Thank you for all the great feedback regarding the Daily Challenge. I still believe it would be inappropriate to change the rules midstream. So, as planned, we will announce the winner as determined by highest win % in at least 20 games; in the event of a tie, the championship goes to the individual with the highest margin of victory for all completed games. It will not matter whether a person went 30-0 or 20-0; although more games is more impressive, the rules are unaffected. This individual who wins according to the stated rules will wear the crown of Daily Challenge Champion, and nothing will be taken from that feat.

That said, if you are satisfied with your win % and you reach 20 games, you may click “withdraw” and wait for the tournament to end. If you finish games in your withdraw period, you may email your scores to me to avoid drawing a new opponent.

Also, there’s no reason we can’t have a bit of follow-up fun! So, we’ll take the top 16 players at month-end, based on win % and MOV, and hold an elimination-style series. Pairing will done randomly.

Final Note: I will most likely take the month of December off. I have to focus on work that pays, and as I’ve said before, it actually costs me a bit to run this site. I haven’t had the heart to charge for this site, but if I’m going to continue doing it, I need to find a revenue model. Any ideas?

Two big ones to watch in Round 19 of the Battle for America Daily. These games could shakeup the lead positions quite a bit:

• Meshell333 (94.4% 17/18) versus WWF Lover (94.1% 16/17)
• Jcom10 (93.8% 15/16) versus Opus61 (100% 16/16)

Remember, the pairings are totally random. It’s great when the best go head to head!

NOTE: Someone pointed out to me a discrepancy between win ratio posted on the Daily results page vs. individual player history. For example, some players showed 100% but had losses on their record. The problem was that when I changed the rule to include “no-shows” as losses, I failed to carry that logic change to the Daily results summary page. It’s fixed now.

All 16 remaining contestants are within the top 1.14% out of a population of 1,400 players. The big leagues, baby. Titans will fall in this round. Now, following my tradition, I will make some predictions.

Blackjh vs cupidchild – I’ve seen cupid take apart some great players, including what I considered an upset of Miamiheat8 in Round 4. However, Blackjh took out the ever-challenging ‘You Cant Win,’ as well as May/June finalist Schristian1. Have to give Blackjh the edge.

Hogpower vs 2tuff – 2tuff performed well in the July monthly tourney, falling to rfar45 in Round 9. Hogpower, on the other hand, put the very tough comedypace down in 2 games, and squeaked one out against Awinnah in 3 games. I’m going with history: 2tuff makes it to Round 8.

Joetabard vs thiefybk – Joe is new to the late rounds in the monthly and hasn’t been tested against a big-name opponent yet. But he’s got solid performance in the Battle for America Daily right now (87.5% in 16 games, with an average MOV of 114.79). thiefybk is also in new territory for the monthly; however, have to take note of the win over Stephanie last round, as well as the posts in the 500′s and 600′s this tourney. Add the 13-1 record in the Daily, and I must give the edge to thiefbk.

Maaria786 vs zyggy – Maaria has been to the Round 7 dance before (in June), and is a reputed giant killer. Burnishing her credentials is a perfect 16/16 record in the Daily, which included a win over top-notch WWF Lover, on her way to a whopping MOV of 132.46. Zyggy has done very well this tourney, but is not tested against elite players. Notwithstanding, zyggy appears to be improving very rapidly, for example, scoring in the 500s in back to back games in Round 5. However, it would be a major upset to beat Maaria. Maaria in a walk.

rfar45 vs Meshell333 – rfar45 was a Round 11 finalist in our last monthly, besting HUGE players like 2tuff, grizzgrazz, Opus61, Nixter!, and Wildonrio in the process. Need I say more? But Meshell is no slacker, either. In fact, this might be our dark horse. Consider: Meshell fell in Round 8 to PSNAX, the eventual champ in July’s monthly. In the Daily, Meshell has a 94.5% win ratio, losing only once in 18 games–a loss, by the way, to the great June finalist schristian1. Add victory over the previously unbeaten my1gto, and I’d say Meshell is on a roll. Tough call, but I’m going with history: rfar45.

