c4countdown

One game went unplayed from last week:

Ben Hunter vs Tom Rowell

This will be a 0-0 draw until they play.

The pairings for this week are here.

Hugh Binnie 100 - 108 Adam Gillard

A pretty closely fought first game, with a couple of nines thrown in. Realising I had a 22-point advantage with 2 rounds to play, I simply tried to make sure the final letters selection wouldn't yield a nine.

Hugh Binnie 86 - 80 Adam Gillard

Also closely fought, we each picked well for words that the other failed to spot on a couple of occasions. Some sort of bug paid off for Hugh for the first conundrum (something to do with typing in the chat as the conundrum pops up), but he genuinely beat me to the second conundrum, and my nervy declaration in R13 sealed the deal.

Hugh Binnie 104 - 132 Adam Gillard

This contest deserved to go to a decider. We were pretty much neck-and-neck after 9 rounds due to some good picking all round. I'm not sure what happened on the first conundrum - I think I was only as fast as about 0.8s, but it came up as 0.1s and Hugh said that was as long as he saw the conundrum for. Hugh then did a "scientific experiment" (related to the bug we had observed) for the next conundrum, which handed me the lead in an otherwise even game. I went on to pick the 3rd nine of the game, but Hugh also spotted all three, so it was still all to play for. However, a poor pick by me in R14 ended up working to my advantage when Hugh was forced to declare a dodgy word. The margin of victory was a bit flattering, but having picked three nines I got a personal best, which was nice.

Thanks for the games Hugh; it was a great contest.

Division A:

Oliver Garner - 1 - 2 - Eoin Monaghan

Game 1: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=306621 87-102

Oliver goes 18 up with the conundrum and TOLEWARE, but I peg back with the second conundrum. I get a 9 and then a 5 in the next round to wrap up the game before neither of us could spot the conundrum.

Game 2: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=306629 112-92

Oliver goes 24 up, before I get back with a 7, yet Oliver essentially wraps up the game with a nice conundrum spot. I do reduce the deficit to 13 with COUGAR and SANITIZE, but the miracle was beyond me and Oliver won.

Game 3: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=306645 59-105

After several crashes and then a chippy break for me, we finally resumed this game after 5 rounds. I managed to get 23 ahead before the second conundrum, which I got, giving me a good lead with 5 rounds left, however, Oliver only needed a nine to get back in it. Lucky for me, I got a 7 and a 6, pulling the game out of Oliver's reach, we matched each other for the last two rounds before we had a bit of a joke with the conundrum.
Who says chips are bad for you?

Great games Oliver, and although they weren't the smoothest connection wise, they were enjoyable and I was glad to get 3 points.

Division A:

James Robinson 2 - 1 Edward McCullagh

James Robinson 115 - 80 Edward McCullagh
James Robinson 56 - 102 Edward McCullagh
James Robinson 101 - 75 Edward McCullagh

3 completely different matches. I was so dominant in the first one, Edward was so dominant in the second and I just won by a fluke at the end.

Very good matches Edward. Thanks.

Ben Hunter 2 - 0 Ian Volante

119 - 44 posted a PB in this game but would've got more had my finger not slipped on the last conundrum
68 - 41

Thanks for the games Ian

Ben Hunter wrote:Ben Hunter 2 - 0 Ian Volante

119 - 44 posted a PB in this game but would've got more had my finger not slipped on the last conundrum
68 - 41

Thanks for the games Ian

Words, quite clearly, fail me.

Only two games missing:

Jon O'Neill vs Dinos Sfyris
Tom Rowell vs Ryan Taylor

Kai Laddiman wrote:Only two games missing:

Jon O'Neill vs Dinos Sfyris
Tom Rowell vs Ryan Taylor

Oh yeah sorry. PMed Dinos now.

...and I thought I was playing Jim. I'll be on Sunday a bit so we can play it then.

Dinos Sfyris 2 - 0 Jon O'Neill. First game was a 9fest and almost a maxi for me. In the 2nd game we were both really shocked when my guess of METHODIST^ was wrong. I managed to clinch a tiebreaker on a stupid word I remembered from ages ago. Cheers Jono

Dinos Sfyris 142 - 106 Jon O'Neill
Jon O'Neill 111 - 121 Dinos Sfyris