Monday, January 19, 2009
Veni Vidi Vici
Prelims on 10.01.2009
When we reached the iGate office, there was a buzz in the air. There were 50 odd participants from all the big names in the corporate world. Everyone was very serious about the competition and some people even had dictionaries with them. Both of us (Yaseen and Jayendra) are passionate about scrabble and we had pursued it as a hobby till then. We were there to have fun and to give our best shot at every game.
First two games were quite easy for us as we had expected. We defeated Qualcomm and Tesco respectively by huge margins (100+). In the third game we met Oracle SSI (OSSI) and it was a tight game. Oracle scored a bingo in the 3rd move and we also followed suite. The game had been very close had we not made another bingo later in the game. The word was MERITING and we owed our victory to this single word.
At the half way mark, during lunch break, we were placed 2nd (owing to the margin of victory) behind Oracle Financial services (OFS), who had demolished every other team they had played by gigantic margins. For the first time, we were noticed as an underdog team. We were drawn against OFS in the 4th round. It was quite intimidating to play with them. They were very fast in their moves and were constantly chatting loudly. We lost to them by 37 points. The last match of the day was drawn against OSSI again. After having beaten them once, both of us were very confident of repeating the feat. The game turned out to be an absolute thriller. Lead changed hands constantly. The winner was decided on the last move when they managed to finish their tiles before us. We lost by 5 points. That was the closest margin of victory in the whole tournament.
At the end of the prelims, we were placed at 6th owing to our losses in the last two games. The top 8 teams qualified for the finals to be played on 18th January. After a dozen Nescafe coffees, Maggi soups and Marlboros that had been consumed in the 8 hours roller-coaster ride, we were happy to have made it to the finals. We knew that finals will be another day and that we will stand a chance if we play well on the day.
Finals on 18.01.2009
In the finals on the Sunday afternoon, each team had to play 3 games to decide the final rankings of the tournament. In the preceding week, both of us had done some preparation in our free time.
Our first match was against one of our own – SAP Labs. Those guys were placed 7th and were good at the game. We were leading them from the start until they scored a bingo. In the new scenario, we were neck to neck. Towards the end, they gave some openings to us and we took those with both hands. We defeated them by a thin margin of 10 points.
In the next match, we were pitted against Oracle SSI again. We were playing them for the third time in the tournament and both the teams knew each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Going by the history, our games were always tight and very close. This one turned out to be even closer. Many a times, we had bingos on our rack but we did not have a place to play them. We took a lot of time between our moves and we were left with less than a minute on the clock and a full rack to go. We played the last move with 0.01 minute to spare. We hardly noticed that there was a crowd that had gathered around the table and everyone was applauding the keenly fought game. We had won by 7 points.
As expected, our third match was against the undefeated team in the tournament at that point – Oracle financial services. It was the decider. Having played them once, we had an idea about their strategies and playing style. We decided not to give them any openings and keep the board tight in the finals. The game began at an even pace with both the teams not giving any freebies to each other. With words like XU, UG, UT, GI, EA and JO, we frustrated them for place on the board. We had our moments too, like when we made VERVES, a high-scoring move. For the first time in the tournaments, OFS were searching for words and place to fit them. They were also trailing us on time. Our strategy was working and we tightened our grip on the match. However, they came back again in the match with WOOF, WE. Finally, we prevailed and won by a wafer-thin margin of 8 points (334-326). It was a close and a nerve-racking encounter, which we managed to win in the end. It was truly an icing on the proverbial cake. It took more than an hour for the feeling to sink in. We were handed out the winner’s trophy by Mr. Rex D’Souza, the president of Karnataka State Scrabble Association.
The final ranking was:
1. SAP Global Delivery
2. Oracle Financial Services
3. Oracle SSI
It is a great achievement since nobody gave us a chance at the start of the tournament. It was as if – We came, we saw, we conquered.
When we reached the iGate office, there was a buzz in the air. There were 50 odd participants from all the big names in the corporate world. Everyone was very serious about the competition and some people even had dictionaries with them. Both of us (Yaseen and Jayendra) are passionate about scrabble and we had pursued it as a hobby till then. We were there to have fun and to give our best shot at every game.
First two games were quite easy for us as we had expected. We defeated Qualcomm and Tesco respectively by huge margins (100+). In the third game we met Oracle SSI (OSSI) and it was a tight game. Oracle scored a bingo in the 3rd move and we also followed suite. The game had been very close had we not made another bingo later in the game. The word was MERITING and we owed our victory to this single word.
At the half way mark, during lunch break, we were placed 2nd (owing to the margin of victory) behind Oracle Financial services (OFS), who had demolished every other team they had played by gigantic margins. For the first time, we were noticed as an underdog team. We were drawn against OFS in the 4th round. It was quite intimidating to play with them. They were very fast in their moves and were constantly chatting loudly. We lost to them by 37 points. The last match of the day was drawn against OSSI again. After having beaten them once, both of us were very confident of repeating the feat. The game turned out to be an absolute thriller. Lead changed hands constantly. The winner was decided on the last move when they managed to finish their tiles before us. We lost by 5 points. That was the closest margin of victory in the whole tournament.
At the end of the prelims, we were placed at 6th owing to our losses in the last two games. The top 8 teams qualified for the finals to be played on 18th January. After a dozen Nescafe coffees, Maggi soups and Marlboros that had been consumed in the 8 hours roller-coaster ride, we were happy to have made it to the finals. We knew that finals will be another day and that we will stand a chance if we play well on the day.
Finals on 18.01.2009
In the finals on the Sunday afternoon, each team had to play 3 games to decide the final rankings of the tournament. In the preceding week, both of us had done some preparation in our free time.
Our first match was against one of our own – SAP Labs. Those guys were placed 7th and were good at the game. We were leading them from the start until they scored a bingo. In the new scenario, we were neck to neck. Towards the end, they gave some openings to us and we took those with both hands. We defeated them by a thin margin of 10 points.
In the next match, we were pitted against Oracle SSI again. We were playing them for the third time in the tournament and both the teams knew each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Going by the history, our games were always tight and very close. This one turned out to be even closer. Many a times, we had bingos on our rack but we did not have a place to play them. We took a lot of time between our moves and we were left with less than a minute on the clock and a full rack to go. We played the last move with 0.01 minute to spare. We hardly noticed that there was a crowd that had gathered around the table and everyone was applauding the keenly fought game. We had won by 7 points.
As expected, our third match was against the undefeated team in the tournament at that point – Oracle financial services. It was the decider. Having played them once, we had an idea about their strategies and playing style. We decided not to give them any openings and keep the board tight in the finals. The game began at an even pace with both the teams not giving any freebies to each other. With words like XU, UG, UT, GI, EA and JO, we frustrated them for place on the board. We had our moments too, like when we made VERVES, a high-scoring move. For the first time in the tournaments, OFS were searching for words and place to fit them. They were also trailing us on time. Our strategy was working and we tightened our grip on the match. However, they came back again in the match with WOOF, WE. Finally, we prevailed and won by a wafer-thin margin of 8 points (334-326). It was a close and a nerve-racking encounter, which we managed to win in the end. It was truly an icing on the proverbial cake. It took more than an hour for the feeling to sink in. We were handed out the winner’s trophy by Mr. Rex D’Souza, the president of Karnataka State Scrabble Association.
The final ranking was:
1. SAP Global Delivery
2. Oracle Financial Services
3. Oracle SSI
It is a great achievement since nobody gave us a chance at the start of the tournament. It was as if – We came, we saw, we conquered.
