| Player 1 |
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#player1 Meo Meo
#player2 Mr._Anderson Mr. Anderson
>Meo: ?ADINUZ 8E NAZI +26 26
#note I'm not crazy about keeping the vowel heavy leave with ADZ, but ZA looks good here.
>Mr._Anderson: ADEIKLW E5 DAW.LIKE +114 114
#note Gee, maybe I should have played that at 8G.
>Meo: ?DGIRSU I5 GUISaRD +73 99
#note I rushed this play and didn't think about the fact that other bingos here score a point more. Still, given that I am already chasing, there is something to be said for GUISARD. It makes the board more volatile by simultaneously opening up both the H1 and H15 spots.
>Mr._Anderson: IOOPT D1 TOPOI +19 133
#note Balls to the walls play by Will. Maybe he already had the blank. I like aggression, but I might have preferred to play this at F2 for one point less.
>Meo: EFLNRTX D12 FLEX +54 153
>Mr._Anderson: EEGNO 15C E.OGEN +42 175
>Meo: AANNRTV H1 VARNA +30 183
>Mr._Anderson: IW G6 WI. +16 191
>Meo: ANSTTTU C2 TUT +18 201
>Mr._Anderson: ?CEILOT 1H .ELOCITy +95 286
#note Optimal bingo by Will. This guy's good.
>Meo: AAMNSTY 2B A..MY +36 237
>Mr._Anderson: HO J5 OH +30 316
>Meo: AINOPST 3F AT.OPINS +79 316
>Mr._Anderson: AEY F11 AYE +21 337
>Meo: AEEESTU L1 .U.EATE +18 334
>Mr._Anderson: IOO -OOI +0 337
>Meo: BEEOOSS K7 OBOES +16 350
#note I considered BOS I13, but I think my move is much better. Partially it's rack management, but it's also about making it harder for him to bingo and speeding to the end of the game.
>Mr._Anderson: CHIR L10 RICH +22 359
>Meo: EEJLNSU 9C JE.L +21 371
#note The beginning of a Q stick strategy. I don't want to play the last U in case I should draw the Q, hence no JUS I13. Instead I score with the J and simultaneously take away the one spot where he is likely to Q-dump.
>Mr._Anderson: BERV M8 VERB +18 377
>Meo: EGMNRSU 9M .M +4 375
#note I saw that the only possible Q play he had was FAQIR 14G, but it was tricky to find a way to block it that wouldn't allow for the possibility of me getting Q stuck. Then I happened across this idea. Only I can use the O column, and if he does have FAQIR, then I am guaranteed to have a bingo in response. At this point Will was down to maybe two minutes at the most. The way he played this endgame with so little time to think was extraordinary.
>Mr._Anderson: ADDINQR 14C R.D +9 386
#note Sets up QADI or QI on column B. If I had foreseen what was coming, I would have probably done something like JUG, letting him dump the Q and going out for enough to win on column O. However, I was still under the mistaken impression that I was going to force him to eat the Q.
>Meo: EFGNRSU 13B GE. +14 389
>Mr._Anderson: ADINQ 7C DA. +9 395
#note Brilliant. QI 6B is unblockable, except by URSID 5A which gives him QUIN to go out. Notice this would not have worked without playing RED first, as I would have FE 6B followed by RUNGS. Now I was in serious danger of losing, and had to buckle down to find a way to save myself.
>Meo: FNRSU O8 FUNS +26 415
>Mr._Anderson: INQ 6B QI +34 429
>Meo: R 5H ...R. +12 427
>Meo: (N) +2 429
#note What actually happened was that Will had underscored his RED play by one and we both thought after I went out that I had won 429-428. On the recount he got the point back and my victory evaporated. This was the turning point of my tournament. I went from second place and a presumed 9-4 record to 8.5-4.5 in an eyeblink, and then I went LLLWLLL the rest of the way. This was eerily reminiscent of summer Albany 2007, when I also tied in round 13 and then went LLLWLLL to finish the tournament. Only that time my record was 10-2 and I was in *first* place before the tie.
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