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NSC 2002 Commentary: Round 9

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 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, 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 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 9

In division 3, Don Bush (San Diego, CA) defeated David Engelhardt (Baltimore, MD), 408-318. Don played READINGS for 64, ONERIEr for 64, RIOJAS for 72, and FrEAK (as in Word Freak) for 45. David's better play was EMBER down the triple hooking on to make BREADINGS for 43.

At the next game on the same table, Charlene White (Kearny, NJ) defeated Allan Simon (Calgary AB), 361-252. In first place after yesterday's games, he claims he can't get over 300 today! He was still good-natured and pointed out Charlene's nice PLEASING bingo from the P.

Joe Neff (Oreland, PA) found me to tell me about his division 2 game. He held HAIRI?G and tried HAIRInG#. His opponent smartly challenged. Next turn he played off HAIR, slotting the R into the triple lane. Picking up TOWN to go with his IG?, he played ThROWING for a 158-point triple-triple. He won that game against Ed Neugroschl (New Milford, CT), 451-395.

In division 4, Liz Ashby (Westhampton Beach, NY) lost to Rhonda Roederer (Lafayette, LA), 335-400. Liz played GIRLIeS and Rhonda got down LOUNGERS from the L. Liz is bummed since she was doing so well at the end of yesterday's games. I remind her that there is time left!

Searching for some sort of comic relief, division 5 leader, Bryan Pepper, was called over to a game between Inez Kerth (Jefferson, LA) and Karen Moss (Lawton, OK). They wanted him to adjudicate whether they could get the 50-point bonus for playing BINGO. One of them had played it and they wanted more points! Inez won that game, 404-319.

Ben Loiterstein (Somerville, MA) just found me wandering around division 4. He'd just finished a game with David Pearl (Long Beach, CA). Before the game began, David said, "Oh, I don't know about playing you! Last time we played, I opened with a bingo and lost the game!" Minutes later the game began and wouldn't you know it? Ben opened with a 100-point bingo: ReQUINS and, you got it, loses the game! The score, 447-360. David got down WHEEzERS for 76 through an E in Ben's opening play and TWINERS for 88.

Robert Felt (Atlanta, GA) stops by to tell us that he saw something very interesting in a game between Nigel Richards (Malaysia) and Jakkrit Klaphajone (Thailand). Nigel won the game, 494-438, but that wasn't newsworthy. It was Nigel's seemingly thorough knowledge of the dictionary. Nigel is from New Zealand but plays in Maylaysia, both SOWPODS countries (meaning they play with both the British and North American SCRABBLE^® dictionaries). And keeping straight which words are good in which dictionaries is a difficult task. In his round 9 game, Jakkrit played UNTENT# (which isn't acceptable in our dictionary, but is acceptable in a SOWPODS dictionary) and Nigel challenged. He knew it wasn't good in this event's word source! This demonstrates more than a working knowledge of the dictionaries and makes the North American experts a bit nervous.

This next game was a statistical wonder! Chris Guilbert (New Bedford, MA) defeated Ellis Wyer (La Jolla, CA), 391-381. The strange thing, though, is that they both ended the game with no time left on their clocks! As in, 00:00 00:00! Check out this round's photos! In that game, Chris played DICENTrA for 90 and PLATIER for 67. Ellis found a lovely play beneath PLATIER on the triple line for 96 points. She made AD, TA, IN, ED, RE, in addition to her main play of DANDERS.

We end this round with Robert Felt (Atlanta, GA), Nigel Richards (Malaysia), and Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) at the top of division 1 with 8-1 records. Division 2 has Iffy Onyeonwu (Elgin, TX) and Chani Katz (San Mateo, CA) duking it out with undefeated 9-0 records. Andrea Michaels (San Francisco, CA) and Robin Torrance (Idyllwild, CA) top division 3 with 8-1 records. The top dog, still, in division 4 is Norbert Saldanha (Richmond BC) with 9-0. Three players are vying for the top of division 5 with 8-1 records: Gina DuMez (Elgin, IL), Lois Greene (Dayton, OH), and Mary Becker (Madison, WI). And in division 6, Vera Kuznecov (Vancouver BC) and Terry Kang (Philadelphia, PA) remain undefeated with 9-0 records.

Sadly, one of our competitors in division 4, Margy Slavin, had to drop out. She lost her husband last night and had to return home. We send our condolences to her and her family.