The official website of the Australian Scrabble Players Association (Victoria) Inc.

Watch this space for the latest news and happenings in the Victorian Scrabble scene, and left-click on a pic to see if it will enlarge.
Your social reporter is Marj Miller. Please pass on any news to mjwm@connexus.net.au

Upcoming Events:

Camberwell ~ 6 games ~ Sunday February 14
Melbourne Team Challenge & Open Tournament ~ 9 games ~ Sunday February 28
Raymond Island ~ 12 games ~ Sat/Sun March 6/7
Langwarrin ~ 6 games ~ March 21st
For full details of all tournaments click HERE

The Ballarat Summer Tournament ~ January 30 2010

This event attracted an excellent field of 50 players who enjoyed the pleasant surroundings of the Brown Hill Hall as well as a wonderful array of goodies to eat. Tess Robinson welcomed two interstate visitors; Tim Reddan who is President of the ACT Scrabble Association, and Ben Munson who plays with the Wagga Wagga Club. Division A saw Peter Kougi emerge the winner, being beaten only by Norma Fisher. Second and third places went to an equally delighted Dianne Gibson and Mary MacMahon, High Game of 527 was played by Lois Binnie, and Kris Howat played HARKING for 123 points to win the High Word Award. In Division B Pat Weston from Geelong had an excellent result, winning all 6 games to fill first place. Two of our young guns Michael Rubinstein and Shaun Donnelly filled second and third places, while Michael received both the High Game Award (596) and the High Word Award, playing STRAINED for 168 points. Division C saw Ben Munson win all 6 games to take first place, with Anna Palmer and Val Martin second and third respectively. High game of 497 was played by Glen Chandler, with Debbie Hoffmann scoring 81 for PRETEND to win the High Game Award. Notable rating gains were achieved by Ben Munson (+129), Dianne Gibson (+79), and Pat Weston (+78).
Great scrabble, everyone. Thanks to Tess Robinson and her helpers for their organisation, and Barry for helping with computer duties. Tess' grandson snapped some pictures and I hope to post some of these here soon.

The Bil Rose Aestival ~ January 17 2010


Norma Engel's 685 board - click to enlarge
Seventy competitors participated in this popular Round Robin event, with the fourteen members of the Hydrangea section using an Australian Draw. Novices Rin Campbell and Luke Whitby hadn't played at a club or on the internet prior to this event and both made the courageous decision to stay and play after inspecting the setup and meeting some of the players at the Marwal Centre. Fortunately both enjoyed the day, and we hope to see them at another tournament soon. We again welcomed John Rider from Queensland and Michael McKenna from NSW, it is always good to have some interstate visitors. Michael gained some rating points from the Vics to take back to NSW, but Queensland was not so fortunate. Norma Engel (Gazania) had a wonderful Round 1 Game, scoring 685 points and playing five bonus words, the first three of them consecutively - MARKING 82, APPLIES 86, ELEVATES 88, FIELDER 92, ROOTIES 64. Well done Norma, this is an excellent early record for 2010. Two section winners won all seven games - there were high fives when a delighted Jenny Brysha won EURYOPS* and an excited Anand Bharadwaj was victorious in COLUMBINE. Jenny gained 102 rating points to put her firmly into our Advanced section, and Anand went up 93 points, catapulting himself into Masters. *We apologise for using an unallowable word as one of the section names, and will take greater care next year.

Our two new players on the day, Luke Whitby
and Rin Campbell

Norma Engel with her awards for High Game
Lower Sections, 685 points with five bonuses

Trevor Halsall, too good in Amaryllis, with
Peter Kougi, High Game Upper Sections

Alistair Kane, High Word Upper Sections

Mary McMahon, the best Begonia

Anand Bharadwaj, conquered all in Columbine
Congratulations to Jenny and Anand, and to all other section winners - Trevor Halsall, AMARYLLIS; Mary McMahon, BEGONIA; Patricia Mitchell, DAFFODIL; Julie Belle, FREESIA; Stephanie Saunders, GAZANIA; and Gianna Devcic, HYDRANGEA. Second and third place prizes were awarded in the latter section, and these went to Marisa Nuccitelli and Carol Mascitti respectively. The entire field was divided into two, and High Game and High Word awards went to the best efforts in both the upper and lower four sections. In the upper half Peter Kougi played High Game 547, and the High Word went to Alistair Kane for TWANGERS, value 167 points. As mentioned above Norma Engel's brilliant 685 game earned her the High Game award in the lower divisions, and in the upper divisions the High Word award was won by John Rider from Queensland who played FOREIGN for 107 points. To fit with the general theme of the day I noted the following words on different boards - FREESIA and DAHLIAS, and Frank Csarics has mentioned that Val Hardiman played ESTIVAL during their game. No prizes for any of these, but we might think about it for next year's event.

