Previewing the World Blitz Scrabble Championship quarterfinals

Suddenly, this tournament feels a lot shorter.

When we first kicked off the World Blitz Scrabble Championship back in January, it felt like it would drag on pretty much forever. There were 80 players in the field, and we had 40 matches on the schedule week after week after week. There was Scrabble happening around the clock, seemingly nonstop.

Now? Not so much. We're rapidly approaching the end, and you can feel the momentum building. In this space a week ago, I wrote about our final field of 16 players; in the span of a few days last week, that number shrunk rapidly to eight. We're now just three short weeks away from deciding a champion once and for all.

This week, we've got four quarterfinal matchups on the docket. Let's take an in-depth look at each one - who's playing, how they got here, and what to expect in the week to come.

Will Anderson (10-0, 73-16) vs. Jesse Day (9-1, 59.5-30.5)

How they got here: Will has been unbeaten so far. He finished first in the Emu Group in pool play, running the table including an impressive win over fellow blitz master Ben Schoenbrun, then won his first-round matchup with Aaron Bader as well. Aaron put up a strong fight - he crushed Will in Game 1, bingoing three times in his first five moves and never looking back, but Will eventually regained control of the match. Ultimately, Will won 5-3, dealing the deciding blow when he opened Game 8 with ENQUiRE for 100 and cruised to victory.

As for Jesse, his road here was a difficult one, to say the least. He finished just a few spread points ahead of Janul de Silva for the Chipmunk Group title, then just barely squeaked by Conrad Bassett-Bouchard in the playoff opener. This one wasn't without some controversy - with the series tied 2-2, it looked like Conrad had a win in Game 5, but he ran out of time in a winning endgame due to an apparent server bug or lag issue or something.

Jesse ended up going up 3-2, and he eventually found himself in a do-or-die Game 9. This game was brutally tough - Jesse found himself down by 72 in the pre-endgame, holding BGIOST? on a difficult board with the clock ticking. He managed to find the impressive BIGfO(O)TS for 78, claiming a small lead, and he scored just enough with the J and the X in the endgame to steal the win. In improbable fashion, Jesse advances to the next round.

What happens next: Will and Jesse will do battle on Thursday at 1 a.m. GMT. This is Wednesday night U.S. time - it's 6 p.m. for Jesse on the West Coast, and 9 p.m. for Will back East. We're going to put on a special event to broadcast this one - Josh Sokol will stream the match, and he'll have live footage of both players in addition to his own commentary. Should be a really entertaining watch, so don't miss it: twitch.tv/axcertypo

Austin Shin (10-0, 78.5-9.5) vs. Janul de Silva (9-1, 59.5-29.5)

How they got here: Austin has been the most dominant player in the whole tournament to date, winning nearly 90% of his total games en route to the quarterfinals. He steamrolled everyone in the Hippo Group during pool play, then got past Ben Schoenbrun in the first round of the playoffs by a 5-2 margin. Bnjy put up a fight in a few of the games, but scoring never stopped for Austin, who kept coming back again and again. (Bnjy, by the way, took full advantage of his newfound resigning privileges, conceding all five of his losses before the final tile was played.)

Janul narrowly escaped from a very tight playoff race in the Chipmunk Group to make the playoffs, then beat Jakob Teitelbaum in a 5-3 decision to advance past the first round. Janul's match with Jakob was an exciting one - they were tied 3-3, but Janul stole a comeback win in Game 7 by finding a beautiful play of ADZING for 85 at the end, and then he won Game 8 when he surged ahead with a couple of midgame bingos. On to round two Janul goes!

What happens next: Austin will take on Janul on Thursday at 3 a.m. GMT - this is 8:30 a.m. in Janul's home of Sri Lanka, and 10 p.m. Wednesday night for Austin in the Central U.S. I'll be on the call for this one, so tune in and watch if you'd like: twitch.tv/cocoscrabble

Andrew Fisher (9-1, 66-24) vs. David Eldar (9-1, 69.5-17.5)

How they got here: Andrew has had an exciting road to the quarterfinals. He was dominant in the first 8 matches of pool play against his peers in the Giraffe Group, starting 8-0; he finally suffered his first loss in the season finale, against eventual Giraffe champion Dave Wiegand. This put him in the playoffs as a lower seed, but he was able to step up and beat Chris May in impressive fashion in the first round.

The highlight came in Game 6, with Andrew down 3-2; he was trailing in the endgame, and with no apparent bingo lines available for his CEILRT?, he appeared headed for a 4-2 deficit. But Andrew managed to find the amazing RELICTi(ON) under time pressure to steal the win, dazzling the Twitch audience. This evened the series 3-3, and Andrew then won two of the final three games to take the match.

As for David, his path here has also been interesting - after a loss to Anand Bharadwaj in Week 7 of pool play dropped him temporarily out of the Aardvark top two, he appeared to be in trouble. But David rallied, beating Kevin Fraley and Weibin Toh in the final two rounds to win the group stage, and he then got past Matthew O'Connor in the playoff opener fairly easily, winning 5-1. He's now got his spot in the final eight, and he's obviously a serious threat to win the title.

What happens next: Andrew and David go head to head at 3 a.m. GMT on Sunday; this is 1 p.m. by their local time, in Melbourne, Australia, and it's Saturday evening for players back in the U.S. and Canada who want to tune in and watch. David will be broadcasting his play live, so you can follow along with his every move: twitch.tv/deldar182

Edward Okulicz (9-1, 71-18) vs. Anand Bharadwaj (9-1, 66-21)

How they got here: Edward took the same path to the quarterfinals that Andrew did - an 8-0 start, a loss in round 9, then redemption in the form of a fantastic playoff opener performance.

Edward lost to Chris May in the final showdown to win the Buffalo Group, but as a lower seed in the first round of the bracket against Dave Wiegand, he stepped up and earned a hard-fought win. It was a dazzling match, with Dr. Bing busting out crazy words like EXITANCE and CONTANGO and BLONDISH and PUNDITRY all over the place, but Edward had his share of big plays too, and his blistering speed made him really tough to beat. Edward started the match up 2-0, then Dave won the next two, then Edward finished him off by taking three of the next four games for a 5-3 final. It was a brilliantly played match on both sides.

As for Anand, he went 8-1 in pool play in the Aardvark Group, beating David along the way and falling short only against Weibin. This put him in the playoffs with a first-round battle against Piotr Andronowski, which he won rather handily. Anand won 5 games out of 6, and he finished almost every game with about 1:10 still on his clock, which is downright amazing. The whole match was over and done with in about 30 minutes. We'll see if Anand can keep that up in the next round - I have a feeling it won't be easy!

What happens next: Edward plays Anand on Sunday at 5 a.m. GMT; this is 3 p.m. Melbourne time, and it's late Saturday night back in North America. I'll be behind the mic to announce this one as well, so you know where to go: twitch.tv/cocoscrabble

There you have it! Only four matches on the schedule this week, but they're four hugely important ones. In a matter of days, we'll have our semifinalists. In the meantime, feel free to peruse our live coverage page for more details on how the tournament's gone to date.