Apterous Masters (formerly COMA) 2010

Oliver Garner · Post by **Oliver Garner** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:14 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:Ryan T vs Oliver G

Going into this match I had only won 1 of our previous 8 games and that was back in October, confidence was low.

Game 1: And sure thing, I am beaten in round 1 by a darrenic 7. Here we go...I think, but no! I went on to beat OG in four rounds (with 8's of RAMPAGED and TOMATOES) to leave him squashed. I got the conundrum too and ran out a comfortable winner by 31 points, only my second win against him.
Ryan Taylor 113-82 Oliver Garner
http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=203015

Game 2: Once again an opening round darren and pencil gives OG the lead. Immediately he is pegged back and a poor ending from Oliver (not scoring in any of the last 5 rounds) gives me another, somewhat, shock victory.
Ryan Taylor 84-64 Oliver Garner
http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=203024

Game 3: With me having one foot in the last 8, OG had to do something to keep his dreams of Masters Champion alive. Spots of COAXED, CAUTIONS, IMPROV and the 9 ASTEROIDS put Oliver 90-52 ahead with 3 rounds to go. Only a nine could salvage a glimmer of hope for me and I did indeed respond with DISLOCATE to set up the possibility of taking the game to a crucial, but those hopes were soon dashed with a correct numbers solution by both players.
Ryan Taylor 80-100 Oliver Garner
http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=203035

Game 4: Definitely the most entertaining game, and played 3 days after the previous 3. Oliver took an early lead in round 2 after the invalid submission of ERUVIMS by me. We then maxed the next 13 rounds apart from one when I had CRINOID to draw level. 98-98 going into a crucial conundrum. (I switched on my light at this point as the room was quite dark so I wanted to have a good view of the keyboard). FELWORTOP revealed and before I had time to correct my initial fumbling for the F key it was over in a Hansford-esque manner. Bit of a naff conundrum to have on such a tight game, oh well!
Ryan Taylor 98-108 Oliver Garner
http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=204558

Game 5: After being so close to the next stage of the competition I kind of felt I would never get there. With the tie poised at 2-2 Oliver kicked off strongly maxing the first 7 rounds to open a 52-38 lead. A spot of INTUBATES in the next round put me back in the game with a lead of 4 points. A tough numbers game gave OG the lead again before my error of thinking CAPITIOUS was a word, only to find out the darrenic 8 was CAPTIOUS. With Oliver offering COPITAS, this gave him a 10 point lead. This lead remained 10 points and so it was a crucial conundrum (or perhaps semi-crucial?). A great solve of BIOSOCIAL gave Oliver victory.
Ryan Taylor 87-107 Oliver Garner
http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=205178

So a 2-0 cushion was not enough for me, and Oliver stormed back to snatch the place in the last 8. A very enjoyable tie and pleasing 5 games played to a decent standard. The better player managed to pull through and deservedly so. Well played Mr Garner!

Ryan Taylor 2-3 Oliver Garner

Going into the games, I thought I was slight favourite from by 7-1 record against him, but I haven't practised a lot recently and I knew he was in good form and it would go to 4 or 5 games. I made mistakes in the first two games but was outplayed and Ryan took a well-deserved 2-0 lead. In game 3, I managed to capitalise on Ryan's misses to win it despite missing DISLOCATE. Game 4 was the most enjoyable, with us getting 25/29 maxes and I was relieved to see FLOWERPOT straight away.

Game 5 was also a cracker where I took a solid 14 point lead, felt in top form, and looked good for the quarters but Ryan had other ideas! A 9 I never would have seen put him ahead and when I didn't get the chance to enter my numbers solution, I ended up screaming at the computer to tell him not to have it. Fortunately, this worked and Ryan didn't have the 14 point cushion and I led by 3. In round 11, I had COPITAS and thought of CAPTIOUS but instantly dismissed it. Since COPITAS was the only word I entered, I didn't know he had a 9 until the end-of-round screen. This was a relief and, to add to the relief, his 9 was disallowed and I led by 10. It stayed like this until the crucial conundrum in which I saw social and then spent ages unscrambling the other 3 but eventually I did.

Thanks Ryan for 5 top-quality games and on another day, it could have easily been you in the quarters and not me. Unlucky mate!

