c4countdown

The World Scrabble Championship kicks off this week. I'll be posting stuff about it occasionally. Andrew Fisher, Craig Beevers, Phil Appleby, Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Lewis Mackay, Mark Nyman, and Phil Robertshaw, Kevin McMahon, Allan Simmons, all ex-Countdown, will be appearing. Interestingly most of them didn't do that well.

Charlie Reams wrote:The World Scrabble Championship kicks off this week. I'll be posting stuff about it occasionally. Andrew Fisher, Craig Beevers, Phil Appleby, Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Lewis Mackay, Mark Nyman, and Phil Robertshaw, Kevin McMahon, Allan Simmons, all ex-Countdown, will be appearing.

Cool - I used to know Phil Appleby - a real all-rounder (i.e. Scrabble wasn't his life) and a genuinely nice guy. Didn't realise he'd been on Countdown. I see from the wiki that it was before I knew him - typically modest of him not to have mentioned it.

This chap Mr Beevers - I wonder if he's got a twin? There's someone with a really similar name has just won the National championships. Probably a coincidence.

I'll be looking forward to seeing how they all do - best of luck!

Good luck to all the players from the UK.
Hope Craig does well as I believe he relinquished his chance on the last C of C in order to improve his scrabble.

I'd been invited to the WSC when I was busy with Countdown, and invited back to Countdown when I was busy with Scrabble (my first National final).

Anyway some relevant photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/scaly.piscine

My simple blog which I should probably add extra stuff to:

http://craigbeevers.me.uk/blog.html

Charlie Reams wrote:The World Scrabble Championship kicks off this week. I'll be posting stuff about it occasionally. Andrew Fisher, Craig Beevers, Phil Appleby, Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Lewis Mackay, Mark Nyman, and Phil Robertshaw, Kevin McMahon, Allan Simmons, all ex-Countdown, will be appearing. Interestingly most of them didn't do that well.

And a couple more of the British WSC players have hinted they may be appearing next year...

It might be a good idea to invite the winner of the WSC to one of the special countdown shows planned for next year.

Will this be on Sky Sports 1 or ESPN?

Matthew Green wrote:Will this be on Sky Sports 1 or ESPN?

Neither - box office so it's pay per view.

ROFL

Matthew Green wrote:Will this be on Sky Sports 1 or ESPN?

The finals of the US National Scrabble Championships have been on ESPN for a few years now, so maybe!

Chess has been televised (with Carol Vorderman, no less) in this country, so why not Scrabble.

No, pay per - paper - word games etc.

That's why I don't make jokes very often.

I'll get me coat

Edit: That joke worked better about the World Origami Championships

There'll be a documentary covering the WSC and Scrabble in general on BBC1 later this year.

Craig Beevers wrote:There'll be a documentary covering the WSC and Scrabble in general on BBC1 later this year.

Are you in it?

Probably.

Good luck Craig and the rest of the ex-countdown contestants.

It would be good to see some Scrabble games on TV, maybe some speed Scrabble games.

Charlie Reams wrote:The World Scrabble Championship kicks off this week. I'll be posting stuff about it occasionally. Andrew Fisher, Craig Beevers, Phil Appleby, Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Lewis Mackay, Mark Nyman, and Phil Robertshaw, Kevin McMahon, Allan Simmons, all ex-Countdown, will be appearing. Interestingly most of them didn't do that well.

I'm going to put that to the test.

Andrew Fisher - Lost his second game (bad start) but he won the second series of Countdown Masters looking like this:

Craig Beevers - Number one seed (scoring 907) and series winner!

Phil Appleby - Won one game in the heats but then lost his second, but this was still enough for the knockout stages (!) where he lost to Philip Nelkon, also apparently a Scrabble God.

Harshan Lamabadusuriya - Grand finalist in series 34, and made the CofC only to lose to Pete Cashmore in the first round.

Lewis Mackay - Lost

Mark Nyman - Do I have to answer that?

Phil Robertshaw - Lost

Kevin McMahon - Octochamp and number one seed

Allan Simmons - Won seven in the heat before losing to octochamp William Bradford. Lost his quarter final but he won in Countdown Masters series 1 with 121 points, which would have been enough to win series 2 (I think he had the second highest score in his series).

Charlie has high standards.

Gavin Chipper wrote: I'm going to put that to the test.

Andrew Fisher - Lost his second game (bad start) but he won the second series of Countdown Masters looking like this:

Craig Beevers - Number one seed (scoring 907) and series winner!

Phil Appleby - Won one game in the heats but then lost his second, but this was still enough for the knockout stages (!) where he lost to Philip Nelkon, also apparently a Scrabble God.

