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#player1 Noah Noah Walton
#player2 Jesse Jesse Day
#title 2014 NSC Round 16
#description Noah Walton plays Jesse Day in Round 16 at the 2014 NSC
>Noah: EINOOWW 8G WOW +18 18
#note this was the annotated game from round 16 of the 2014 National Scrabble Championship
>Jesse: BDEOUVX 9F VOX +29 29
>Noah: AEINOOT 10G TOONIE +24 42
>Jesse: BDDEFRU 11I FUD +27 56
>Noah: AAEEJLO -AAEJO +0 42
#note not immediately intuitive to me, but noah exchanges here because all of his plays give up a lot of points. we discussed that he should maybe have exchanged all 7, given the value of having a blank or an S on this board.
>Jesse: BDEGRTU 12D BUDGET +28 84
>Noah: EGILLTV H12 .VIL +21 63
>Jesse: ALNNRRU 14F UR.NAL +10 94
>Noah: ABEGLTZ L4 GETABL. +26 89
#note great play by noah to open the board, which he needs to do down on tempo on a closed board
>Jesse: AAHMNOR 6H MARA.HON +67 161
>Noah: AFIRSSZ 5I FAZ.S +68 157
#note I wondered at the time why he didn't play his move instantly, but it's actually very close between this and IZARS at the bottom on a sim - FAZES takes away a lot of cheap points for me, and he has row 7 to aim for with his other S.
>Jesse: EGLMNTT 7K G.EN +28 189
#note the N has to be blocked even though it leaves me with a slightly clunky rack
>Noah: IIKNPRS 15A PRINKS +41 198
#note noah is willing to cash his S with the two blanks remaining
>Jesse: AALMOTT 15K ALAMO +26 215
#note very difficult move - I think that it took me a lot of clock-time to find ALAMO, and that I did not realize afterward that it fit at 11B - might as well take the extra 3 points.
>Noah: ?DEEIIP 14M PED +27 225
#note noah made this play fast, perhaps trying to pressure me on time. it does take easy points from me, but the disaster potential seems high.
>Jesse: EEIOSTT 14A OE +12 227
#note difficult choice, I can score more by playing VET/OFTEN/TA but I didn't like the resulting leave. if I miss with EISTT I can often fish again with VET next turn. quackle likes flipping over an extra tile with TIE at 13B but I thought this was fine
>Noah: ?CEEEII -EEII +0 225
>Jesse: EIJSTTU 7A JUTTIES +74 301
>Noah: ?ACEEIT A6 E.ECTA +45 270
>Jesse: DEQRRSY 5A DRYERS +37 338
#note to play the S or not? I wanted to give myself an extra shot at the blank and make it harder for him to fish (3 in the bag instead of 4). however, keeping the S might help me be more flexible with the Q later on if I need it. Maybe I also overestimated my chance of drawing a blank? his plays did not indicate to me that he had one necessarily.
>Noah: ??EHINY 13B HEY +31 301
#note what a play by noah! blocking my best Q spot. if he can avoid the Is he should win...
>Jesse: AIIIIOQ 8C OI +8 346
#note I can't say I was expecting my epic draw of AIIIIO! I saw REJECTING right away and knew I had to block the 9s. with OI at B10 I thought I might be able to outrun an out-in-two. quackle is not strong enough to find all the game-winning sequences. I have a few tries that could help me that I didn't think of - for instance AI at 13K to set up QI.
>Noah: ??CEINR 4D NE +10 311
#note he only had 5 minutes to plan his pre-endgame, and spent some time looking for a game-winning 10 on column D. he went for a tricky out-in-two, leaving a minute on his clock and about 40 seconds on mine...
>Jesse: AIIIQ O4 AI. +4 350
#note I realized that he would outrun me if I play my highest-scoring play my going out on column O, so with 10 seconds left or so I played AIN to block. if I'd realized that he was going to start slow-playing me then I could play IN (which also saves the AI/ALA gambit for later) but then he could just play his planned play of BRUCIN and go out to win.
>Noah: ??CIR 10A .I +4 315
#note this is where he went over on time. he does still have a few wins even after the -10, but they are very difficult to find - for instance CRU and the sINUs through NU.
>Jesse: IIQ 9L .I +3 353
>Noah: ??CR O3 C... +6 321
>Jesse: IQ F11 I. +3 356
>Noah: ??R 12D ......s +12 333
#note under time pressure, he did not spot either THEY or WOWS, either of which would've been enough for him to win. he needed to avoid going over by another minute
>Jesse: Q - +0 356
>Noah: ?R 10G ......s +7 340
>Jesse: Q - +0 356
#note noah went over by a minute, so I won by a point!
>Noah: R N13 R.. +5 345
#note at the end of it all we didn't even know who'd won - eventually we settled on a 356-355 win for me.
>Noah: (Q) +20 365
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