Simmons rack 1
E O O T V Y Z
BEST SemiFinal - SIMMONS v APPLEBY - GAME 1
This was the first game of a best-of-17 semi-final in the UK's BEST individual knockout event. Whilst not all plays were the best finds it is remarkable insofar as both Allan and Phil scored over 500.
You can play through the game move by move below - notes by Allan and Phil are provided as you go.
Enjoy
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Simmons rack 1 E O O T V Y Z
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Simmons played ZOOTY D8a 54 54 Appleby rack 1 A A I I N T T
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Appleby played AIT H7a 9 9 (Phil - I spotted the unplayable TITANIA here) Simmons rack 2 E V + E E I T U
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Simmons played OUTVIE E8d 18 72 (Allan - liked the fact that this took out the easy Z usage and the V inhibited full use of the dws at d12, plus any -S,-D bonus play gives away row 15 tws) Appleby rack 2 A A G I I N T |
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Appleby played AVIATING D11a 74 83 (Phil - spotted the unplayable IGNATIA before Allan kindly provided that V) Simmons rack 3 E E + C H I I S |
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Simmons played ITCHES h10d 42 +114 (Allan - poor move because ETHICS would have been better to give a floating C and S to go with my retained IE - but even better was THEIC to keep IES - which I didn't know) Appleby rack 3 A D E F N U X
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Appleby played AXED D11d 44 127 (Phil - AUXIN at B12 would have been better if I'd seen it) Simmons rack 4 I E + E M R S V |
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Simmons played VIM c13d 31 +145 (Allan - before Phil's AXED I was pondering trying VERMISES onto the S - I knew VERMIS and could only assume a plural -ES. Thankfully Phil removed the opportunity for me to lose a turn!) Appleby rack 4 A E F M N R U |
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Appleby played FRAENUM K2d 78 205 (Phil - playing the same word from B6 would have been better)
Simmons rack 5 E E R S + E I L
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Simmons played SEELIER B6a 67 212
Appleby rack 5 A D E N T W Y |
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Appleby played WAY L4d 35 240 (Phil - I didn't know WIDDY which would have been a great score from B14)
Simmons rack 6 E G I O O R ?
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Simmons played GROOvIER D3a 60 272 (Felt sure I was missing something better here - as it happens the only higher score was GOOdSIRE from B2 which I would have chosen not to play as it's too open for just a few extra points. ) Appleby rack 6 D E N T + A E L
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Appleby played LATENED m1d 85 325 (Phil - playig the same word lower down from M3 would have avoided given that top tws away) Simmons rack 7 A B D G I K P
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Simmons played BLIP L1a 33 305 (Allan - couldn't see much else and really had to use that tws)
Appleby rack 7 A O Q R T W ?
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Appleby played QAT F5a 32 357
Simmons rack 8 A D G K + D E J |
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Simmons played JAGG d1d 42 347 (Allan - had to go for the points but expecting Phil to hit back with a J tws score - I noted that an O would give me JOKED and an H would give me HADJ ) Appleby rack 8 O R W ? + H L R
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Appleby played WORTH b10a 53 410 Simmons rack 9 D D E K + N O R
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Simmons played JOKED d1a 51 398
Appleby rack 9 L R ? + A B P U
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Appleby played BUM a15a 21 431 (Phil - afterwards I noted that I'd missed SUBPOLAR here) Simmons rack 10 D N R + E N N O Unseen letters are AOU SS? CFLLPR
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Simmons played NON A9a 12 410 (Allan - spent a long time on this move - ideally just wanted to dump NN. With the blank unseen I reckoned my best chance of winning was to leave the bonus openings and not block with NEON (G14). The unseen tiles included FCP so if Phil has the blank he may still have difficulties bonusing.) Appleby rack 10 L R ? P A + C S
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Appleby played REPLiCAS g14a 76 507 (Phil - thought of SCALPERS but wasn't 100% - knew PERCALES but didn't spot it - it would have ensured victory against Allan having best reply of PENFOLDS from O1) Simmons rack 11 D E R N + O S U
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Simmons played POUNDERS O1d 86 496 (Allan /Phil - we both didn't know the remarkable E hook for REPLICAS-E !! ) (Allan - how I wish I did if just to see the look on Phil's face) Appleby left with F L Simmons +5 = 501 Appleby - 5 = 502 |
