Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (World Champion 2009)

I met Pakorn four years ago at the King's Cup, my first international tournament. I remember finishing my game and going to the" better tables" to see who won. Pakorn was there laughing, and talking to his opponent about his game. I asked one of the onlookers if Pakorn had won the game and the answer was: "No, he lost by over 100 points". I was quite impressed by his attitude towards this game. If you do your best, there is absolutely nothing to be sad about. Put a smile on your face and move on to the next game. And I believe that along with his amazing word knowledge, strategy and intuition, this attitude has won him many games. At this WSC, Pakorn played his third final. I believe this says much about his level of play. Nobody has made the final three times. How did he get to this level? The first step was falling in love with this game. The second step was learning the words. The third step was improving his strategy. And the last step was perseverance! I remember Pakorn telling me: " Wherever Nigel Richards goes, I go." Nigel Richards is another monument of Scrabble. Out of all the Scrabble players, he has the best word knowledge. He is a " trophy collector". The secret to improving yourself is matching your powers with the best players. And this strategy worked for Parkon. I forgot to mention another thing one needs in order to win games: self confidence. "I will win this year's World Scrabble Championship", Pakorn told me while we were playing some games on ISC in October. I knew he wasn't joking. Nigel and Pakorn are both my friends. Before the final I went to them and wished them good luck. I knew that luck would play an important part. I wanted both players to win, but I knew that this was impossible! I was sorry that Nigel lost the final and happy that Pakorn won it. When he came into the room where we were observing the final, he was crying. He had to wait for three finals to win this one. But he finally did it. Congratulations, Pakorn!

The End of the Road

To avoid misunderstandings, this is the wife speaking. I have just seen the standings on the WSC official website. Not exactly what I would have expected, so I thought I should count the positive and negative aspects, to see whether I should mourn or rejoice.

Minuses:

1. Romania is (I think) back to the one-player team.
2. The very supportive people back home (Septimiu and the U Cluj club, for example) may be disappointed.
3. I'm afraid my husband would get drunk if he drank alcohol. Honestly, I'm sorry he doesn't. As I mentioned before, I'm a terribly sorry loser, so I'd probably be suicidal were I in his shoes.
4. The surprise breakfast (pancakes!) I had planned for him is off. That was the breakfast for champions.

Pluses:

1. Our house has been very clean and neat for the past seven days.
2. I can eat my favourite cereal every morning because the bag stays miraculously full during the night.
3. I don't have to watch TV wearing headphones anymore (Adrian doesn't watch TV).
4. The strange ringing in my husband's ears (it sounds something like: "How many times have I told you not to leave your dirty socks on the floor?" "Take your feet off the desk!" "Dry the dishes and put them back in the cupboard after you've washed them!" and other such endearing words) has completely disappeared.

Another minus: all the pluses enumerated above will magically disappear as soon as Adrian is back from Malaysia.
Another plus: pending on the Causeway Challenge results, the pancake breakfast might be back on schedule.

Congratulations to all the players, good luck tomorrow to the two Lords on top and, as the Japanese put it, お疲れ様でした (otsukare sama deshita = your efforts during the day are much appreciated).
Carmen

The Scrabble Family's Halloween Story

Well, if I had a Halloween story, I’d definitely share it with you. The problem is that in Romania we don’t have Halloween (at least when we were living there, we didn’t). I can’t be sure, but I think I experienced my first Halloween in Japan. A traditional Japanese Halloween which begins at the end of September and suddenly disappears a little before October 31st, only to be replaced, on November 1st, by Christmas. The Japanese are very good at killing their holidays—something like “The King is dead, long live the King!” Despite the big scale (and often purely commercial) fuss made before a holiday, the next day (or even the actual holy day, because here it’s the Eve that counts) nothing remains to remind us that the event really existed. A way to avoid post-holiday depression, maybe?
Anyway, I’m digressing. What I wanted to tell you is the story of our monster T-shirts. They are part of my strategy for world domination. I mean, Scrabble World Championship domination. For Adrian, not for me, of course. I know, it’s not the Wimbledon, it’s not even chess, but it would still pay for a nice relaxing holiday on a beach somewhere. Plus a couple of massages and spa treatments. So:
Step 1: Wear monster T-shirt to intimidate your opponent. The design could be interpreted in two ways. (a) “I’m big, green and scary. Do you really want to mess with me?” or (b) “This is how you’ll end up if you keep playing Scrabble. Are you sure you want to finish the game?”
Step 2: Aroma therapy. This has to be done methodically. First collect at least 10 pairs of socks that had been worn while playing table tennis and put them in a plastic bag. Preferably a thick one, as they may be radioactive. Tie bag tightly until the time has come to unleash the demons. Wear the said socks on competition days and carry the bag containing the other pairs with you.
Second: Garlic and onions are good for you, so indulge. Especially before important games. Mexican beans and Japanese burdock are also recommended for their explosive effect.
Third: Win a game a couple of months before the Championship (Adrian could easily accomplish this by playing with me) and stop washing that very day, in order not to jinx your streak of good luck.
Step 3: Stop doing any housework weeks before the competition (I’d say months, but it’s me who will suffer after all). Allow your wife to start a conversation about chores and responsibilities during a game, in a language that your opponent understands. Wear your poker face and tell him: “If I lose, she’s yours.” (The effect increases dramatically if you can persuade said wife to go on a chocolate-and-pizza diet for at least half a year.)
Scary, huh?

The war of the blanks (Mihai Pantis vs Dan Laurentiu Sandu)

A couple of months ago, Mihai Pantis and Dan Laurentiu Sandu met in the final of the Qualifying Tournament for the World Scrabble Championship held in Johor Bahru. These two Romanian Scrabble players have met 20 times this year and the score is 10-10! I knew that either of them could qualify. It was Dan's experience versus Mihai's superior word knowledge. I named this article the war of the blanks since the two magic blanks decided the winner in the first 7 games. Dan drew the first 6 blanks to win the first 3 games. Mihai took the next 4 blanks and the score became 3-2. Dan took the next 2 blanks. It was 4-2 for him and he needed one more win in order to qualify for the WSC. This time it was Mihai' s turn to get the blanks. It was 4-3 for Dan. In the last 2 games they shared the blanks. Both games went Mihai's way and sent him to Malaysia.


Let's have a look at some statistics:
1.Mihai Pantis

5 wins, 8 blanks, 12 bonuses,8 phoneys(6 challenged off) 3693 points
Bonuses played: Aerobes, Longers, Betaken, Mausolea, Torrents,
Timider, Mudiria, Renoted*(Erodent is valid), Ooriest, Nidating,
Ecuries, Induviae

2. Dan Laurentiu Sandu

4 wins, 10 blanks, 12 bonuses, 6 phoneys(all challenged off), 3490 points
Overpast, Gardens, Toasted, Melodica, Soutanes, Bornite, Serafin,
Euglenas, Loiters, Areoles, Returned, Notates.




I have already congratulated Mihai on his win and sent my commiserations to Dan. Together we will try not to lose the 2 spots Romania has for the WSC. If the tile Gods are with us, we could even earn a third spot. Let's see what happens!