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:06 pm

3 games are still outstanding- O'Neill/Hulme, Reans/May and Tournoff/Volante. PMs will be sent.

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:07 pm

Hi Charlie/Ben,

Sorry, i've just logged on and seen Ian's suggestion, which I am of course happy to agree with - but as I've just seen it could we have a little more time to play the game please? I am working part-time next week, so it should be easy to find time.

Mark

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:09 pm

Sounds fair- I'll push back the deadline for this week's games to 8pm on Tuesday evening, and will do the draw at around the same time.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:49 pm

Reams 3 - 0 May

86-71: The match began well with 9/10 maxes between us, although I bottled UNRIPPED to put paid to chances of a max game, and followed with the classic mistake of analect (it's ANALECTS only). Still I gradually edged ahead, even as we both received a pencil for CENTRUMS, and I took a 19 point advantage into Round 13. As usual I managed to create a problem for myself, with another disallowed word (glasser) and fluffing a difficult final numbers to leave Martin needing only the conundrum for a memorable comeback. Fortunately for me, it was the straightforward NIPMOOLIS and I won the reaction test to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

91-88: Martin opened excellently with the darren UROPOD and, when I stupidly went for diamantes, he extended his lead further. By round 7 I was 49-28 down and had mentally written the game off, but evidently relaxing a little improved my performance and I fought my way back to 7 points behind to force a crucial conundrum. It took me 6 seconds to unravel CENTURIAD, but under the pressure it was enough and I snatched a game in which I had been behind since the start. 2 - 0.

92-59: The previous game seemed to have broken Martin's spirit and after 6 rounds, we'd only managed one max between us. I opened a 23-point lead by the final third as Martin had three words disallowed, and now I just needed to tie the remaining letters rounds to secure the win. However I somehow managed to miss SEXIEST to give Martin a life line, only to pick out the darren RIVIERA in the next round to seal the game. A tricky final conundrum evaded us both.

Thanks Martin, good games all three.

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:06 pm

Decided I might as well do the quarter-final draw anyways, so here it is-

Mark Tournoff vs Charlie Reams
Kirk Bevins vs Oliver Garner
Paul Howe vs Jon O'Neill
Chris Davies vs Bob De Caux

All games are best-of-7 standard 15 rounders to be completed by 8pm on Sunday March 21st. Enjoy!

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:15 am

Ben/Ian

Ben, Thanks, I will endeavour to play Ian this evening.

Ian, please could you let me know what time you are free this evening. I will be in at about 7pm, but will need to work around an evening meal.

Mark

Ian Volante · Post by **Ian Volante** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:35 pm

Mark Tournoff wrote:Ben/Ian

Ben, Thanks, I will endeavour to play Ian this evening.

Ian, please could you let me know what time you are free this evening. I will be in at about 7pm, but will need to work around an evening meal.

Mark

Hi, I'm here now, apterous is down again though. I'll keep trying.

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:23 pm

Hi Ian,

I'm around too now. Will try apterous too.
Mark

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:53 pm

Hi again Ian,

I'm around all evening, but will need to break for dinner around 8.30pm.

Mark

Ian Volante · Post by **Ian Volante** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:32 pm

Mark Tournoff wrote:Hi again Ian,

I'm around all evening, but will need to break for dinner around 8.30pm.

Mark

I'm back, has a nasty crash. Will await your return.

Andrew Hulme · Post by **Andrew Hulme** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:39 am

tried to get on apterous tonight but with no luck

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:11 am

Ben,

I managed to beat Ian last night so will be playing Charlie.

Mark

Charlie,

As above. As I am away all weekend and am unlikely to have access to apterous, so need to check your availability before then.

I have to work this afternoon and evening, but thereafter am free most of the time until Friday lunchtime.

I would prefer tomorrow daytime or any time Thursday, but will fit in with you.

Regards.

Mark

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:07 am

I couldn't get onto Apterous until about ten last night although I scheduled with Andrew to play at 8, so our game is still outstanding I'm afraid.

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 2:07 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:I couldn't get onto Apterous until about ten last night although I scheduled with Andrew to play at 8, so our game is still outstanding I'm afraid.

