De Silva, Eldar, Okulicz, Anderson: Your BlitzChamps final four
We began the World Blitz Scrabble Championship in January with 80 players, one of the largest fields ever seen on the virtual Scrabble scene; now, 95% of that field is gone. Of our original 80 entrants, 76 have been left in the dust, and just four remain.
Your BlitzChamps final four are Janul De Silva, David Eldar, Edward Okulicz and Will Anderson.
Today, let's go in depth on your two semifinal matchups, analyzing how each player advanced to the penultimate round and where they go from here. Without further ado...
Janul de Silva (10-1, 65.5-34.5) vs. David Eldar (10-1, 75.5-17.5)
How they got here: Janul enters this round as the sole player remaining with a chance to make a Cinderella run. The other three competitors include two No. 1 seeds in their groups and one No. 2; Janul entered the tournament as the No. 5-ranked player in the Chipmunk Group, and he's had to battle against higher seeds all the way here.
But he's here. Janul finished second among the Chipmunks (behind only Jesse Day), beat Jakob Teitelbaum in the first round, and took down top overall playoff seed Austin Shin to reach the semifinals. Janul's match with Austin was a thriller, featuring countless twists and turns - it began with Austin up 2-0, and at first it didn't look competitive. Austin got down TEENAGE, OUTWITH, and ACTABLE all within the first five turns of Game 1; the score was 356-196 when Janul resigned. Game 2 was similarly lopsided, with Janul needing to bingo out just to lose by only 113. At this point, the lookers-on in the Twitch chat were already discussing Austin's chances of winning in the next round.
But then things turned. Janul won an extremely close one in Game 3; Austin ran out of time and had an inflexible endgame rack of BCDIPWY, and Janul managed to blitz his way to a 476-466 win. Game 4 was a repeat, with Austin running short on time and Janul again winning by 10. And then he kept winning - before Austin could blink, he'd lost five in a row. It was 5-2 Janul, and now the chat was asking the opposite question. What were Janul's chances in the semis?
But then it was Austin's turn to battle back! Austin crushed Janul in Game 8, then pulled out close wins in the next two as well. Everything came down to a deciding Game 11. The clincher was close the whole way, and it remained close when they traded late bingos - LARDIEST for 74 for Janul, then THEREON for 72 by Austin shortly after. In the end, Janul was able to score enough in the pre-endgame and endgame to pull back ahead, and it was Janul's win by a final score of 454-425. After a thrilling 11-game battle, Austin's amazing tournament run is over. Janul advances.
As for David, there's been far less drama on the path here. He's been absolutely dominant during these first two playoff rounds, despite strong competition - he beat blitz master Matthew O'Connor 5-1 in the first round, and amazingly swept Andrew Fisher 6-0 in the second. I didn't think it was possible to beat a player of Andrew's caliber six times straight; David proved me wrong.
David was on point from the very start. In the first game against Andrew, he bingoed four times in a span of seven turns with EROTISE for 72, CATIONIC for 74, COENURES for 91, and UNFOLDS for 92; Andrew was behind by over 200 and quickly resigned. It looked like Andrew was in better shape in Game 2, as a midgame bingo of EPILATE for 70 put him ahead 194-116... except that first E in EPILATE was perfectly placed for David's VORTICES for 176. Oops. GG.
Andrew continued to battle in the next four games, but in all four of them, David was just a step ahead. It was a competitive six-game series in a way - Andrew played well throughout, and gave himself good chances to win every time. But nonetheless, David won all six, and he advances to the semis with ease.
What happens next: Janul and David will do battle on Wednesday at 5 a.m. GMT. This is 10:30 a.m. for Janul in Sri Lanka; it's 3 p.m. for David in Melbourne. For viewers back in North America, it's late Tuesday night. You'll have two options for viewing this one on Twitch - you can watch David's stream to see his perspective on each move, or you can view my broadcast on the CoCo channel to get a look at both players' racks and hear analysis of both sides. Watch one, watch the other, or watch both at once - twitch.tv/deldar182 and/or twitch.tv/cocoscrabble
Edward Okulicz (10-1, 77-21) vs. Will Anderson (11-0, 79.5-20.5)
How they got here: Edward advanced to the semifinals by outlasting Anand Bharadwaj in a competitive second-round playoff series. Edward and Anand both had similar paths to the quarters - they advanced to the playoffs as lower seeds, but each took down a beastly first-round opponent, with Edward eliminating Dave Wiegand and Anand beating Piotr Andronowski.
