noun, fortune, destiny
I was still getting my head around the fact that I’d won the opening game when the next one kicked off with Chris’ opening bonus of BUNGLES. I played safe again, not being 100 per cent sure of FIRK and being rewarded with a bonus of my own. I lost around eight minutes trying to work out if BLOKARTS was the new word that’s allowed, or the old spelling (which had a W in) that got deleted. Eventually I played it and Lipe held the play before accepting it. I exhaled deeply and proceeded to draw my new tiles. I picked the second blank and got OPERATIC soon after.
Soon after I put down PAYOUT, knowing it was volatile but the right move, and created two big triple word lanes. Fortune favoured me as I drew the Z and got down ZETA for sixty-nine. Things were really going against Chris. He was over 100 down now and tried to open things up, but gave me one of the two floaters (letters through which you can play an eight-letter word) needed to go with EEHQRSU. I had been contemplating whether QUEERISH was good, but the C provided me with a nice safe CHEQUERS and the game was effectively over after seven moves each. I eventually won game two 524 to 419. I was now one game from being World Champion.
We had a break for food and I was able to think about the permutations, pondering how bad it would be to lose from this position, but knowing anyone could lose three games in a row. Better players than I had lost five or six consecutive games in the past. Even though I was out of the spotlight I felt tense and just wanted to fast forward to the end result and prize ceremony.
After what felt like an age, we got back to the Scrabble board and began the third game. I was going first and picked out my tiles. My brain was feeling laggy. UPDRAGS popped up in my head, but not straight away which generally makes me more likely to think I’ve made it up. Again I oscillated between going for it and thinking it wasn’t a word. I chose poorly and opted for PUG instead. Chris immediately followed it with JOLLIES. I was playing catch up for the rest of the game, which flowed well for both of us. GUENONS, SQUIZ, FELONIES, LIMBATE, and BIVALENT for Lipe and SHEDDERS, WRACK, OVEREYE, and UPTRAIN for me. But I was kicking myself the whole time for passing up the chance to try the bonus first up. Chris had won 509–464 in a game lasting only nineteen moves. Sure enough I discovered UPDRAGS was good immediately after. I was left wondering if I’d blown my chance.
FIRK verb, to strike with a whip
BLOKARTS blokart noun, a single seat wheeled land vehicle with a sail
UPDRAGS updrag, verb, to drag upward
GUENONS guenon noun, a genus of monkeys having long hind limbs, tail and long hair surrounding the face
SQUIZ noun, a look or glance, especially an inquisitive one
LIMBATE adjective, having an edge or border of a different colour from the rest
OVEREYE verb, to look out over
UPTRAIN verb, to train up, to teach or educate
Chris started the next game off with HYENA, which mildly amused me as it is a nickname my sister has given me. Apparently I laugh like one, as well as being entertained by the downfall of others. I’ll leave others to judge. Anyway the play gave me the floater I needed as I sat there with NORSTUV. After a bit of double checking I put down V(E)NTROUS. I immediately drew a blank, but a load of vowels to go with it. I got another low scoring bonus down though GAIE(T)IES, whilst Lipe kept scoring with thirties. Blank number two came out and this time I had more options.
Holding DEIIOR? I could score seventy-seven by playing a word starting from a T on the board. But it meant creating a massive hotspot. I didn’t like any of my options, but I eventually settled for DIORITE and held my breath to see if I got hit by a big reply. Sure enough X(E)NIC went down, and despite starting with three consecutive bonuses I was only up by thirty-seven. I picked out two Us but had some scoring potential. A few more twenties and thirties followed for each of us before Chris hit me with DIRECTE(R) and my lead cut to just six points.
I spent a long time on the next turn knowing how crucial it was. I held the ugly EEGLLLT. It’s one of those racks where you’re desperate to play something tight but you can’t really score either. I wanted to shut down the board but it wasn’t possible to do it right away. I went for GLEET in the top right corner. It looked like an aggressive move but it turned tiles over, scored, and next move I knew I would be able to shut most of the board down. Sure enough, next turn I played VI(L)LA through the L I’d provided, killing an -S bonus lane which was always a big worry. I felt like a heavy favourite. Then I picked the Q.
I scoured the board looking for options whilst I waited for Lipe to play. He was only thirty-six behind, but I might have had to change the Q and waste a turn, or worse get stuck with it at the end. With fifteen tiles in the bag, I searched hard for ways of playing it off one, two, if not three moves ahead. Then I saw the T sitting next to the bottom centre triple word score. I could play (T)ALAQ there for forty-two!
I hoped desperately that Chris would go elsewhere. the T was a good scoring spot, so if he hit a good score there and took out my Q play I was in big trouble. I had no decent alternative. There were no Is or Us to come and none I could use on the board. Finally LORN went down and I got my forty-two points and shedded the Q. I had a buffer now, and only an unlikely bonus or a big mistake could take the title away from me.
VENTROUS adjective, adventurous
GAIETIES noun, the state or condition of being merry, bright or lively
DIORITE noun, a dark coarse-grained igneous plutonic rock
XENIC adjective, denoting the presence of bacteria
GLEET verb, to discharge pus or mucus from the urethra
TALAQ noun, a form of divorce under Islamic law
I looked for highly improbable nine- and ten-letter words, very awkward eight-letter words. I couldn’t see anything and decided just to score and empty the bag. Now I just wanted Lipe to play something boring, not try a ridiculous bonus word that I’d have to wait a few seconds to challenge and wait for a big red cross to come up. He played DENSE. I played BARFS, making (HYENA)S. He then went out with ET. He had 414. It was 438 for me. I was World Scrabble Champion 2014.
Before we get into the meaty stuff, there are some