simpsol vs CurtisGary – simpsol is just an excellent player whom I don’t believe has gotten proper recognition. She had a respectable showing in June, with a Round 5 berth, and had her July run cut short by an untimely meetup with idjd in Round 1. But I know she’s been training virtually nonstop and hungry to win. (She’s slapped me around in “friendly” games.) Now on to CurtisGary. A decent record so far, but nothing that stands out, save a solid win over Un-B-Ta-Ble in Round 5. Performance in the daily isn’t even at 50%. CurtisGary about to take a thumpin’: simpsol wins.

Tiler8 vs willisdavis – Although he’s never played in our tourneys before this month (I stand corrected here. See comment by Tiler8 below) Tiler8 already has a reputation: 2x winner of the wordswithfriendstournaments.com tournament. Division 3 winner of the 2009 National Scrabble Championship, and is in the top 15% of nationally ranked Scrabble competitors. Put simply, the man is a champion who knows the game. willisdavis had a respectable run in June, falling to the very tough comedypace in Round 5. This month he’s taken out two notable strong players  (Angela Robb and myrna17), but is too often forced into a third game. The record in the Daily is just over 50% through 9 games, and willisdavis hasn’t proven himself against an elite just yet. Sorry, willisdavis, Tiler8 is about to make ya famous.

WWF Lover vs noelah – An avid student of words and a masterful technician of the board, WWF Lover boasts a Round 8 appearance in June, including a stunning Round 6 upset against the original WWF assassin and June Champion, Sajeel. This month, he has already retired top players such as KevOCCRN and grizzgrazz.  WWF Lover holds an amazing 94% win rate and 138 pt MOV over 17 games in the Daily–his only loss to Maaria786. However, noelah is no lightweight! Was a late-rounder in July, beating the rock-solid comedypace but falling to fongster in the 8th. This month, I have to note the decisive win over Padrinodivino in Round 5, and the propensity to take the round in two straight. I see this one going to Game 3, but with WWF Lover closing it out.

OK, now your turn. Leave comments, and remember, it’s all in fun!

It’s clear that no one likes the system I set up around deciding the ultimate winner of the Daily Challenge. It is likely there will be a tie (whether two or more) based on win percentage. This might involve players who went 20+ rounds undefeated. The unpalatable aspect of this is that the ultimate victor will be the individual who averaged the highest margin of victory (MOV) in completed games. This pretty much requires that really good players spike the proverbial ball upon the heads of less skilled players. How unsportsmanlike? Moreover, there are strategies for ensuring a game victory that do not involve running up the score (i.e., defensive play).

I have created a monster, and I can’t kill it! I want to toss out an idea for this month, then we can re-think a better approach for next month. So, for this month’s contest, how about having the top players based on win % (minimum 20 rounds) face off in an instant death elimination? So long as it’s 4, 8, or 16 players, we can plow through it rather quickly.

Now, I realize the unfairness of changing the rules mid-contest, so I am soliciting feedback from every player with 90+% and at least 10 games under his belt as of Round 17. Those are the individuals most likely to win and who would be affected. Please leave comments here.

100% Club:

• Steve18
• my1gto
• Maaria786
• Opus61

90% + Club

• aeadon (92.3)
• clunkerdog (92.9)
• deflaw (93.8)
• debbyoc (93.8)
• BShaw94 (93.8)
• GregZX (93.8)
• grizzgrazz (93.8)
• lbonomo (93.8)
• Chuckburro (93.8)
• mamachachi (92.9)
• Jcom10 (93.3)
• Shadowy (93.8)
• Chyna May (92.9)
• WonderWoman (93.8)
• WWF Lover (93.9)

By the way, I’m not promising to change anything with regard to rules for winning. I’m just looking for feedback. Everything remains the same until and unless I say otherwise here on the blog. Thanks!

If you got 2 emails for this round in the daily challenge, you should play the opponent listed on the Results page.