Harshan Lamabadusuriya - Grand finalist in series 34, and made the CofC only to lose to Pete Cashmore in the first round.

Lewis Mackay - Lost

Mark Nyman - Do I have to answer that?

Phil Robertshaw - Lost

Kevin McMahon - Octochamp and number one seed

Allan Simmons - Won seven in the heat before losing to octochamp William Bradford. Lost his quarter final but he won in Countdown Masters series 1 with 121 points, which would have been enough to win series 2 (I think he had the second highest score in his series).

Well, that's perceptual salience for you!

Update after day 1...

Nigerian Wellington Jighere is currently top, the only unbeaten player on 8 wins. British ex-pat Andrew Fisher is second with was-Scottish-now-English Paul Allan rounding off the top 3, both players are on 7 wins.

Spaces 17-20 are an English conglomeration with Martin Harrison (he of 111 fame ) 17th on 6 wins and Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Mikki Nicholson and Phil Appleby following just behind on 5 wins each. Mark Nyman and Lewis Mackay are both currently on 5 wins from 8 but a bit further down the table.

Exciting stuff already!

What about Craig? The lack of a mention suggests the CofC would have been a better bet.

Here are some links:
To play through some top WSC games, move by move:-
http://www.wscgames.com/games///2009/
For England/Scotland/Wales/N.I./Eire players, to
see their progress click on each player's name at:-
http://live.wscgames.com/2009/team/eng.html
http://live.wscgames.com/2009/team/sco.html
http://live.wscgames.com/2009/team/wal.html
http://live.wscgames.com/2009/team/nir.html
http://live.wscgames.com/2009/team/irl.html
Or click on other teams' names (followed by
each player's name) at
http://live.wscgames.com/2009/team/index.html

Gavin Chipper wrote:What about Craig? The lack of a mention suggests the CofC would have been a better bet.

Not really.

Pretty strong finish there, Craig. Well done. Is that your highest finish?
Edit: Ooops tournament still running. Looks like Craig is coming into form at the right time though.
Good Luck tomorrow!

Liam Tiernan wrote:Pretty strong finish there, Craig. Well done. Is that your highest finish?
Edit: Ooops tournament still running. Looks like Craig is coming into form at the right time though.
Good Luck tomorrow!

Yes it's my first WSC. Surprised how many live game phonies were played in the annotated games. I only played two in desperation (ie I lose anyway). Just the best of 5 final (aka crapshoot) left to watch now.

Update- Pakorn Nemitrmansuk of Thailand (and 2003, 2005 runner-up) beats defending champion Nigel Richards 3-1 to win the title and the huge cheque. The second game featured Pakorn stuffing a flustered Nigel 670-303.

Oh, and Craig's uploaded some cracking photos here- http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/scaly.pis ... layingRoom#

Nice photos. $15,000, sweet. What other prize money is distributed?

I suppose that's my ambition: to win some cash in that Scrabble tournament before I die.

Craig Beevers wrote:Just the best of 5 final (aka crapshoot) left to watch now.

From this it seems that they were level on wins anyway after the 24 rounds, so the best of five "crapshoot" wasn't a bad way of deciding it on this occasion.

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Craig Beevers wrote:Just the best of 5 final (aka crapshoot) left to watch now.

From this it seems that they were level on wins anyway after the 24 rounds, so the best of five "crapshoot" wasn't a bad way of deciding it on this occasion.

Yea it ended up being 'fair' this time, but it's still a crapshoot. Some poor sod is going to make multiple finals and end up losing all of them through no fault of their own.

Although I wish Nigel had played his endgame in reverse order and quickly in game one. Just to see if Pakorn would have still played WAXING to lose when he goes over on time, or WAX to win

Congratulations on your 8th place, Craig.(Highest placed European, no less)
What nation won the team event?

Craig Beevers wrote:Although I wish Nigel had played his endgame in reverse order and quickly in game one. Just to see if Pakorn would have still played WAXING to lose when he goes over on time, or WAX to win

This sounds interesting but I don't understand - any chance you could explain it in retard-speak? I've looked at the games but I don't think my Scrabble-fu is strong enough to work it out.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Craig Beevers wrote:Although I wish Nigel had played his endgame in reverse order and quickly in game one. Just to see if Pakorn would have still played WAXING to lose when he goes over on time, or WAX to win

This sounds interesting but I don't understand - any chance you could explain it in retard-speak? I've looked at the games but I don't think my Scrabble-fu is strong enough to work it out.

Well Pakorn is 4 points ahead, but only has 1 second left on his timer. If he goes over on time he loses 10 points.

