While I have observed that most Scrabble Association tournaments only take place on Sundays (such as minis) or on both Saturday and Sunday (National Events), this has prevented many church goers or people who have their Sundays busy from participating in Scrabble events. However, with Tony Sim's "Survivors only Scrabblethon 2013" held on just Saturday, several NTU WGS members took up the challenge and went for what can only be called an intense competition.
The game took place from 12pm all the way till 11pm+, with 12 gruelling rounds all in one go. Nevertheless, that probably served as one of the main attractions, as getting to play so many rounds in one day really increases enjoyment and utility of time. Moreover, there was only 1 section available, which gave non-Master players a chance to experience higher level play, and get a shot at fragging some big guns.
Aaron, Jeya, Jin Yang and Gabriel took part, and all of them came back with some nice kills, as well as netting 2 out of the top 3 places as Aaron got 1st with 9 out of 12 wins, and Jeya got 3rd with 8 out of 12 wins. Wilson Lee also came down to support and look at the awesome games going on, as well as take up the position of paparazzi and snap photos left and right.
Aaron played "JAWBONER" for 235 points in Round 8, not only setting the high word for the tournament, but also breaking his high game record, achieving a score of 705 for that game.
Jeya came into the tournament relatively unknown by the Div A players, but they were soon taking great notice of him, as he defeated 2 GMs, 2 SMs, and 1 NM. He can also claim the honour of taking 2 points off the tournament winner Aaron, winning 2 games out of their 3 encounters in this tournament, given that the whole tournament was King of the Hill format all the way.
Jin Yang, while one of the lowest rated in the tournament with a rating below 1500, proved much stronger than his rating, beating 1 SM and 1 NM, and like what Jeya did to Aaron, Jin Yang also won 2 out of his 3 games with Jeya. By squeezing a win in his last game against Gabriel by a score of 11, Jin Yang won the "highest above seeding" award, as well as the "highest under 1600 rating" award.
Gabriel had a tough start, losing his first round to an SM by just 1 point, and faced GMs for his subsequent 4 rounds. Nevertheless, he managed a lucky win over one of them by a margin of 147, before bouncing back with a few wins over the weaker players.
It was exhausting, but everyone went home happy that night!
Do note that 4th and 5th Feb will be the Inter-School Rec Games for scrabble, and even if you're not playing, you can always come down and take a look at the games! Also do not forget that it's just over a week till our Boggle Mini on 13th Feb, so if you haven't signed up, please do so soon!
Also take note that the next Scrabble Association event, as given on the SA website, is the Jurong Green CC Scrabble Open Championship 2013.
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