Some of you reported someone else’s first name in your greeting. It’s ugly, I know. But it appears the pairings on the Results page are sound, so go by that if in doubt. No more email, please, unless you discover something not already mentioned here.

‘mattyou’ – Sorry so much of this fell on your username!

Tried to optimize the pairing script, but apparently make it worse.

As I predicted, the random assignment script was bound to pit two of our elite players against each other — I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly! WWF Lover and Maaria786 both have perfect 12/12 records for the tournament, and they held the #2 and #3 spots on the leader board in the previous round. Both of these players are phenomenal and either could win the Monthly Tournament as well as the Daily Challenge. One of them will be relieved of a perfect record, and the other will hang on.

This is gonna be good!

I just added a display of the average margin of victory for completed games won. Click on a player’s history in the Daily Challenge to see this.

Here are the leaders among those who played in Round 12, remain undefeated, and have completed at least 10 of the 20 required games:

1. my1gto | 10 games | MOV = 181.63
2. WWF Lover | 10 games | MOV = 139.22
3. maaria786 | 11 games | MOV = 138.13
4. Jcom10 | 10 games | MOV = 123.0
5. ssseth | 10 games | MOV = 112.8
6. Polyanka | 11 games | MOV = 106.9
7. chrisdifonzo | 10 games | MOV = 102.13
8. meshell333 | 12 games | MOV = 94.14
9. Opus61 | 11 games | MOV = 91.44
10. Daleb yo | 10 games | MOV = 89.7
11. lbonomo | 12 games | MOV = 86.78

As stated in the rules, in the event of a tie for first (or multiple undefeated players), we will look to the average margin of victory (MOV), as calculated by completed games won. We ignore any score in which the opponent was reported as forfeit, no-show, or incomplete.

It should be apparent by now that if you are winning a match handily, you should encourage your opponent to finish the game, thus ensuring that a lopsided victory is recorded in your favor. As I look at the history for my1gto, I see several whopping wins, including a Round 8 blowout of 300 points! That, folks, is how you win.

Now, what makes this format so fun and interesting is that random assignment can pit any of these players against another elite player, including some who are running a 10/1 or 11/1 record now. In a few more rounds of play, this leader board can look vastly different — and it will!

Thanks, players, for making this so exciting to watch!

I have gotten an increasing number of email requests to extend the number of rounds you can go back to input/update scores. Today, you can update the current round, the previous round, and the round before that.

Example: If we’re on Round 12 today, you can edit Rounds 10, 11, and 12. But Rounds 1-9 are now out of editing range.

Players claim that sometimes a game starts late or other conditions make it unlikely they can finish in 48 hours (Note: the rules do indicate that all Daily Challenge games have a 48-hour deadline). So, they would like the ability to go back, say, 3 or 4 rounds.

MY TAKE: As the moderator, I want games to have mutual verification, meaning both players keep each other honest. My sense is that if someone can go back and change results on a game from 4 or more days ago, there will be more opportunity for mischief. The limit on posting game results requires players to complete matches in a timely manner, and it supports the concept of mutual verification. I would prefer not to extend the editing window.

Cick “Comments” to have your say.

I realize this site has international fans, and I certainly don’t wish to open a debate on foreign affairs, but today is Veteran’s Day in the United States.

Those of us blessed enough to live in a country with a representative government know that our liberties don’t come for free–they are paid for by the blood of patriots, whether in civil war or in conflict with external foes. This is not a commentary on nor an endorsement of every single instance of U.S. intervention; our soldiers don’t pick these fights, they just do their job. The struggle for freedom and equality is perpetual, so fittingly, we remember and say “Thanks.”

God bless the men and women who have worn the uniform of the U.S. Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine.

–Mark

P.S. I am off today, so any issues with the site will wait until tomorrow. FYI.

I realize the assignments and notifications were late by about 6 hours for the Battle for America last night. Sorry about that!

Everyone in that battle should have an assignment email by now. Still working out the bugs. Thanks for your patience.