If you could liaise and get it sorted asap, please- I'll accept it running a little over but if you don't even have a date/time for the match by tonight I will need to make some decisions.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:01 pm

Ben Wilson wrote:
Jon O'Neill wrote:I couldn't get onto Apterous until about ten last night although I scheduled with Andrew to play at 8, so our game is still outstanding I'm afraid.
If you could liaise and get it sorted asap, please- I'll accept it running a little over but if you don't even have a date/time for the match by tonight I will need to make some decisions.

We're going to start at 6pm this evening, but I have to shoot at half 6, so we'll arrange a finish (if needed) at the time.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:19 pm

Apterous was down at 6, it's only just come back up and I have to leave in ten minutes. I'll try and sort another time with him.

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:37 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:Apterous was down at 6, it's only just come back up and I have to leave in ten minutes. I'll try and sort another time with him.

I can see you've been trying so I'll give you an extra day to play the match, I want to be copied in on all PMs about finalising a time.

Nothing stopping the other three quarters from being played though.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:19 pm

Ben Wilson wrote:I want to be copied in on all PMs about finalising a time and I'll be installing CCTV in all remaining players' houses for the next round.

Sounds fair enough.

Chris Davies · Post by **Chris Davies** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:32 pm

Bob and I aren't likely to play our games until Saturday 20th.

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:41 am

Hi Charlie,

Re our match - can you let me know your availability, please?
I am away from Friday lunchtime but am free most of the time until then.

Mark

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:57 pm

119-89: Reasonable game from both players, with REIMPOSED helping to give us both healthy scores. 1-0.

86-99: Mark really streaked away with this as I made numerous errors, with only the conundrum giving me some consolation. 1-1.

66-61: A terrible game with many mistakes. I started well and lead 50-28 after seven rounds. For some reason I then completely collapsed, with no maxes and just 6 points in the next seven rounds. Fortunately this was still enough to force a crucial, which was disappointingly easy and I reacted first to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat from the jaws of victory. 2-1.

100-81: A tough game with plenty of maxes, and Mark leading by nine as we entered the conundrum. I'd solved all three in the match so far so felt I had a chance, but Mark was way ahead of me with BEDABBLED and again levelled, this time at 2-2.

108-127: I made a truly atrocious mistake in Round 4, missing AMORTISED/MEDIATORS, and deserved to lose. Somehow I fought back to within four points, only for Mark to smack me down again with a brilliant nine from NISACUSEP. I risked the very dubious ROLLOUTS to force the issue but it was no good, and a third nine (this time the easy RESCALING/CLEARINGS) did nothing to help me. The game was over before Round 14 and Mark lead the match for the first time, now standing at 2-3.

More to follow...

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:28 pm

Thanks Charlie,

Good resume of what's happened so far!

I'm around for another 1/2 hour, if not will try again later.

Mark

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:32 pm

All being well, myself and Andrew will be starting our round of 16 game at 5pm.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:40 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:All being well, myself and Andrew will be starting our round of 16 game at 5pm.

All being well, myself and Oliver Garner will be starting our games at 8pm.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:24 pm

Andrew Hulme 106 - 101 Jon O'Neill
A pretty good game with only a few slips on either side. Difficult conundrum, which is good. Andrew 1-0 Jono

Andrew Hulme 109 - 101 Jon O'Neill
Again I went into a difficult conundrum with a lead of fewer than ten points, and again I was second best on it. Stuck on 101 points. Andrew 2-0 Jono

Andrew Hulme 92 - 96 Jon O'Neill
This time it was Andrew's turn to lose from ahead on the conundrum. Pretty shit game though. Three games, three slippers, Andrew 2-1 Jono

Andrew Hulme 74 - 105 Jon O'Neill
The result flattered me here because Andrew accidentally declared EXHALTING, and I took a complete stab at the conundrum. Andrew 2-2 Jono

Worth noting is that I've had the better chair in all four so far.. lucky boy!

Tune in at 10.30 tonight for the decider.

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:33 pm

Charlie,

I'm around for a little while now. I may try again later - if not are you able to finish during the daytime tomorrow?

Mark

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:13 pm

Mark Tournoff wrote:Charlie,

I'm around for a little while now. I may try again later - if not are you able to finish during the daytime tomorrow?