In their series, Edward drew first blood with a win in Game 1, pulling ahead by a little bit late and holding off Anand's try at a late bingo. Anand had a blank at the end, but Edward controlled the board well, and Anand's endgame rack of IIORUU? wasn't going to cut it. Edward won again in Game 2, as an extremely tight board opened up later on with a P in the triple lane, and Edward was fortunate to have PROLAMIN lined up at exactly the right time. Edward 2, Anand 0.
Anand fought back with wins in the next two games, and we had an even series. But that's when Edward took control - he was dominant in Game 5, controlling the board and allowing Anand to score a mere 333, and he won Game 6 by opening with SPIRITY, then piling on heavy Z and X plays to add to his big early lead. Game 7 brought a bizarre finish, with Edward leaving a wide-open L for Anand to triple-triple, and Anand hitting DARIOLES for 140... but still losing, 466-441. Suddenly, Edward was 5-2, and this was almost over.
Game 8 was an absolute bloodbath, with the two players combining to bingo six times in a span of seven turns early on. Anand got down the fantastic EUROPIUM for 98, and eventually he pulled away with the win, 483-463. But in Game 9, Edward put the match away, bingoing four times and running up an insurmountable lead of 469-306. Anand resigned, and the match was over. Edward is clear to the final four.
As for Will, he had a thrilling match with Jesse Day on the way to the semifinals. The Will/Jesse match started with a banger - the players tied, 414-414! The tie featured a bizarre endgame situation, where Will was guaranteed to bingo in one of two spots, and Jesse was helpless to stop him. He searched and searched for the best way to score points and outrun, and he found VESTA for 36... but in so doing, he went over on time and lost 10 points. After Will's SPOOLER for 85 and out, they were all knotted up.
The 0.5-0.5 deadlock didn't last, as Will rattled off three straight wins. Perhaps the highlight was Game 2, where Will dropped a beastly 617 - he was already over 400 when he drew DECAPOD natural, played it for 111 one short of a triple, then drew the S and played NANS/DECAPODS for 57. Ridiculous.
Jesse battled back from down 0.5-3.5, winning four of the next five games. Game 9 was a particularly exciting one, with Will playing cat and mouse at the end trying to chase down Jesse from behind, but Jesse staying one step ahead. PATENTED for 62 at the end was the final dagger.
We went into the final two games tied 4.5-4.5, setting up the very real possibility that the players would split the final two games and finish their 11-game match tied. Could we see a tie-breaking Game 12?
Alas, it wasn't to be, as Will took Games 10 and 11 both. Game 10 was exciting - Jesse led by over 100 early, but Will staged an impressive comeback, getting down CLOSETS, TEVATRON, and INFLECT all within a span of five turns midgame. It was Will's win, 458-406. Then in the crucial Game 11, Will won an absolute banger. Both players bingoed twice in a row early (PRELIVES and THEREAT for Will, DONARIES and LAMINAL for Jesse), and the game remained close the whole way. Will made a beautiful play late when Jesse played ROQUE opening a triple lane and Will hit the spot with ORBITY for 60 making ROQUET. Finally, we reached an ugly endgame, with Will holding a bizarre rack of BGNOSUV and Jesse wielding CFMOP. Will was able to score just enough, and he ultimately won by the nail-bitingly slim margin of 480-478. In an unbelievably close match, Will makes it through. Hats off to Jesse, though - he came so close.
What happens next: Edward and Will meet in the semifinals. This match is slated for Saturday at 1 a.m. GMT - this is 11 a.m. for Edward in Melbourne, and it's 9 p.m. Friday for Will back on the East Coast of the U.S. I'll be behind the mic to broadcast every move: twitch.tv/cocoscrabble
There you have it - those are your matchups. We've witnessed an incredible amount of high-level Scrabble these last 11 weeks, especially in these playoff battles. Now, there are just three matches left, and you won't want to miss them. In the meantime, check out our live coverage page and catch yourself up on everything that's happened in BlitzChamps to date.