Patricia Mitchell, Daffodil Extraordinaire

Jenny Brysha - A, not E, for effort in *Euryops

Julie Belle, a fun time winning FREESIA

Stephanie Saunders, great in Gazania

John Rider, High Word Lower sections

Doug Ristic, looking happy

Gianna Devcic, best of 14 in Hydrangea

Marisa Nuccitelli, second in Hydrangea

Third place in Hydrangea, Carol Mascitti
Thank you to all our helpers, especially Mary Mackie who was our standby player, Barry Harridge for setting up the tournament and getting it started almost on time, Lalitha Sunderesan on data entry for the day, Norma Fisher for all she does, Jack Miller and others for helping with furniture moving, and everyone else who assisted with the many tasks involved in running a tournament.

The Fourth Melbourne Marathon ~ January 9/10 2010


A fresh start for all! Midday, Saturday

Not so bright and bushy tailed! Sunday 11am
Twenty-eight fresh and courageous scrabblers arrived at the venue at lunchtime on Saturday, carrying many aids such as deodorant, toothbrushes, pills, potions, libations, vittles and fresh clothes, including some pyjama-like gear to assist them in surviving the gruelling challenge ahead - 24 games in 24 hours. We welcomed our interstate visitors, thank you all for coming - Michael McKenna, David More and Phillip Hamilton from NSW, John Hamilton from the ACT, and Helen Maurus and John Rider from Queensland. We were also pleased to welcome two returning Victorian players to the event - Heidy Reitbergen who played regularly in the nineties and very occasionally since, and Nick Ivanovski, the 1990 Australian Champion who is still playing regularly online but hadn't played a "live" tournament for many years.

Top three placegetters -
David Eldar 1st and High Game Overall,
Norma Fisher (3), Naween Fernando (2)

Jayden Kuhne 1st Rating Band award, Norma
Fisher, Phillip Hamilton 3rd Rating band,
Michael Rubinstein High Word Overall
Young Marathoners, L to R - Jay Kuhne, Phillip
Hamilton, Robert Blunt, Jason Stockdale, John
Hamilton, Natasha Podesser, Michael McKenna
A wonderful array of food was provided by our hard-working organiser Norma Fisher, our photographer Khwanjai Thammaping and me, and this was appreciated by the participants. The menu was long, and at various times included wontons, chicken wings, sandwiches, cakes, antipasto platters, a special jelly dessert made by KJ, breakfast cereal, muffins, raisin toast and many other snacks. At the end of the event one of the players mentioned that she had achieved what she came for - some ratings points and the food! This was Ruth Fewings' fourth appearance at the Marathon, but this year she lost her crown as the oldest player in the field to Beryl Bourne, Ruth's senior by just 2 months. Both lasted the distance easily and also gained ratings points, well done, girls!

The battle of the octogenarians, Ruth Fewings
versus Beryl Bourne
The Ivanovski family - Claire, Oscar & Nick,
returning after several years absence

Visting from interstate - John Rider (Qld)
& David More (NSW), 2nd Rating Band award
The runaway winner David Eldar (who has now won all four Marathons!) kindly donated his prizemonies to the fund to support our international players, thanks, David. He mentioned on arrival that he was tired but it certainly didn't affect his play as he improved as the night wore on, winning 21 of the 24 games played, losing only to Geoff Wright in the third game and twice to Norma Fisher in Rounds 11 and 15, helping Norma achieve a great rating gain of 96 points. In second place was Naween Fernando on 17 wins, with Norma placing third. Norma played the 9 letter word (b)UFfeTING for 88 points, and Naween extended C-------TE to cHLOR(i)NAte in one of his 6 games against David, but sadly it wasn't enough to give him a win.

Sal Costanzo with Heidy Reitbergen,
who stood up well to her first Marathon event

Oliver Podesser and Julie Belle battle it out
in Round 2 of the tournament

Photographer and chef Khwanjai Thammaping
with her yummy vegie wontons
Rating band prizes were awarded for those rated 1330 and under, and Jayden Kuhne, David More and Phillip Hamilton placed 1/2/3 respectively in this category. High Game overall (621) was played by David Eldar, and the High Word award went to Michael Rubinstein for the nine-timer SCREWING (176 points). The highest rating gain overall was achieved by Robert Blunt, the lowest rated player in the event, who went up an amazing 129 points. A highlight was the great game between Norma Fisher (523) and Jayden Kuhne (510) which set 2010 records for the highest combined score and the highest losing score. Well done to all placegetters, and to everyone who played so bravely and amicably - there were no dropouts this year, and the tournament ran smoothly under the guidance of Barry Harridge, who stayed for the midnight feast before catching a few zzz's. Following his departure Jenny Brysha took over computer duties, and apart from one minor glitch resolved by a call to Barry everything was fine.