Mark

Yep, I'll be on tomorrow. Let's say midday, although I'll hang around til whenever.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:09 pm

Quarter Final 2:

Kirk Bevins 4 - 0 Oliver Garner.

All 4 games were tougher than the scoreline suggests. I hadn't really practised for 4 days (which is like a lifetime for me) so had one quick practice game before facing Oliver as I knew he is a quality opponent and I'd need to make sure I was back on top of my game. I ended up maxing it so I went into this with more confidence than I had before the practice game.

Game 1: Kirk Bevins 118 - 84 Oliver Garner. A 14 maxer to open proceedings; annoyed to miss AVATARS as AVA is in order so looking back was probably quite easy to spot but luckily Oliver missed it too.

Game 2: Oliver Garner 78 - 104 Kirk Bevins. A 13 maxer to follow with a sexy 9 missed (I thought HOTPLATE would be the max for sure).

Game 3: Kirk Bevins 139 - 78 Oliver Garner. A max game including a sweet flake pushed me onto a 3-0 cusion.

Game 4: Kirk Bevins 107 - 68 Oliver Garner. A 13 maxer to finish the quarter final with a tough 6 small game foxing both of us. I saw LEMONY just out of time too but turned out it was insignificant.

Thanks Oli for a nice set of games.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:13 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:Quarter Final 2:

Kirk Bevins 4 - 0 Oliver Garner.

All 4 games were tougher than the scoreline suggests. I hadn't really practised for 4 days (which is like a lifetime for me) so had one quick practice game before facing Oliver as I knew he is a quality opponent and I'd need to make sure I was back on top of my game. I ended up maxing it so I went into this with more confidence than I had before the practice game.

Game 1: Kirk Bevins 118 - 84 Oliver Garner. A 14 maxer to open proceedings; annoyed to miss AVATARS as AVA is in order so looking back was probably quite easy to spot but luckily Oliver missed it too.

Game 2: Oliver Garner 78 - 104 Kirk Bevins. A 13 maxer to follow with a sexy 9 missed (I thought HOTPLATE would be the max for sure).

Game 3: Kirk Bevins 139 - 78 Oliver Garner. A max game including a sweet flake pushed me onto a 3-0 cusion.

Game 4: Kirk Bevins 107 - 68 Oliver Garner. A 13 maxer to finish the quarter final with a tough 6 small game foxing both of us. I saw LEMONY just out of time too but turned out it was insignificant.

Thanks Oli for a nice set of games.

Well at least we all know who the easy draw in the semi is going to be.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:44 pm

Andrew Hulme 78 - 98 Jon O'Neill
Yet another crucial conundrum. Lag played a part in this one but Andrew was a gent about it even though he certainly had a case for some leniency. Enjoyed those games, thanks very much.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:45 am

Charlie Reams wrote:
Mark Tournoff wrote:Charlie,

I'm around for a little while now. I may try again later - if not are you able to finish during the daytime tomorrow?

Mark
Yep, I'll be on tomorrow. Let's say midday, although I'll hang around til whenever.

Given that I'm still awake working on the lag issues, I might not be awake by midday. Let's say 1 to be on the safe side.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:26 am

Charlie Reams wrote:Given that I'm still awake working on the lag issues, I might not be awake by midday. Let's say 1 to be on the safe side.

The longer you stay up, the worse your jetlag will be.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:04 pm

Tournoff vs Reams continued

116-101: The first part of this game, which included both of us getting BIOACTIVE, was sadly lost. We resumed this morning and headed for yet another crucial conundrum at 106-101. I flinched on 4 seconds, but Mark mopped it up anyway to take game and match.

Mark wins the match 4-2. Well played sir, a fun game.

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 1:33 pm

Charlie, Thanks for the games and the summaries thereof - as anticipated it was really tight contest.

Ben,

Re the semis, I was wondering how many games there are and how long we're going to get to play them. I've been fortunate enough to have been working part-time this week, but during the two weeks up to Easter I will have a heavy workload. Easter itself, however, would be a good time. If poss could we have two weeks to play the semis, please?

Mark

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:55 pm

Mark Tournoff wrote:Charlie, Thanks for the games and the summaries thereof - as anticipated it was really tight contest.

