WSC 1999: Mark Nyman

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1999
World
SCRABBLE^®
Championship
Melbourne, Australia
November 3 - 7

Mark Nyman

[photo of Nyman] Mark Nyman of Leeds is a very strong contender for the 1999 WSC: he won the 1993 WSC and placed fifth in 1997. He is the current Thailand Champion, and won the 1998 UK Championships. Mark's highest word score (from memory) is 302 for "CONQUEST". Mark is 33 years of age and coproduces the popular British television word game show Countdown when not playing competitive SCRABBLE^®. The aspect he enjoys most about SCRABBLE^® is winning, which he seems to have picked up from his father who, he says, still beats him on a regular basis.

Click on the picture to see the full image

Round 1.Nyman won against Roland Filio (BA) 442-396. Nyman is now #33, with a record of 1-0 +46.

Round 2.Nyman won against Brendan McDonnell (IE) 390-326. Nyman is now #19, with a record of 2-0 +110.

Round 3.Nyman won against Jeff Grant (NZ) 487-306. Nyman is now #8, with a record of 3-0 +291.

Round 4. Nyman won against Joe Edley (US) 455-413. Nyman is now #4, with a record of 4-0 +333.

Round 5. Nyman lost to Ronald Credo (PH) 341-394. Nyman is now #8, with a record of 4-1 +280.

Round 6. Nyman won against Sayeed Jimoh (NI) 471-313. Nyman is now #4, with a record of 5-1 +438.

Round 7. Nyman won against Joel Wapnick (CA) 434-304. Nyman is now #2, with a record of 6-1 +568.

Round 8. Nyman lost to Nigel Richards (NZ) 319-521. Nyman is now #7, with a record of 6-2 +366.

Round 9. Nyman won against Ronald Credo (PH) 419-405. Nyman is now #6, with a record of 7-2 +380.

Round 10. Nyman lost to Adam Logan (CA) 317-463. Nyman is now #11, with a record of 7-3 +234.

Round 11. Nyman lost to Joel Wapnick (CA) 333-423. Nyman is now #23, with a record of 7-4 +144.

Round 12. Nyman won against James Cherry (CA) 448-342. Nyman is now #15, with a record of 8-4 +250.

Round 13. Nyman won against Lester Schonbrun (US) 390-379. Nyman is now #11, with a record of 9-4 +261.

Round 14. Nyman won against Phil Appleby (UK) 532-313. Nyman is now #8, with a record of 10-4 +480.

Round 15. Nyman won against David Wiegand (US) 480-396. Nyman is now #4, with a record of 11-4 +564.

Round 16. Nyman won against Jakkrit Klaphajone (TH) 459-384. Nyman is now #3, with a record of 12-4 +639.

Round 17. Nyman won against Brett Smitheram (UK) 466-327. Nyman is now #1, with a record of 13-4 +778.

Round 18. Nyman won against Joel Wapnick (CA) 421-367. Nyman is now #1, with a record of 14-4 +832.

Round 19. Nyman lost to Brian Cappelletto (US) 403-456. Nyman is now #2, with a record of 14-5 +779.

Round 20. Nyman won against Adam Logan (CA) 524-413. Nyman is now #1, with a record of 15-5 +890. Triple-triple: EVERtING (158). Logan tries to play out with LABBIST*, which comes back phoney.

Round 21. Nyman won against John Holgate (AU) 372-360. Nyman is now #1, with a record of 16-5 +902. Wapnick and Nyman are now two games ahead of the rest of the field. Here's the game in full:

JH IILUCE?   H7  LIEU       8    8
MN SATNEYO   7E  ANOLYTES  66   66               
JH IC?-SADT  K2  CITADElS  70   78
MN SRAUDAE   9K  SAU        4   70
JH REUPEUO   8A  PUREE     26  104
MN SRDAE-PA  11B PARADES   75  145
JH OU-NCVNG  3H  COVING    26  130
MN IXVOBHB   L3  NIX       33  178
JH UN-?AWYL  H8  LACY      39  169
MN VOBHB-ZO  4D  BOOZY     38  216
JH WUN?-FAG  5C  FAW       32  201
MN VBH-IRSL  N3  SHIV      31  247
JH GUN?-MNE  8M  MUN       19  220
MN BRL-NIDD  2F  BRAD      16  263
JH GEN?-QTR  E10 QAT       12  232
MN LNID-OIO  F9  NIDI      22  285
JH RGEN?-EI  O7  sNEERING  59  291
MN LDOO-WEL  13I WOOLLEN   28  313
JH AHNEOGE   3C  NOH       26  317
MN D-TIKROM  J11 DOOK      18  332
JH GAEE-RFA  N12 GEAR      19  336
MN TIRM-ETI  B10 MPRET     30  362
JH EAEF-JET  13A JEFE      28  364
MN ITI       A6  TIPI       6  368
JH EAET                    -4  360
MN                         +4  372

Holgate writes:

I faced 1993 World Champ Mark Nyman feeling a victory here could give me an impetus I needed to tackle Wapnick Boys and Logan. I drew an early blank but my rack was vowel-heavy so dumped with LIEU. Mark played ANOLYTES through the L. I spent 5 minutes looking for the double-double [ACDIST? plus N or L]* then settled for CITADELS. Mark soon found PARADES and held a 50-point lead. I drew the second blank but with only on N available I scored a mere 59 for (S)NEERING unable to reach the TWS and a vital extra 18 points. Then in the nail-biting endgame I played GEAR for 19 instead of 28 for FATE (when in doubt go for points!) which (on later analysis) would have given me victory by one point. Mark played a smart move MPRET (for 30) giving him two out plays for his T-I-I and a 12-point win. My FATE was almost sealed.

Round 22. Nyman won against Nigel Richards (NZ) 455-418. Nyman is now #2, with a record of 17-5 +939. Here's the game at Table #1:

MN  GREAVED    8H GREAVED   82   82
NR  ZVAASIG    M4 AVIZED    27   27
MN  EFIIJNO    L1 JOIN      42  124
NR  GSA EEAP   1L JAPE      39   66
MN  EFI EEHR   9G FIERE     23  147
NR  GESA NAO   H3 ANAGOGIES 62  128
MN  HE WLBFK   2J WHOLE     48  195
NR  DIBETYS    I3 BY        22  150
MN  BFK NUT?   G5 FUB       26  221
NR  GDSTI TO   9M DOT       30  170
MN  KUN? USU  11H SUNK      16  237
NR  ESTI RLE   N8 DOILTER   20  200
MN  UST? ORA   1D RObUSTA   76  313
NR  ES EAPNM   2A SPAEMEN   87  287
MN  EIINTYQ    E1 OMNEITY   24  337
NR  LOGROMI   13H OLIGOMER  74  361
MN  QI DEROS   4D QI        22  359
NR  COWAHCL    A2 SALCHOW   48  409
MN  IDEROS I   B6 IO        13  372
NR  C TDUN?T  L12 DOUC      20  429
MN  DISER AI  14B DAIRIES   72  444
NR  TTXN?                  -11  418
MN                         +11  455

Round 23. Nyman lost to Ron Tiekert (US) 367-464. Nyman is now #2, with a record of 17-6 +842.

Round 24. Nyman needed to avoid losing by more than 91 points to David Boys (CA). He lost 386-420, so he finishes #2, with a record of 17-7 +808. Nyman earns his way into the finals, in a rematch of the 1993 New York City WSC where he came from behind to beat this year's other 1st-place finalist Joel Wapnick.

The Finals

Joel Wapnick went on to win the finals 3 games to 1. For the details, see Game 1, Game 2, Game 3 and Game 4.

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