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#player1 Jesse_Day Jesse Day
#player2 Kenji_Matsumoto Kenji Matsumoto
>Jesse_Day: ADKOPUX 8G PADOUK +36 36
#note this is pretty much the last word I would expect to show up twice in one tournament, albeit with different spellings. Due to the circumstances behind the game, all of my plays came a lot quicker than they normally would. It's not that I was trying to beat Kenji at his own game, but at the same time I decided not to agonize as I normally do. It helped that I was on my game.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: AMW 9K MAW +22 22
#note kenji's racks are completely off. sorry about that.
>Jesse_Day: DEERSVX 9F VEX +28 64
>Kenji_Matsumoto: T H7 T.. +10 32
>Jesse_Day: CDEMRSV K5 SCR..MED +60 124
#note actually earning a "nice play" from kenji!
>Kenji_Matsumoto: AELNRTU N9 NEUTRAL +77 109
>Jesse_Day: ?INNRVY 15L IN.Y +24 148
#note I thought that I'd found the best play, but believe it or not quackle likes burning the blank to play NeRVILY, which I absolutely did not consider. It would be a pretty hard play to make psychologically given the lanes available that could immediately leave me down.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: BDIY 12H BID.Y +30 139
>Jesse_Day: ?EINPRV 13G VINE +22 170
#note I completely missed the bingo, which is lame (it's not as if I didn't know it) but it's just barely better than the rest of the plays available. However, my play of VINE sucks anyway. PIN at 10G is clearly best - did I forget about TAXI? it's also possible that the time pressure was taking its toll, even though I made my first four plays pretty quickly.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: IST 10G TIS +19 158
#note the bingo was OVERSPIN if you didn't see it, but the leave is strong enough that it's not such a terrible miss.
>Jesse_Day: ?AANNPR 14J NAP +17 187
#note At the time it seemed like there was nothing else reasonable, but quackle suggests CANNA from the C or WAN at M9. CANNA is a little bit too maniacal for my taste, but WAN does about 5 points better with the inference that he has an S.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: ADEINRS 15D RANDIES +82 240
>Jesse_Day: ?AJLNOR 5D JOuRNAL. +78 265
>Kenji_Matsumoto: QS F4 S.Q +31 271
>Jesse_Day: EGORTWZ 14B WROTE +28 293
#note this might be when the time pressure aspect really started to hurt me, because I have no other explanation for how I could miss what is otherwise blatantly the right play. A huge mistake in a very tight game.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: ABGO H1 BOGA. +27 298
>Jesse_Day: EGGLOOZ 6B ZOO +41 334
#note hardly my favorite leave in the world, but have to take the points.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: AEELOTT 1C TOTEA.LE +61 359
#note held him on this, but I don't think I was ever going to challenge. It's in my cardbox.
>Jesse_Day: EFGGLRU 2J FUGLE +47 381
#note a lucky draw gives me a chance. Believe it or not, when I played this I thought that FUGLER was good. Guess it's just FUGLEMAN, which is already a ridiculous word anyways.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: AHI 1M AHI +25 384
#note I really wish I knew what his rack was. After taking under 5 minutes up until this point, he spent a good minute or so figuring out what to do, and ended up deciding to empty the bag. It was actually fascinating to watch from my perspective. Anyway, it leads into a crazy situation: All I have to do is to beat one of the best endgame players in the world at his own game. Can you do it?
>Jesse_Day: CEFGIIR M1 ..GIC +16 397
>Jesse_Day: CEFGIIR -- -16 381
#note After thinking for about seven minutes, starting at around 11 minutes on my clock, I figure the following things out about the endgame: His big play is HOE at the top right. If I can make a play at the top left that blocks his and go out-in-two, then I win. I spot ALGIC, which leaves the super-friendly EFIR to go out. I can hit REIF at the top or RIFER at the bottom. So that's it. I look around for a while to see if he has a play I missed, but seeing none I make my play. One problem: ALGIC IS PHONY. I have all sorts of ways to win this game without playing ALGIC, but it just never dawned on me that it might not be good. At least Kenji pointed out that if it were good it would by far be the best play. That doesn't stop me from being sick about making this kind of mistake.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: ?EEHIOU 3K HOE +26 410
#note As expected, he plays HOE, and now I'm left trying to salvage an endgame by blocking all his outs with EIU? on the board and somehow scoring enough at the same time.
>Jesse_Day: CEFGIIR C6 .RGIC +10 391
#note In my four minutes, I see OUrIE and sIEUR, but I completely miss CUtIE at the top right of the board, which means that I keep futilely looking for some kind of magic block/out-in-two on the left side. ORGIC was the best I could come up with, but...
>Kenji_Matsumoto: ?EIU 8A gI.UE +18 428
#note Kenji instantly lays down gIGUE to seal the deal, having already figured that I might play ORGIC. Afterwards he was nice enough to spend about ten minutes going over the endgame with me (though we must've been annoying the crap out of Evan and whoever he was playing at the board nextdoor). You should try to figure it out on your own, but here's the reasoning: His big play at the top-right is HOE. Ideally you would want a play that blocks that and guarantees an out, as I tried to do. But that doesn't exist. The thing is that none of the scoring plays available on the board, like FRO or RIF, allows you an out-in-two either. The best try is something like ICIER, which still allows him to block after you threaten the out but also allows a score. But taking a closer look, HOE is 26, and his best out after that is going to be 8. So really you just need to score 38 or more in two turns to win. The obvious choice is RIF, and then if you look at your next move you see that it offers ICE, which is clearly not in his best interest to block. RIF+ICE-4 for the G is 31+18-4=45, so you win by 8. He can also try to get tricky and play HE at 7C and not go out, but he can't actually gain anything by doing that - you play ICE, and he finds his best play for 18, and the spread ends up being the same.
>Kenji_Matsumoto: (EFI) +12 440
#note And with that, one of the wackiest games I've ever played. It kind of reminds me of the first time I played O'laugh - ask me about that one sometime. Kenji was one of the people I was hoping I'd get the chance to play, as mentioned before nationals, and while the circumstances were crazy I think it was still a pretty neat game from my perspective. On the negative side of things, I totally threw this game away, setting a bad precedent...but I'll get to that later. After this game, I think I was so surprised by what had just happened that I wasn't even angry at myself - the whole game was just wacky. Hope you enjoyed it from your end.
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