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NSC 2002 Commentary: Round 6

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 6

In a division 4 game, R A Fontes (Lake Oswego, OR) defeated Kyle Norwood (Panorama City, CA), 419-310. Fontes got down BEELiNE and LOUSIEST through the U. Kyle got his second Q-stick of the day!

Joan Kelly (Middletown, NY) was playing Walter Blue (St. Paul, MN) in division 3 when I heard her call "challenge." The word judge, Joan Brown, looked up tHEORUM and ruled it unacceptable. That loss of a turn aside, Walter defeated Joan, 442-315. He got away with HOMERUn* and he played REPRISE and DELUDES. Joan played CaNVASES from the C. She was still cursing herself for letting the phoney go by when I went to another board.

Another division 3 game was in "challenge" mode when I walked by. Pete Muller (New York, NY) made a Hail Mary outbingo of rUNNIONS* through the last N. His opponent, Susi Tiekert (Alpharetta, GA), challenged and the play came up. She won, 403-340. As it turns out, he could have played mUNNIONS and won the game! Their game started slowly. The first two plays were QAT and GAG. Forgetting the E hook on GAG, Peter just passed his turn, no exchange, no nothing. Susi, thinking he was up to something, just exchanged a few tiles. Suddenly remembering what he'd forgotten before, Peter put down ZEROING, making GAGE. As the game ended, Peter had 5 seconds on his clock, so he was thinking quickly. Susi got down two nice plays that game: TWISTIER through the W for 62 and HORNiER for 67.

Paul Terry (N. Las Vegas, NV) defeated Stephen Dennis (Atlanta, GA), 350-339, in division 3. Steve got down pROBITY for 77 and Paul played DINGIES for 75 and PLANTER for 77.

In division 1, Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) defeated Margaret Bauer Williams (Kearny, NJ), 421-352. Margaret played three bingos in the game and still lost! She got down UNBIASeD to the D, MERCIES, and STORIES, both of the latter bingos on the bottom right and left triples. Brian got down CANTONED through the second N. The other game at their table was a nailbiter between Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) and David Gibson (Spartanburg, SC). I arrived just as David made his last play: TUSH on the triple, making YAYS. Sam challenged and the play was ruled acceptable. The score was 391-386. If I read their scoresheets correctly, Sam got down WOODSIER and COZIeST and David played VANADIc.

I was called to a board that had the word KLUTZINESS on it! It was a division 2 game between Adrian Mannella (Washington, DC) amd Jonn Dalton (The Colony, TX). At one point in the game, Adrienne played LUTZ, Jonn extended it to KLUTZ, and then Adrienne added the INeSS to make the 44-point extension: KLUTZINeSS. It was a game-winning play and Adrienne won, 407-350. Other nice plays were Jonn's ORATIONS from the O and Adrian's TENNERS and GARDENeD through the first D.

As we go into the last game of the day, Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) is the only undefeated division 1 player, 6-0 +691. In division 2, Iffy Onyeonwu (Elgin, TX) is also 6-0 +705. Division 3's top dog is Allan Simon (Calgary AB), 6-0 +276. Norbert Saldanha (Richmond BC) is 6-0 +860 in division 4. Lois Greene (Dayton, OH) is 6-0 +408 in division 5. And division 6 has six undefeated players yet: Dion Saldanha (Richmond BC), Bill Kinsella (Sumas, WA), Terry Kang (Philadelphia, PA), Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC), Neva Slater (Manchester, CT), Vera Kuznecov (Vancouver BC), and Barbara Puky (St. Lazare QC).