Go to: Commentary Games Players Photos Profiles Standings Press Merchandise

Back to NSC 2002 Live Coverage

NSC 2002 Commentary: Round 4

Congratulations to our new National Champion, Joel Sherman!

See also: video clip 1 (2 MB), video clip 2 (2 MB). (video courtesy Roger Cullman)

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 4

I managed to catch word judge Matt Hopkins take a challenge in a Division 6 game between Jean Lehman (Calgary AB) and Trish Harrop (Knoxville, TN). The play was NAOI and it was ruled acceptable.

In division 3, Christine Economos (New York, NY) defeated Max Panitch (Toronto ON), 379-356. Max got down HUSSiES for 72 and Chris got down YEARNINg through the A for 72.

Noel Livermore (Easton, PA) defeated Gene Rawlins (Scarborough ON), 392-354. Gene got down INGESTs for 81 and Noel played SERIATE for 68 and SEAPORT for 74.

In division 1, Jerry Lerman (Foster City, CA) vs. Gail Wolford (Portland, OR), ended with a 100-point difference. Gail played EARNERS one short of the triple lane and Jerry played CLOAKEd, LEARNERS for 94. Jerry also got down SUITERS and the end score was 412-312.

At the next table in division 1, Rod MacNeil (Londonderry, NH) lost to Vince Castellano (Fairfax, VA), 406-312. What caught my eye was a play Vince made after Rod played GINNERS. Down the triple lane, Vince played SHOALER creating AGINNERS for 92! I also note Vince's SEMIARId and Rod's RETICUlA through the I.

Jim Geary (Glendale, AZ) in division 1 is having a slow start. He lost this round to Rita Norr (Danbury, CT), 360-525. Rita played REESTING through the first E and REAwOKEN from the R. Jim got down SECTILE and StARRING. He is 1-3 and Rita is 4-0 now (one of 14 undefeated people as we head off to lunch).

Joe Edley (Coram, NY) stops by before heading off to lunch to tell me about his game against Bob Lundegaard (Minneapolis, MN). As he tells it, they were close toward the end and Joe held CURULES*, which he played. Bob challenged it off. Turns out CURULE is good without the S. Later on, Joe played ASEA to block off the board a bit, leaving an L or a C to play through. Bob surprised Joe by having the exact right tiles, playing MENACERS through that C. Joe was totally dejected, thinking there was no way he could win. Then he did his Joe "magic" and spotted a bingo through an open U: URAEUSES. He then caught Bob with 16 points on his rack and he won. Joe credits his "attitude change" from knowing he was going to lose to thinking he could win for helping him make that find. The scary thing about this story is that division 1's Robert Felt (Atlanta, GA) was standing nearby when Joe told this story and before Joe could even say he'd played URAEUSES (a very obscure word and find!), Bob blurted out what the play was! Great minds think alike! Joe is now 3.5-.5. He tied a game against James Dodds (White Oak, PA), the lowest-rated person in division 1. As that game was wrapping up, Joe had ?T on his rack and failed to find FUTz or LUTz, so the game ended up in a tie. I say, "way to go Jim!"

Meanwhile, in a game recounted shall we say more than once, Robert Felt (Atlanta, GA) found himself in a position in which the technically correct play would have been to allow his opponent to get away with a 98-pt phony (COSTART*) thus picking an unplayable J from the bag. Bob, however challenged the play banking on Opp not seeing the S-front-hook for HIST making COTTARS and SHIST. Opp in fact did not, and Bob won the game.

Hi folks, Eric Chaikin here filling in for Sherrie. Any inaccuracies in the preceding game report can be blamed on me. I only heard about 40 percent of what Bob was saying. While I'm at it, kudos to Sherrie for always keeping our on-line friends informed about the general insanity. It seems like a very smooth tournament so far, with the only major controversy being the squeakiness of the boards. The Providence Glare is a thing of the past. Make room for the San Diego Squeak. Apparently hand soap takes care of the problem... ...The flashiest play I've heard has been Marlon Hill's 6-tile overlap to play TENFOLD on a board which Al Hahn thought he had shut down... ...There are some smart (and scary) young School SCRABBLE^® champions here. One very concerned Mom was overheard opining to a Hasbro representative that her precious boy's opponent (a woman I'd guess was in her 80's) was not holding the bag at eye level. Mom wanted something done about it. A nation of SCRABBLE^® Moms, here we come...I am here with my crew that many of you have gotten to know, wrapping up shooting for our documentary. Thanks to everyone who has cooperated with us in the last 16 months. I promise I'll have a movie for you eventually...now Back to Sherrie.

Daniel Goldman (New York, NY) and Howard Greenspan (Norwalk, CT) played a game that began with six scoreless plays. Thanks to a recent rule change, the game continued and they went on to play to an exciting 443-433 finish. You can play along in the game on-line.