Ben,

Re the semis, I was wondering how many games there are and how long we're going to get to play them. I've been fortunate enough to have been working part-time this week, but during the two weeks up to Easter I will have a heavy workload. Easter itself, however, would be a good time. If poss could we have two weeks to play the semis, please?

Mark

Hi Mark

semis will be best-of-9, and we're actually keeping pretty good time so I'm happy to give an extra couple of weeks for the semis to be completed. I don't expect anyone to be able to complete the best-of-11 final in one sitting. Well, okay, maybe Bevins.

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:50 am

Hi Ben,

Many thanks for that, and for organising it all for us. I'll be looking forward to finding out who I'm playing!!

Mark

Chris Davies · Post by **Chris Davies** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:37 pm

Chris Davies 4 - 1 Bob De Caux

All very close games. Thanks Bob, well played.

Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4
Game 5

Bob De Caux · Post by **Bob De Caux** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:55 pm

My cunning plan of playing the games early on Saturday morning paid off initially with Chris a bit slow out of the blocks, but unsurprisingly he came back strongly. Thought I had games 3 and 4 sewn up, but he's a tough man to shake off! Well played Chris and good luck in the semis.

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:07 pm

The draw for the semi-finals goes thusly-

Kirk Bevins vs. Chris Davies
Mark Tournoff vs Jon O'Neill

Matches will be best-of-9 standard 15 rounders to be completed by 8pm on Easter Sunday. Obviously the final can go ahead as and when we have two finalists who are ready to play the game.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:14 pm

Well, I had the game of my life and Paul didn't.

Paul Howe 90 - 101 Jon O'Neill
I'm off to a flyer, helped by a sick 4 large in round 10. Paul then fell apart and allowed me to go one up without a crucial.

Jon O'Neill 120 - 92 Paul Howe
Close one this, the only difference up to round 14 being my darren VINTAGES, but then Paul fell apart in round 14 which meant another non-crucial.

Paul Howe 103 - 131 Jon O'Neill
High quality this one, both getting RELIGIOSE, which has never appeared before in standard. Of the 7 times it's appeared in other variants, Dinos has been the spotter 5 times. Anyway I fucked up a potential max-game in the final third by bottling PERIDIA, but I was more than ten ahead after another sick 4 large in round 10 so playing safe. My spot of ZEALOTS took the game beyond Paul.

Paul Howe 76 - 97 Jon O'Neill
Paul ate a muffin, and it seemed to work well until I pulled away with SURFEITED in round 12. The grievous ommission of MONOPILKO from the ODE meant that I was clear by round 13.

Cheers Paul, enjoyed the games.

David O'Donnell · Post by **David O'Donnell** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:34 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:Well, I had the game of my life and Paul didn't.

Paul Howe 90 - 101 Jon O'Neill
I'm off to a flyer, helped by a sick 4 large in round 10. Paul then fell apart and allowed me to go one up without a crucial.

Jon O'Neill 120 - 92 Paul Howe
Close one this, the only difference up to round 14 being my darren VINTAGES, but then Paul fell apart in round 14 which meant another non-crucial.

Paul Howe 103 - 131 Jon O'Neill
High quality this one, both getting RELIGIOSE, which has never appeared before in standard. Of the 7 times it's appeared in other variants, Dinos has been the spotter 5 times. Anyway I fucked up a potential max-game in the final third by bottling PERIDIA, but I was more than ten ahead after another sick 4 large in round 10 so playing safe. My spot of ZEALOTS took the game beyond Paul.

Paul Howe 76 - 97 Jon O'Neill
Paul ate a muffin, and it seemed to work well until I pulled away with SURFEITED in round 12. The grievous ommission of MONOPILKO from the ODE meant that I was clear by round 13.

Cheers Paul, enjoyed the games.

Very well done! The first "sick" solution, using the digital root method, was awesome. I am not sure how you worked that out in 30 seconds - took me about 5 minutes.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:46 pm

David O'Donnell wrote:
Jon O'Neill wrote:Well, I had the game of my life and Paul didn't.

Paul Howe 90 - 101 Jon O'Neill
I'm off to a flyer, helped by a sick 4 large in round 10. Paul then fell apart and allowed me to go one up without a crucial.

