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NSC 2002 Commentary: Round 5

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 5

We broke for lunch and changed a few tables around in the playing room since as the room was set up this morning, we needed more tables in some divisions than had been put out. The players were very accommodating, playing where they saw openings until the tables could be set up.

Bryan Pepper, division 5 leader, tells me that the challenge of the day is KOIS*. He's looked up that word three times so far and it still isn't good. In charge of divisions 3 and 4 this year, Mary Rhoades tells me that things are going good.

I spotted John Williams watching a division 6 game with great intent. I wandered over to get a look see and found 13-year-old Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC) playing 11-year-old Andre Ornish (La Mesa, CA). At that point, I spotted GEARIES* and RENNEtS. I miss the end game and a shot of their game, but I learn it was a 452-270 win for Dielle. She is now 5-0 with a +392 spread and one of 8 in her division who are undefeated. Interestingly enough, her sister, Dion Saldanha (Richmond BC) is leading, 5-0 +647.

I think I've seen it all now! Bingo paraphernalia has now reached the SCRABBLE^® scene! Avi Moss (Brooklyn, NY) was using a "bingo blotter" on his tracking sheet to mark off the tiles used. In his game against Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand), he had a big win, 548-302. Maybe it was the blotter? In any event, he got down ENSNARE (which he called a gift), RElIQuES on the triple for 125, POITRELS through the E, and DEVOTING. Parkorn played UNCROWn and CATFISH.

I wasn't able to get very close because several other crews were filming them, but I saw Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) playing Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA). At that point, Sam's rack was ABOVE GI. Having an active imagination, I saw this rack as a sort of wish for Sam (to achieve a higher rating than Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY), GIJoel to his friends). Sam's tracking sheet is still the largest in the competitive game. It is 14" x 17"! The best part is, he's managed to locate a clipboard the same size!

In another division 1 game, Mark Fidler (Waltham, MA) defeated Charnwit Sumrattanaporn (Thailand), 387-349. As the game was winding up, Charnwit's final rack was AILNRW? and he had more than 11 minutes on his clock. Several minutes later, he played WARILy. Mark went out with GOO, winning the game, 399-372. Robert Felt (Atlanta, GA) sitting next to Charnwit asked, "why hadn't you WRILY for more points?" I think he didn't know that word. In their game, Mark played SEDIlIA for 82 and Charnwit played the unusual double-double EXTERNS through ERN for 56.

Anne Hay (Raleigh, NC) defeated Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), 436-295. Dave was just shaking his head as I looked over their board. Anne played LEISUREs, LECTURE, SABInES, and KYLIX. The last caught my eye. She explained that she had unwieldy letters at that point and that she wanted to block the bingo lanes. I'd say that about did it! I sure don't know any KYLIX hooks! John Chew, my desk-mate looks at me askance and says, "of course there are no extensions for KYLIX!"

In division 4, Jeannie J Wilson (Livermore, CA) defeated Madelon Krissoff (Grand Rapids, MI), 477-289. Jeannie played EMBOSSES from the E for 76 and DISLIke for 73. Madelon got down QUINT for 38. At a nearby table, Beth Fleischer (Hacienda Heights, CA) defeated Ossie Mair (Lauderhill, FL), 473-375. Ossie got down MIZzENS and Beth played WEArIES and ANISEED.

Joan Mocine (Oakland, CA) got a win over Kaye Kiker (York, AL), 432-399, in division 3. Joan played BEETLeS and Kaye got down OPERATE and WEArIED.

Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN), division 1, stopped by again to visit. He finally had a game he'd done well in that he wanted to mention. Against Zev Kaufman (Toronto ON), he played SOWBREAD for 65 through the O and GLyPHIC for 73. Later in the game, there was an open O and he could have played CGPQUOTE*, but he settled for the acceptable 66-point QUOTE. He won that game, 477-393.

Annotators Eve Wengler and Beth Lerman nominated this round's game between Darrell Day (Richardson, TX) and Jeremiah Mead (Chelmsford, MA) for this session's on-line game.