Round 13 Commentary

An expert player, who shall remain nameless, helped contribute to much loss of commentary: he unplugged my modem, crashing my e-mail program. And I lost some good stuff. I'm sorry. I will try to recreate some of it.

[photo of Ozag] We had a long visit today from John Ozag (JPN) and a friend of his from Chicago, seen at left. John grew up in Chicago and has family here so swinging by was an easy thing. He mentioned to me that a Japanese player is at the NSC. Kunihiko Kuroda, rated 1383, playing in division 2. John has not been playing competitively for many years now, but he has won numerous events and held several top prizes in Japan-wide events in the past. He actually participated in the first tournament ever in Chicago years back.

I'm sure he will visit again and tell me some of the information I've forgotten. His friend, a Chicago native, ran one of the first clubs in the city. I'll get more on all of this later.

In division 2 play, Josh Silber beat Ralph King 524-259, a spread of 265!

[photo of board] At Table 6 in Division 1, Trey Wright scored 595 vs. Gerald Carter's 335. The funny thing was, both Gerald and I were competing to take a digital image of the board! It was a stunning win for Trey. Trey played QuAnTUM for 135 and SEISABLE for 140. See photo.

Division 4 news: Mary Becker vied against Jomes Hosek and won with a 521-307 score. Another over-500 game was Maureen Case taking the win in her game against Charlotte Bremond 502-230. Diane Firstman refers to Maureen as "Case" Dismissed Bremond. David Pearl, now 13-0, defeated Marty Rosen 433-241.

Some high-scoring games in Division 3, too. Michelle Davis won her game with Bill Horsting 405-402. Rosalind Gold was victorious over George Stone, 492-344. And the highest win of this round in this division was Paul Beusterien over Lee Cooper, 513-310.

Division 4's David Pearl continues to amaze everyone with his 13-0 +1263 record. He was rated 8th out of a field of 131 going into the tournament. Division-mate Jacquitta Ladson is 8-5 +334 and is highest in Group 2 (those rated under 1000).

[photo of board] In the expert division at table 7, Merrill Kaitz (MA) lost a heartbreaker to Paul Epstein (NY), 412-413. Merrill played the natural STEARIC and Paul played LAPIDeS and AERAtED. See photo.

[photo of board] In the same division, on board 4, Adam Logan (MA) was defeated by Ira Cohen (CA), 347-446. Ira opened with WALKED and Adam played PANFRIED through the E in the opening play. Ira later put down NETTIEST and HALfTONE. He tried HALfNOTE, but Adam challenged it off the board. Adam played cURIOSA and FEAZE. See board photo.

[photo of board] Division 1's Steve Polatnick lost to Brian Cappelletto at Table 2 in an incredible comeback. With a total of 9 seconds left on his clock, Brian played out with RESIZE for 40, using only 3 seconds of his remaining time. With the 10 points he got from Steve's rack, he eked out a 7-point win. See photo of board.

A truly low-scoring game occured on table 1 in the expert division. Bob Felt defeated Jim Kramer, 320-299. The only bingo on the board was Bob's RONDuRE.

The mighty Ron Tiekert (winner of the 1985 NSC) fell to Pat Barrett in this round. They were at division 1's board 3 and she scored a 473 to his 404.

Amnuay tells me that he has only 5 wins thus far but is happy that his (Thai) countryman, Charnwit, has 8. Lisa Odom is up to 9 wins, having just won her last two games. Steve Saul (MA) is 6-7 and quite upbeat. Today, he defeated some biggies: Joel Wapnick, Richie Lund, and Robert Ellickson.

Division 2's Josh Silber has had a rough day. He is 8-5, but he did have a 530 game, he tells me.

Division 3's board 1 pitted Patsy Badgley (MI) against Jennifer Hildebrant. Patsy got with win with a 411-387. She played REQUITES for 104! At nearby board 2, Jesse Wornum (OR) ended up tying with Robin Torrance with a 362 score. Jesse got down DESeRVES and Robin played DIGITiZES. At first they thought Robin had the win, but a twice-over recount showed a clear tie. Jesse was thrilled and Robin wasn't quite as delighted.

In division 4, Alan Love won his game with Teresa Urbanek, 226-151.There were 6 consecutive passes mid-game and the rules state that the game must be over.

-- Sherrie Saint John, Internet Reporter, NSC98

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