If Nigel plays TIT/LIT at l3 next to the Q he scores 30 to put him 26 ahead. If Pakorn just chucks down WAXiN(G) for 24, he gets another 8 points for Nigel having EILO on his rack and wins by 6. However if he does that and goes over on time he loses by 4. Given the nervy/tight situation he might try and beat the clock and lose. Pakorn still wins if he goes over on time and plays WAX or f(L)AX.

Has nobody answered my question about how much money is distributed throughout the players? Like how much do the top 5 get? Or Nigel?

Kirk Bevins wrote:Has nobody answered my question about how much money is distributed throughout the players? Like how much do the top 5 get? Or Nigel?

I think the answers that you are looking for are > http://www.wscgames.com/2009/prizes.html

Marc Meakin wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:Has nobody answered my question about how much money is distributed throughout the players? Like how much do the top 5 get? Or Nigel?

I think the answers that you are looking for are > http://www.wscgames.com/2009/prizes.html

Thanks, Marc. Enjoy your $700 Craig!

Craig Beevers wrote:Well Pakorn is 4 points ahead, but only has 1 second left on his timer. If he goes over on time he loses 10 points.

If Nigel plays TIT/LIT at l3 next to the Q he scores 30 to put him 26 ahead. If Pakorn just chucks down WAXiN(G) for 24, he gets another 8 points for Nigel having EILO on his rack and wins by 6. However if he does that and goes over on time he loses by 4. Given the nervy/tight situation he might try and beat the clock and lose. Pakorn still wins if he goes over on time and plays WAX or f(L)AX.

Haha, awesome. Cheers for the explanation.

Craig Beevers wrote:Well Pakorn is 4 points ahead, but only has 1 second left on his timer. If he goes over on time he loses 10 points.

If Nigel plays TIT/LIT at l3 next to the Q he scores 30 to put him 26 ahead. If Pakorn just chucks down WAXiN(G) for 24, he gets another 8 points for Nigel having EILO on his rack and wins by 6. However if he does that and goes over on time he loses by 4. Given the nervy/tight situation he might try and beat the clock and lose. Pakorn still wins if he goes over on time and plays WAX or f(L)AX.

I don't understand how playing WAXING and going over time means he loses but playing WAX and going over time means he wins?

Kirk Bevins wrote:I don't understand how playing WAXING and going over time means he loses but playing WAX and going over time means he wins?

It makes more sense if you read through the game here.

Michael Wallace wrote: It makes more sense if you read through the game here.

With that endgame, couldn't you work out what the other fellow had left and see his potential play of WAXING and so block it to guarantee the win?

Craig Beevers wrote:There'll be a documentary covering the WSC and Scrabble in general on BBC1 later this year.

Imagine . . . Scrabble: a Night on the Tiles
Tuesday 22 December, 10:35 pm-11:40 pm

"Scrabble used to be seen as a rather staid, middle-aged pastime, but the game has been rediscovered online by the younger generation, thanks to the copyright-busting Scrabulous. Lana Botney sets out to discover why the word game remains so popular. Celebrity fans such as Moby, Richard Herring and Lynn Barber explain why nabbing a triple word score is a source of such delight. Presented by Alan Yentob."

From the Scrabble group:

The 'International A' team consisting entirely of Brits has won the Causeway
Premier division.

Huge congratulations to Mark Nyman, Craig Beevers, Harshan Lamabadusuriya,
Lewis Mackay and Phil Robertshaw on collectively defeating 9 remarkably
strong teams from around the world. The main UK team finished 3rd, having
lead the tournament most of the second half.

Well done everyone!

Peter Mabey wrote: The main UK team finished 3rd, having
lead the tournament most of the second half.

Or even "led"? Pah, these Scrabble types...

In other Scrabbly news, the World Youth Scrabble Championship finished a few days ago with Malaysian Suanne Ong taking top spot after a modest-by-her-standards WSC performance. Britain were well represented with Jow Knapper and Tim Butcher finishing mid-table and 13-year old Jessica Pratesi finishing an impressive 11th in her first-ever WYSC. Read her report on the games here.

It seems a bit disappointing that the UK only has three youth representatives compared to the Thais and the Malaysians sending along over a dozen each- particularly when one Mr. K. Laddiman (of this parish) could storm into the top third of the table with very little effort!

Ben Wilson wrote:In other Scrabbly news, the World Youth Scrabble Championship finished a few days ago with Malaysian Suanne Ong taking top spot after a modest-by-her-standards WSC performance. Britain were well represented with Jow Knapper and Tim Butcher finishing mid-table and 13-year old Jessica Pratesi finishing an impressive 11th in her first-ever WYSC. Read her report on the games here.