Jon O'Neill 120 - 92 Paul Howe
Close one this, the only difference up to round 14 being my darren VINTAGES, but then Paul fell apart in round 14 which meant another non-crucial.

Paul Howe 103 - 131 Jon O'Neill
High quality this one, both getting RELIGIOSE, which has never appeared before in standard. Of the 7 times it's appeared in other variants, Dinos has been the spotter 5 times. Anyway I fucked up a potential max-game in the final third by bottling PERIDIA, but I was more than ten ahead after another sick 4 large in round 10 so playing safe. My spot of ZEALOTS took the game beyond Paul.

Paul Howe 76 - 97 Jon O'Neill
Paul ate a muffin, and it seemed to work well until I pulled away with SURFEITED in round 12. The grievous ommission of MONOPILKO from the ODE meant that I was clear by round 13.

Cheers Paul, enjoyed the games.
Very well done! The first "sick" solution, using the digital root method, was awesome. I am not sure how you worked that out in 30 seconds - took me about 5 minutes.

That's why I'm in the semi on a semi and you're not.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:30 pm

David O'Donnell wrote:
Very well done! The first "sick" solution, using the digital root method, was awesome. I am not sure how you worked that out in 30 seconds - took me about 5 minutes.

The four large in round 10 in game 3 is even sicker.

David O'Donnell · Post by **David O'Donnell** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:41 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:
David O'Donnell wrote:
Very well done! The first "sick" solution, using the digital root method, was awesome. I am not sure how you worked that out in 30 seconds - took me about 5 minutes.
The four large in round 10 in game 3 is even sicker.

Nah it was a piece of piss.

David O'Donnell · Post by **David O'Donnell** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:42 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:
That's why I'm in the semi on a semi and you're not.

I didn't enter at all, guess I couldn't even get a semi.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:08 pm

Semi final: Chris Davies vs Kirk Bevins

Best of 9 game. All games played in one sitting.

Game 1: Chris Davies 98 - 94 Kirk Bevins. A nice game to start and I build up a 14 point lead for that to quickly get dispensed with Chris' excellent SPALPEEN and a sub second crucial conundrum. Shame it was an easy one. Chris Davies 1 - 0 Kirk Bevins.

Game 2: Chris Davies 118 - 100 Kirk Bevins. A quality max game from Chris when I'm sat on 13/14 maximums myself and waiting to steal the conundrum and the game by denying him his max game. However it was another easy conundrum and Chris being faster on the keyboard (0.5 seconds - insane) beat me to it. Chris Davies 2 - 0 Kirk Bevins.

Game 3: Chris Davies 120 - 122 Kirk Bevins. A 13 maxer from me and the first non-crucial conundrum game. A nice pencil in this game from an unlikely looking 9-yielding selection. Chris Davies 2 - 1 Kirk Bevins.

Game 4: Kirk Bevins 114 - 100 Chris Davies. Another tight game resulting in a crucial conundrum and surprisingly I beat Chris to it in another sub second spot. Chris Davies 2 - 2 Kirk Bevins.

Game 5: Chris Davies 95 - 99 Kirk Bevins. A non-crucial conundrum for the second time in this semi but the scoreline once again finishes close. A 13 maxer manages to just win this one. Chris Davies 2 - 3 Kirk Bevins.

Game 6: Chris Davies 95 - 93 Kirk Bevins. Another crucial conundrum ensues and yet again it's piss easy and Chris is faster on the keyboard with another sub second conundrum and takes the game. Chris Davies 3 - 3 Kirk Bevins.

Game 7: Kirk Bevins 89 - 93 Chris Davies. Guess what? Another crucial conundrum ensues and yet again Chris is faster (although a fraction slower than previous guesses)...I had the DI locked in. I also had UNTHREAD but didn't hit U quick enough, which would have won me the game. I went for a final vowel in round 13 to protect LOZENGE but we both ended up kicking outselves when we realised we'd missed the gettable 5-vowelled 9 NEOLOGIZE. Ive got it as a conundrum before but in a letters round it's a different kettle of fish. I'm now on the brink of defeat through little more than bad luck on the conundrum speed front. Chris Davies 4 - 3 Kirk Bevins.

