Back to NSC Thursday Commentary

Round 29

DAY FIVE YOUR WORD AGAINST MINE

The top 40 players in each division this morning are being paired differently than the other tables. These tables are being matched each of these three rounds in a king-of-the-hill system by which first place plays second, third place plays fourth, and so on.

Appropriately enough, division 1's first board has been relocated to sit right in front of the board. Currently, Brian Cappelletto and Trey Wright are cordoned within a yellow padded rope (like the kind used in banks to keep us all in one line). Many executives from Hasbro, are here as well as two from Fleishman-Hillard.

Before games began, John D. Williams Jr. announced to the room what we already knew, but were most happy to celebrate: Brian Cappelletto has already sewn up the division 1 top prize of $25,000. He received a long standing ovation from all of us.

Now that the round has ended, here is some news:

At the head table, Brain Cappelletto defeated Trey Wright, 488-260. Some bingos on their board were: FOREMAN, ERGENCE, TAILINGS, and the most attractive play of CHEW.

Alan Stern said, "It has gotten so bad playing Brian, his opponents now have a 'cut man' sitting next to him."

Since division 1's first board has been relocated, board 2 players get their own table now. The annotators, who have spent the bulk of the tournament sitting in the aisle are now sitting at the table with the players, Ron Tiekert and Jim Geary.

Jim Kramer tells me that he just won with a 432-381 at board 3 in division 1. He said, "It was a good game that came down to the second blank. I got it and sealed my opponent's [Sammy Okosagah's] doom when I played ENAMiNE."

Division 1's board 4 had Jere Mead playing Merrill Kaitz. Jere won by 50 points, 355-305. Jere played TYROSINE and Merrill, OVERINg. Board 5 in the same division had Lester Schonbrun defeating Randy Greenspan. Randy told me that it was a defensive game all the way with only one bingo, Randy's two-blank sTEnTOR.

Joel Sherman, current world champion, and Adam Logan, current national champion (for a few more hours, at least) faced off with the world beating out the nation, 430ish-360ish. Adam opened with PEE and Joel hooked making EPEE and PREPARED. Adam came back with the lovely FINITuDE as well as ALIENATE, but Joel's bingo DELiGHTS, won him the game.

At Table 15, Charnwit Sukhumrattanaporn beat Mr. 770 himself. Charnwit was smiling broadly. But he always does.

During round 27 yesterday, Charnwit Sukhumrattanaporn scored a 595 to David Wiegand's 383. Charnwit's five bingos were: RONDEAU, GUSTIER, CARDINg, IMPEDES and CROAKING.

Lawren Freebody just beat Christina O'Sullivan at division 2's 3rd table. The score was 429-407. Lawren said, "It was a 22-point win and Christina played really well. It came down to the last draw."

In division 3, I spy a board on Table 13 between Su Edwards (426) and Robin Torrance (362). There are two "cute" plays on it: CUTESY and VINIEST.

Division 4 updates: Eleven-year-old Leon Fernandes takes a 1 game lead in group 2 in the "rating under 1,000" division. Leon is 18-11, +1053. Ruth Patrick wins 5th straight game to take over 1st place. She is 21-8, +882. Dawn Gewecke won her 9th straight game and she is now in 13th place with 18-11, and +1268. Dan Rathberger, once 17-6-1, and in 1st place, loses fifth straight game. None of these recent losses have been for more than 54 points.

In the very late news department, I learn that Steve Polatnick lost a game in round 8 with a score of 470. Sadly, his opponent, David Wiegand got a 524.

In round 30, these are top table pairs:

Division 1
board 1: Brian Cappelletto vs. Jim Geary
board 2: Trey Wright vs. Jim Kramer
board 3: Ron Tiekert vs. Jere Mead
board 4. Lester Schonbrun vs. Zev Kaufman
board 5: Joe Weinike vs. Samson Okosagah

Division 2
board 1: Jerry Scheiten vs. Norma Fisher
board 2: Josh Silber vs. Lawren Freebody
board 3: Flossie Swint vs. Roy Dixon
board 4. Greg Heidler vs. Sal Dijamco
board 5: Christina O'Sullivan vs. Kamal Dyal

Division 3
board 1: Ben Loiterstein vs. Pat Badgley
board 2: Jennifer Hildebrant vs. Michael Orford
board 3: Gigi Miller vs. Bob Denn
board 4. Heather McCall vs. Wil Dabs
board 5: Michelle Davis vs. Gary Neyhart

Division 4
board 1: Ruth Patrick vs. Joanne Hood
board 2: David Pearl vs. Ann Mirabito
board 3: Gene Tyszka vs. Kevin Schutz
board 4: Jason Bednarz vs. Vinnette Francis
board 5: Rosetta Donelick vs. Andrea Bauman

-- Sherrie Saint John, Internet Reporter, NSC98

HASBRO is the owner of the registered SCRABBLE^® trademark in the United States and Canada. © 2008 HASBRO. All rights reserved. "SCRABBLE^® Brand Crossword Game" is the proper way to refer to this unique group of word games and related properties marketed by HASBRO. "SCRABBLE^®" is not a generic term. To use it as such is not only misleading but also does injustice to the company responsible for the trademark's longtime popularity. All we ask is that when you mean SCRABBLE^® Brand Crossword Game, you say so. 

The SCRABBLE^® trademark is owned by J.W. Spear and Sons, PLC, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. outside of the United States and Canada. 

For more information about SCRABBLE^® or the NSA, or to comment on or correct the contents of this page, please e-mail: info@scrabble-assoc.com 
To report technical difficulties in reading this page,  please contact webmaster John Chew at: jjchew@math.utoronto.ca