It seems a bit disappointing that the UK only has three youth representatives compared to the Thais and the Malaysians sending along over a dozen each- particularly when one Mr. K. Laddiman (of this parish) could storm into the top third of the table with very little effort!

To be fair it was held in Malaysia, which is a factor.

But yea it wouldn't take much for a decent Countdowner to finish in the top half/third in a Youth World Scrabble Championships. The level drops off quickly from the top few players. Basically the top two were mid-table WSC players, Jessica who did well coming 11th is a low to mid division A player in the UK. Tim Butcher finished 39th out of 81, played in the lowest division at the BMSC winning 7 out of 20. Joe also played in the lowest division at the BMSC winning 7 out of 20 - he was 65th but was only two wins behind Tim in the YWSC.

I figure if someone consistently had a rating of 1000+ on ISC they would be odds on to get a top half finish. Which is easily attainable if someone is a decent anagrammer and can absorb some basic rack management type Scrabble knowledge which I'm sure lots of people including myself can give advice on.

I love her analysis of game 20.

Derek Hazell wrote:

Craig Beevers wrote:There'll be a documentary covering the WSC and Scrabble in general on BBC1 later this year.

Imagine . . . Scrabble: a Night on the Tiles
Tuesday 22 December, 10:35 pm-11:40 pm

"Scrabble used to be seen as a rather staid, middle-aged pastime, but the game has been rediscovered online by the younger generation, thanks to the copyright-busting Scrabulous. Lana Botney sets out to discover why the word game remains so popular. Celebrity fans such as Moby, Richard Herring and Lynn Barber explain why nabbing a triple word score is a source of such delight. Presented by Alan Yentob."

As much as it pains me to say so with Alan "Bloody" Yentob at the helm, this was quite a good programme. Yentob was seen playing a game and having a couple of chats with Mark Nyman. Aparently Mark (currently ranked 19th in the world) aims to look through every word up to nine letters long in the dictionary, and write out and try to memorize 35 000 words.
Interesting facts from the show include:
Most top Scrabble players don't care about the definitions of words
Many top Scrabblers are from a mathematical background
No word is ever offensive
Scrabble is classed as a sport, not a game in Nigeria (which would please some people in this thread)
and
the sound of players shaking their bags is like that of rattlesnakes.

What kind of name is Yentob anyway? It looks like a name spelt backwards. He's probably Alan Botney.

Gavin Chipper wrote:What kind of name is Yentob anyway? It looks like a name spelt backwards. He's probably Alan Botney.

Nala Botney

Derek Hazell wrote:

Derek Hazell wrote:

Craig Beevers wrote:There'll be a documentary covering the WSC and Scrabble in general on BBC1 later this year.

Imagine . . . Scrabble: a Night on the Tiles
Tuesday 22 December, 10:35 pm-11:40 pm

"Scrabble used to be seen as a rather staid, middle-aged pastime, but the game has been rediscovered online by the younger generation, thanks to the copyright-busting Scrabulous. Lana Botney sets out to discover why the word game remains so popular. Celebrity fans such as Moby, Richard Herring and Lynn Barber explain why nabbing a triple word score is a source of such delight. Presented by Alan Yentob."

As much as it pains me to say so with Alan "Bloody" Yentob at the helm, this was quite a good programme. Yentob was seen playing a game and having a couple of chats with Mark Nyman. Aparently Mark (currently ranked 19th in the world) aims to look through every word up to nine letters long in the dictionary, and write out and try to memorize 35 000 words.
Interesting facts from the show include:
Most top Scrabble players don't care about the definitions of words
Many top Scrabblers are from a mathematical background
No word is ever offensive
Scrabble is classed as a sport, not a game in Nigeria (which would please some people in this thread)
and
the sound of players shaking their bags is like that of rattlesnakes.

I bet that Craig Beavers is pissed off that he never got a mention for being top Brit at the WSC

The 'World Ranking' was where they finished in the World Championships.

The stuff about players not caring about what the words mean was overdone I think. A lot of players *do* care about the meanings and Helen Gipson (not Gibson as on the programme) beat him on the test anyway. Also it's all a bit incidental. I mean are footballers experts on their boots and shin pads? Why the media are obsessed with this is beyond me, just seems like a way of taking cheap shots.


PS who's Craig Beavers?

Craig Beevers wrote:The 'World Ranking' was where they finished in the World Championships.

