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#player1 Carl Carl
#player2 Q Q
>Carl: ?BDINOR 8B INBOaRD +74 74
#note Game occurred on March 13, 2019. I call this one the "Immortal", not because I played particularly well, but because of a bunch of interesting sacrifices I made. I always associate "immortal" chess games with exorbitant material sacrifices for positional gain.
>Q: GLORSSU I5 GULS +16 16
#note It's awfully hubristic to call your own game "immortal" in the first place, especially when you made some clear mistakes. I'm doing it anyway though. It was my finest hour, and will serve as the standard against which I may weigh any actual immortal games I may have in the future.
>Carl: ADEESTY G5 EST.AYED +64 138
#note I chose to sacrifice 16 points here over ANDESYTE, a seriously questionable move. Quackle almost certainly has another S, but C15 isn't the strongest place for it, and it will inevitably have value elsewhere. I also perceived that ANDESYTE would lead to a wide open board, but ESTRAYED wouldn't. The problem is that ESTRAYED doesn't effectively close the board well enough to justify sacrificing 16 points. The letters G, N and R fit at 5H, playing to the triple, and opening new possibilities up there. On the other hand, if Quackle plays at H11 to the triple, and I play on row 5 in the NW quadrant, the board could become very constricted. There's a chance this could pay off, but it's probably right to just take the points and try to outrun. (-12)
>Q: IKORRST F12 IRK +20 36
#note I'm off to a good start, but if you think the duck's gonna sit back and preen its downy lil' feathers, you got another thing coming.
>Carl: JLOPPRW 6B PROWL. +19 157
#note PLOP J3 wins the sim, but that's needlessly risky. PROWLS/PLOWS restricts several bingo lanes, which is worth more than the 9 points I'm sacrificing. I'm happy with this move.
>Q: EORSTTY E10 TOY +19 55
>Carl: DEFJOPV E14 OF +11 168
#note This sacrifice looks a little better since it's extremely hard for Quackle to bingo after OF. Quackle says that J4 FOP is **23** points better, but I'm literally never doing that since it allows two big ways for Q to come back from the dead.
>Q: EENORST 5C ONE +20 75
#note After FOP, Quackle would have bingoed on Row 15.
>Carl: DEJOPVV 11C EP.D. +17 185
#note 4C DOPE scores well, but also opens up a new lane on row 3. EPODE is about 10 points back but I'm happy with it. There is the dawning realization that my rack is getting worse and worse and Quackle will eventually open a lane I can't do anything about, particularly at H1. But in the immediate term, I'm at least destroying the SW quadrant forever, which is worth something.
>Q: ELMNRST 10G .LEM +15 90
>Carl: AAJOTVV 11I TAJ +26 211
#note I can do JATO 4A for 47 but... nope. Board control, baby. The longer a good player goes without bingoing, the more likely they are to have bingo tiles. Quackle's last few plays telegraph quite a lot about its holdings. (-17?)
>Q: GNOORST 15A GONO.S +43 133
#note In fact I did block a bingo with TAJ, so the sacrifice paid off-- this time, anyway. Still, you could argue that the duck might not have drawn a bingo after playing off three tiles, and I should just outrun with JATO.
>Carl: AORSTVV C13 VA. +12 223
#note Maybe I'm overvaluing this game because a block-y, super-defensive style is out of character for me. Nevertheless, these were interesting positions, and I hope you enjoyed them!
>Q: AFGHNRT H1 THANG +35 168
#note We knew this would happen eventually, but luckily, I've drawn a bingo.
>Carl: IORSTUV 3A VIRTUOS. +74 297
>Q: ACEFIIR 1F AR.IFICE +66 234
#note I can't just sit back and sip daiquiris for the rest of the game, however. Ain't over yet.
>Carl: ADIIQRU A1 DI.A +27 324
>Q: EEEHTXZ L1 .HEZ +36 270
>Carl: AEIQRUU M3 RAI +21 345
#note I did see QUEUE J3, and even have the case R, but declined. I liked that RAI didn't give back floaters and didn't allow a huge comeback with the blank if the duck has it. From my perspective, it wouldn't be easy for Quackle to parallel or make setups with that pool. If Quackle does bingo on Column N, I will sometimes have a comeback-- not true of Column O bingos after QUEUE. RAI is a deceptively strong play, and sims third best behind QUEUE, but is definitely a mistake. Do you see why?
>Q: AEEIITX N3 EX +31 301
>Carl: CELNQUU N2 L.. +20 365
#note This was also a mistake. I need to go for turnover here with something like FUEL J1, and maybe pick up the blank. Better to leave 3 than 5 in the bag. (-17)
>Q: ?ABEIIT 6M AI +8 309
#note This is why RAI was a blunder: I failed to notice the A hook, which gives Quackle an opportunity to set something up. I think if I had seen that, I would have gone for QUEUE. Second best play behind QUEUE would have been ETUI I10, setting up QUA H13. This also looks better than RAI; it's not always easy to transition from a defensive to an offensive game, but ETUI looks pretty tough to reckon with.
>Carl: ACENQUU O5 UN +5 370
#note That lane just has to go; QUAG A12 can wait. However, an even bigger sacrifice is necessary, since there are bingos beginning with UN. I should do NU here, and let Quackle have NUB.
>Q: ?BEEITW 14B B. +16 325
>Carl: ACEEMQU O5 ..AU +12 382
#note And for the final sacrifice: Q-sticking myself to block UNWEETING-- the only winning move.
>Q: ?EEINTW J1 .INEsT +21 346
>Carl: CEEMQ L6 CEE +12 394
>Q: EW 9F W.E +14 360
>Q: (MQ) +26 386
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