CoChest - Saturday 19 November 2011
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:48 pm
As you might have seen from my pictures on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 163&type=1 , there was a first Countdown tournament in Chester yesterday at the Westminster Hotel.
16 contestants took part including 7 debutants, most notably Andy Platt, Dylan Taylor and Jayne Wisniewski.
One notable absentee (early on that is) was Co:Lon champion Matt Bayfield who slept over his alarm and didn't turn up til lunchtime, so was bottom of the table after the morning 15-rounders, ruling him out of winning it.
Me and Joseph Krol were the only people who won all 3 of our 15-rounders in the morning session, but thanks to me getting the best score in each of the 3 games, I was #1 seed with 341 points.
In the quarters, I beat #8 seed Thomas Carey, whereas all the seedings fell into place except for #4 seed Karen Pearson, who lost to #5 seed Andy Platt.
So, the semis were me vs Andy and Joseph vs Rich Priest, a rematch of an earlier game, which Joseph won 111-94.
This time, Rich destoryed Joseph 56-21, and in my first crucial of the game I managed to get the conundrum ahead of Andy to win 51-33.
While Andy beat Joseph in the 3rd place play-off, me and Rich were in preparation for our final, which would turn out to be a classic.
After we drew the first 4 rounds at 28-28, I took a fortuitous lead as Rich chickened out of WASSAIL to give me a 7-point lead, but he turned it around quickly by solving the first conundrum to lead 48-45 at the break.
We kept matching each other round-for-round, even getting the niner FERTILIZE in the last letters round.
So, with Rich leading 94-91, it was his turn for the numbers, but he couldn't spot 285, letting me come in to take the lead into the conundrum.
And within 2 seconds of BANPLAICE being seen, I buzzed in with Rich literally a split-second behind me.
So, I won 111-94 (so, Rich lost both his games by the same scoreline
) to become the FIRST COCHEST CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!! 
16 contestants took part including 7 debutants, most notably Andy Platt, Dylan Taylor and Jayne Wisniewski.
One notable absentee (early on that is) was Co:Lon champion Matt Bayfield who slept over his alarm and didn't turn up til lunchtime, so was bottom of the table after the morning 15-rounders, ruling him out of winning it.
Me and Joseph Krol were the only people who won all 3 of our 15-rounders in the morning session, but thanks to me getting the best score in each of the 3 games, I was #1 seed with 341 points.
In the quarters, I beat #8 seed Thomas Carey, whereas all the seedings fell into place except for #4 seed Karen Pearson, who lost to #5 seed Andy Platt.
So, the semis were me vs Andy and Joseph vs Rich Priest, a rematch of an earlier game, which Joseph won 111-94.
This time, Rich destoryed Joseph 56-21, and in my first crucial of the game I managed to get the conundrum ahead of Andy to win 51-33.
While Andy beat Joseph in the 3rd place play-off, me and Rich were in preparation for our final, which would turn out to be a classic.
After we drew the first 4 rounds at 28-28, I took a fortuitous lead as Rich chickened out of WASSAIL to give me a 7-point lead, but he turned it around quickly by solving the first conundrum to lead 48-45 at the break.
We kept matching each other round-for-round, even getting the niner FERTILIZE in the last letters round.
So, with Rich leading 94-91, it was his turn for the numbers, but he couldn't spot 285, letting me come in to take the lead into the conundrum.
And within 2 seconds of BANPLAICE being seen, I buzzed in with Rich literally a split-second behind me.
So, I won 111-94 (so, Rich lost both his games by the same scoreline
) to become the FIRST COCHEST CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!!