The stuff about players not caring about what the words mean was overdone I think. A lot of players *do* care about the meanings and Helen Gipson (not Gibson as on the programme) beat him on the test anyway. Also it's all a bit incidental. I mean are footballers experts on their boots and shin pads? Why the media are obsessed with this is beyond me, just seems like a way of taking cheap shots.

I suppose that knowing meanings of words would help to find out if the word takes an S

Craig Beevers wrote:The 'World Ranking' was where they finished in the World Championships.

The stuff about players not caring about what the words mean was overdone I think. A lot of players *do* care about the meanings and Helen Gipson (not Gibson as on the programme) beat him on the test anyway. Also it's all a bit incidental. I mean are footballers experts on their boots and shin pads? Why the media are obsessed with this is beyond me, just seems like a way of taking cheap shots.


PS who's Craig Beavers?

Oops if it makes you feel any better I have spelt Kirk Bevans and Damien Eadie wrong aswell.

Craig Beevers wrote:A lot of players *do* care about the meanings and Helen Gipson (not Gibson as on the programme) beat him on the test anyway.

Yeah, I thought he said "Gibson", and it was only when it came up on the screen later in the programme that I realised it was "Gipson".

However you spell his name, I reckon Kirk would have enjoyed the bit where they held up anagrams and Ms Gipson and Yentob had to call out the answers as quickly as they could.

You usually remember whether words are nouns, verbs, adjectival, comparative etc.

It doesn't always help to know what the word means though, it can be misleading. If you know it's one of the new Maori words then it's just pot luck whether it takes an -S or not. Some words have weird inflexions or none at all.

I think the pronunciation is the one thing that goes out of the window. Most people remember words phonetically, so it helps if you emphasise the syllables in a certain way. I have no idea for instance how RAURIKI is pronounced. I just remember it as RAW-RICKY and hope to recognise the set of letters.

The relatively new study program Zyzzyva has brief definitions, which is the one I and a lot of players use. In the future I expect players will get better at recalling what the words mean but it doesn't really matter - it just helps in memorising words sometimes.

The comparison of word knowledge between Alan and Helen Gipson (top female player in the latest WSC) was interesting in the context of players not caring about meanings. Basically they did 3 tests against each other:

• Stating which of 50 letter-sequences are actually words - Helen 46 Alan 29

• Correctly identifying one of four word options from the meaning - Helen got 3 wrong, Alan 4

• Unscrambling an anagram ASAP - Helen beat Alan every time

This isn't a conclusive test - we never saw what difficulty the first two tests were, and it may be that a lot of words from Alan's main areas of interest came up - but it backs up the idea that most of a Scrabbler's word knowledge isn't useful in the 'real world', and explains why mathsy types usually beat literate types.

It only backed up the idea that Scrabble players when compared to an average person are better at recognising genuine words and infinitely better at anagramming - but we knew that anyway. Other than that you can't say anything because the results need to be hugely different to draw even a tentative conclusion.

I know the results of the middle test for instance would vary wildly depending on the Scrabbler, some would get 100%, others would struggle. Pretty much every Scrabbler would trounce Yentob in the other two tests.

The tests don't really have much merit beyond being mildly enlightening pseudo-science for those who have no real idea about the Scrabble scene.

Craig Beevers wrote:The stuff about players not caring about what the words mean was overdone I think. A lot of players *do* care about the meanings and Helen Gipson (not Gibson as on the programme) beat him on the test anyway. Also it's all a bit incidental. I mean are footballers experts on their boots and shin pads?

The parallel is even stronger than that, surely. To bend a ball round the wall at sufficient pace to beat the keeper is good enough. No-one expects you to explain the aerodynamics.

I have to confess I prefer it when Countdown players know what their words mean, but even someone like me who's never used apterous probably has a large vocabulary of "Countdown words". What's the difference between a dracone and a dragonet? No idea, but I'd expect to spot them.

On the issue of Scrabble players knowing meanings of words, I does help me to learn words (and their part of speech) by remembering definitions. However, if the true definition of a word doesn't do much for me, then I have been known to invent my own more memorable, more evocative, definitions. One example which springs to mind is IGG, which I think means "to jumble" (or maybe that's to PI, never mind). I remember it as "IGG = to bowl badly for Kent", after the unusually-named Kent (and England?) bowler Alan Igglesden. That preposterous definition reminds me not only that IGG is valid, it also tells me that IGG is a verb. Now I'm sure I can't be the only person who uses bogus definitions to help remember words, but I haven't heard other Scrabble/Countdown players mention the technique.

That reminds me, I need to start learning some Scrabble words again - need to make the most of my free year's membership of the ABSP courtesy of winning Ben's new player tourney last month.