Game 8: Chris Davies 89 - 106 Kirk Bevins. 14 ahead in round 11 and all I have to do is equal Chris in the last few rounds and yet again I bottle it missing DULOSIS/SOLIDUS in round 12. A crucial conundrum for Chris to take the match but, what's this, he hasn't got it in less than a second? It takes me 1.8 seconds to slam down the E key and secure a deciding leg. Chris Davies 4 - 4 Kirk Bevins.

Game 9: Chris Davies 94 - 105 Kirk Bevins. Deciding game. Round 10 and I'm 11 ahead. All I have to do is equal him (preferably max every round) and I've won. After he misses THEOREMS in round 12 I go 19 points up with just 3 rounds to play. I feel the nerves and say to myself all I need to do is max round 13 and I've probably won. I get the 8 DESTINES and think that has won the game for me but, what's this, Chris has a 9. WITNESSED. Bang. The 19 point lead is now reduced to 1 point. It's game on again. I don't believe my luck and I'm kicking myself hard. I'm 95-94 up come the conundrum and it's a crucial. Based on our previous games it's going to be an easy conundrum and Chris is so much better at touch-typing than me. I've blown it. Amazingly I get INTUITION on 0.8 seconds and apterous tells me I've got in there before Chris. I'm one lucky man. These games couldn't have been any closer. Chris Davies 4 - 5 Kirk Bevins.

Thanks Chris for an excellent set of 9 games and I've not felt adrenaline and pressure like that since, well, when I played you on TV.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:01 pm

Awesome set of games chaps.
Only quibble is the Conundrum difficulty balancing must still be broken.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:03 pm

Marc Meakin wrote:Awesome set of games chaps.
Only quibble is the Conundrum difficulty balancing must still be broken.

Except these were played several days ago.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:25 pm

OK

Although I still think Conundrum difficulty balancing is not fixed yet
E.g

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=211444

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:32 pm

Marc Meakin wrote:OK
Although I still think Conundrum difficulty balancing is not fixed yet
E.g http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=211444

LAPSTRAKE doesn't have a hardness rating yet (perhaps something to do with that being the first game it has appeared in?).

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:57 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Marc Meakin wrote:OK
Although I still think Conundrum difficulty balancing is not fixed yet
E.g http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=211444
LAPSTRAKE doesn't have a hardness rating yet (perhaps something to do with that being the first game it has appeared in?).

That makes it pretty difficult in my book.

JackHurst · Post by **JackHurst** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:53 am

This tournament looks to have produced tonnes of awesome games, Kudos to Ben for organising it, and well done to the people who got quite far, especially the ones still left.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:56 pm

For those who would like to tune in, Mark and I will be playing our best-of-9 semi to a schedule something like this:

7pm - 8pm Monday for first 3,
Friday 10am or midday for next 3,
Saturday 3pm for the rest.

Mark Tournoff · Post by **Mark Tournoff** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:13 pm

Hi Jono,

That's fine. I'm trying to get onto apterous, but having no joy at present.
I'll persevere for a while. If I have to break for dinner, I'll try again later.

Mark

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:19 pm

Here is a summary of the first part of the semi final between Mark Tournoff and Jon O'Neill.

Mark Tournoff 89 - 101 Jon O'Neill
Both off to a flying start here, with 25 maxes out of 29 between us. We both took two rounds from each other up to the conundrum; every non-max was punished. My darren ODONATA in round two was cancelled out by Mark's excellent CASUISTS (pencil) in round seven, and I missed a few tough sevens to give Mark the lead with CARAFES. The old four-from-the-top done me proud in round ten which meant I was in front going into the conundrum, MENTORING, which I solved quickly with Mark right behind. Great game, great start.
Jono 1-0 Mark

Jon O'Neill 80 - 82 Mark Tournoff
This one was no such encounter, especially in the early rounds, where we had four incorrect solutions in the first five rounds between us. Mark capitalised on my errors to take a lead of thirteen points, but I managed to get some momentum and win with MORTICE and HABITUAL to take a two-point lead. The momentum fell though with another bogus word, "saponid", and Mark picked up a crucial eighteen points in round thirteen with DETOURING, meaning that my twenty-point comeback was never going to be enough.
Jono 1-1 Mark