The overnight computer whiz, Jenny Brysha,
relieving Barry while he slept.
Matte Dunn and Dianne Gibson face off in
their only meeting for the tournament

Helen Maurus, ex Victorian from Queensland
versus old friend and foe Geoff Wright
The last four rounds were KoH, and this number may be reduced in next year's event - to use Anand's word from a previous conversation its rather demoralising to lose six times to the same person in a tournament, as a friend of mine happened to do. Sincere thanks to everyone who helped make the event such a success, particularly Norma, we hope to see you all there next year!

The Annual Decathon ~ December 29 2009


John Parker & Naween Fernando (Masters 2nd)
register with helper Jack Miller.
The Young Ones - Jayden, Alastair, Natasha,
Jason & Robert.

Marlene Ellis after receiving her badge
for playing 1000 games.
This enjoyable ten game event held at the Box Hill Senior Cits Community Centre saw 62 players in attendance, and we welcomed five NSW players - Karen, Paul and Alastair Richards, and Maree Heynen and David More. We were also pleased to see some Vic players whom we hadn't seen for some time - two worthy of mention are Diane Stoyan and Jason Stockdale. We were pleased to have the services of Jason's dad Chris on computer duty, thanks Chris. Thanks also to Khwanjai for the pics (which are in no particular order), and to all committee members and players who helped with various tasks throughout the day, it does make running a tournament so much easier.
During the day we presented Marlene Ellis, convenor of the Geelong Club, with a badge marking 1000 tournament games played, congratulations Marlene. It was great to have several of our young players competing, and more info on their performances on the day is available on the Youth page - click HERE
A brilliant performance saw Alastair Richards win all 10 games in Masters, two wins ahead of Naween Fernando and three clear of Andrew Fisher. The High Game award went to Jason Stockdale for scoring 545 points, and as Julie Belle aptly commented "He's still got it!!". Another of our young players Natasha Podesser played "TRENISES" for 122 to claim the High Word Award.

The Richards family from NSW - Karen,
Alastair (Masters 1st Place) & Paul.

Sal Costanzo describing the one that got away
to Andrew Fisher, 3rd Place in Masters.

Peter Kougi & Norma Fisher with Jason
Stockdale, now studying at Deakin, Geelong.
Advanced was possibly the most closely-fought section, with Cheryle Jerram the winner on 7.5 wins followed by Khwanjai Thammaping second on 7 wins, separated by margin only from Jayden Kuhne, one of our newer youngsters who is planning to attend the World Youth Championship in the Philipines in 2010. Jayden also recorded the highest rating gain across all sections for the day, gaining a massive 113 points. Doug Ristic scored 564 to record High Game and the High Word award went to Kris Howat for GOOFIEST (140) - both of these were the highest for the day.
Intermediate was also a cliffhanger, with Anne Menheere victorious on 7 wins, half a game ahead of Michael Rubinstein in second place and Pat Weston third on 6 wins. High Game (533) was played by Michael, and the High Word award was a tie between Pat Judd who played QUIVERS, and Stephanie Saunders who played SHIPPER, both scoring 99 points.

Anne Menheere, Intermediate 1st Place
just ahead of Michael Rubinstein.

Carole Eden (1st Recreation) with husband
Mal, staunch supporters of Scrabble.

Maree Heynen (second Recreation) and
David More, both visiting from NSW.
Recreation saw Carole Eden take out first prize with 9 wins, with Maree Heynen (NSW) second on 8 wins, and third place going to Rob York on 6 wins. High Game (458) was played by Marisa Nuccitelli, and Marisa also shared the prize for High Word with THRIVED (90), tying with Lina Camilleri who played GROUSER.

The Malcolm family - Chile with Lovelia,
and Harry with Zev

Lina Camilleri (equal High Word Recreation)
with Zev and Harry Malcolm
Frank Csarics versus Peter Kougi, with Andrew
and Naween joining in the post mortem.
We were delighted to receive a visit from Chile and Harry Malcom and our future scrabblers Lovelia and Zev, and many congratulated Chile on the personal milestone of her 40th birthday - Happy Birthday, Chile, it was lovely to see you all on such a special day.

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