor Halsall | 6 13 | 5 7 | 13.8 11.0 | 1772 -53 1719 |
| QLD Alastair Richards | 34 26 | 3 2 | 8.9 11.0 | 1583 +44 1627 |
| ACT John Spaan | 49 40 | 2 2 | 10.1 11.0 | 1544 +21 1565 |
| NSW Greg Pinchbeck | 180 114 | 41 23 | 6.8 11.0 | 1362 +86 1448 |
| NSW Robyn Flynn | 55 60 | 14 13 | 11.2 11.0 | 1531 -5 1526 |
| NSW Jyoti Chandna | 323 194 | 74 42 | 3.7 11.0 | 1172 +178 1350 |
| NSW John Barker | 78 80 | 19 17 | 10.4 10.0 | 1497 -6 1491 |
| NSW Peter Shaw | 75 70 | 18 15 | 9.7 10.0 | 1500 +5 1505 |
| NSW Hanne Marks | 136 102 | 33 20 | 7.8 10.0 | 1416 +46 1462 |
| NSW Pat Schuberg | 217 150 | 48 37 | 6.5 10.0 | 1323 +72 1395 |
| NSW Tony Hunt | 54 66 | 13 14 | 10.8 10.0 | 1533 -15 1518 |
| NSW Margaret Berliner | 151 126 | 36 29 | 8.4 10.0 | 1394 +34 1428 |
| QLD Stuart Pridham | 273 213 | 35 24 | 6.2 10.0 | 1254 +78 1332 |
| NSW Wayne Jones | 132 120 | 32 26 | 7.9 9.0 | 1420 +23 1443 |
| NSW Jean McGiffen | 72 90 | 17 19 | 10.8 9.0 | 1510 -34 1476 |
| NSW Jan Serisier | 122 122 | 27 27 | 9.2 9.0 | 1435 -1 1434 |
| ACT Susan MacGillivray | 70 103 | 3 3 | 11.6 9.0 | 1512 -53 1459 |
| NSW Cheryl Michler | 123 137 | 28 34 | 10.1 9.0 | 1435 -22 1413 |
| NSW Ian Close | 223 204 | 50 45 | 7.8 9.0 | 1316 +24 1340 |
| NSW Audrey Newman | 126 134 | 29 32 | 9.3 8.5 | 1430 -12 1418 |
| NSW Hari Nanayakkara | 206 219 | 46 49 | 8.8 8.0 | 1338 -15 1323 |
| NSW Sue Gergelifi | 71 129 | 16 31 | 12.4 8.0 | 1511 -87 1424 |
| NSW Betty Foreman | 119 160 | 26 38 | 10.9 8.0 | 1443 -59 1384 |
| NSW Mark Smith | 162 199 | 37 44 | 9.9 8.0 | 1380 -38 1342 |
| NSW Ivor Zetler | 44 136 | 12 33 | 15.0 8.0 | 1556 -140 1416 |
| NSW David More | 191 216 | 42 48 | 9.4 8.0 | 1354 -27 1327 |
| NSW Raya Wilkinson | 199 242 | 44 52 | 9.3 7.0 | 1342 -44 1298 |
| NSW Jenny Templeton | 256 256 | 56 57 | 6.9 7.0 | 1278 +3 1281 |
| NSW Sharon Sorensen | 303 288 | 68 63 | 5.0 6.0 | 1196 +20 1216 |
| NSW Denise Smith | 285 347 | 60 81 | 6.3 2.0 | 1223 -86 1137 |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+----------------+