Mark Tournoff 87 - 108 Jon O'Neill
This one started excitingly, with Mark's darren PLOSIVES in round two, and my nine UNRIDDLED in round three cancelling it out and giving me a ten-point lead. From there I was hoping for boring rounds to hold onto my lead for my numbers games, and I managed to keep up with Mark, winning some points with HETAIRAS for 8, but being pegged back by his good risk DOGLIKE for 7. The eleven-point lead would prove to be crucial when the last five or six rounds were reasonably flat, so I had already won before the tight conundrum VAGRANTLY.
Jono 2-1 Mark

A good set of competitive games there, a non-conundrum win each and one crucial conundrum means it is finely poised. The fact that the lead has changed hands at least once in each game bodes well for an exciting contest, even if we can't provide the heavyweight battle Davies and Bevins did!

The next three games will be on Friday at midday. Tune in folks!

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:54 am

Mark and I continued our best-of-5 encounter this morning, here's how it went:

Mark Tournoff 81 - 109 Jon O'Neill
You could tell we were both a bit rusty in the first half but got into our stride by the second; a timely two darrens in the third half gave me a winning lead going into the conundrum.
Jono 3-1 Mark

Jon O'Neill 94 - 86 Mark Tournoff
A weird game, this one, where we drew fourteen rounds. Luckily I won the other one with AMMONITE, and was lucky to see a difficult conundrum pass us both by.
Jono 4-1 Mark

Mark Tournoff 72 - 85 Jon O'Neill
A more cagey affair with points being traded; another third-half darren for me gave me a lead going into my final numbers, and the tactic of six small paid off to give me an unassailable lead going into the conundrum.
Jono 5-1 Mark

A really enjoyable set of games, and not because I won, but Mark is a great chap.

I would like to point out that I have a winning record in finals against Kirk Bevins..

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 3:44 pm

The final is set then- COLIN 2010 winner, Series 60 champion, '2009 champion' and top rated (regular) apterous human Kirk Bevins takes on Jon O'Neill, Countdown prodigy, series 53 octochamp and semi-finalist, 4-large expert and CoLei 2009 winner (and have a guess who he beat to win it...)

A few stats first- both players have won 14 games on their way to the final, with Kirk dropping 6 games and Jono just 3.

Kirk's road to the final:

Kirk 2-0 Dinos Sfyris
Kirk 3-2 Steve Briers
Kirk 4-0 Ollie Garner
Kirk 5-4 Chris Davies

Jono's:

Jono 2-0 Jack Hurst
Jono 3-2 Andrew Hulme
Jono 4-0 Paul Howe
Jono 5-1 Mark Tournoff

Kirk's scored a total of 2134 points and conceded 1834 over the course of his 20 games, Jono's scored 1741 and conceded 1520 over the course of his 17 games. Kirk's averaging 106.7 ppg, Jono 102.4. Kirk's managed 2 perfect games over the course of the tourney, Jono none (as yet). Notably both players played masters in round 1 rather than qualifiers- statistically insignificant, just a nice little factoid.

Head to head on apterous, they've played 62 games against each other with the score currently standing 43-19 to the Bevatron. The last two times they played were both 15-rounders and both within the last few weeks- Kirk won both quite comfortably.

Form would tend to suggest YAKBV here (any eye of apterous predictions for the scoreline please, Charlie?), but Jono has this unerring habit of pulling top performances out of the bag when it matters most- looking at CoLei 2009 in particular, and back-to-back runners-up spots at COLIN in the past. You don't dump the reigning Masters champion out of the tournament, not to mention the highest scoring octochamp of all time, if you're completely useless. Then again, Kirk had to go through not just the current series champion but also the current (and last?

) champion of champions on his way to the final.

To sum everything up with a prediction, I'm gonna say the score will be 6-4. I'm just not sure who to.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:03 pm

Bank Holiday Monday. Midday. Tune in.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 4:29 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:Bank Holiday Monday. Midday. Tune in.

I can't actually do this date as I'd forgotten about a darts knockout I'm playing in. The game is arranged for:

Tuesday April 13th from 7pm onwards. Tune in guys.