August 15-18, 2003

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Back to SCRABBLE ALL*STARS 2003 Live Coverage

SCRABBLE ALL*STARS 2003 Commentary: Final Round 2

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, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, Final Round 4, After the Tournament.

David Gibson wins the second round 475-410, bingo-ing SPICULAE and AmPHORAE to Tiekert's DILATION and ANGULATE. He leads two games to none. Players will now break for lunch.

Finals: Round 2

Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) is helping me this round.

Gibson opened with JO and Tiekert bingoed back with DILATION through the O. Not to be outdone, Gibson played SPICULAE through the A in Ron's last play. It is now 92-60. And the rooms breaks into a titter. Tiekert played DONG and we worried that it might be not permitted. It is okay.

David just played RAX, to take a 130-79 lead.

John Chew messages to me: "Charlie remarks that DG was careful to put down CULAE first to avoid having SP*C temporarily on the board."

Tiekert plays RAFT creating DONGA. We are 130-101, in Gibson's favor.

I hear people shouting ONRUSH for Gibson, he holds EHNORRU.

We've now moved Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) up to the stage to sit between Cara and Stefan. She is adding some color to the possible plays and looking fetching in a leather blazer.

Gibson has been thinking for a long time this play and we are not sure what he is planning. He played an extremely defensive play that may not be right: HORNET for 18 points. He leads by 47 now.

Gibson's play of HORNET paid off big time as he ROQUET to a triple for 75 points to follow up. He now leads 223-133.

Ron had pluralized HORNET to play SYN/HORNETS in the meantime.

The board is now very wide open and spidery. Tiekert should have some chances now. However, Gibson has now drawn a blank.

We in this room see the score as 223-133, but in the playing room, they think it is 223-135. Everyone in here says we are right, John says they are right.

David has his rack set up to play AmPHORAE through the P in SPICULAE. But he had to wait for Ron to play. He hopes he Ron doesn't block.

The room quiets down and we can now hear Robin talking to Cara in the front.

Ron played GYRI/HI and as predicted, David plopped down AmPHORAE.

We think the score is 301-154 in Gibson's favor. Jim thinks that Ron's rack is not a bingo rack, which might mean that David has taken a solid lead here.

Ron plays VERB and David holds WEEPSUS. The clock is 14:00 to 12:00 minutes, so they have lots of time this game.

Gibson has now played WEEPS/SYNE for 43 points. Ouch.

Ron played WEND. We think it is 344-216.

Tiekert now holds AAGLNTU and will bingo next turn, probably says Jim. And Jim's dreams come true. After Gibson's KUE, Ron played ANGULATE for 72 points. He still trails by a bingo, but he has drawn a blank. There are cheers in the room. We could be witnessing an incredible comeback.

Now we notice that David has a bingo on his rack: SIDEMEN, but it does not seem to play.

There are suddenly very few bingo spots left. Marlon shouts "how many tiles left?" Someone shouts back, "fifteen."

Jim thinks that it odesn't seem likely that even with a bingo Ron can catch up now.

Our opinions change like the New England weather. Give us a chance to change our minds. :)

I overhear some banter, but can't make it out.

David now plays MEDIAN for 33, taking as much score as he could and putting him up by well over 100 points.

An aside, Ben Greenwood is here running the big board for us. He is very tall and helpful! He can reach the top level easy.

There are 9 tiles left.

Brian shouts, "What about OUZO." Marlon shouts, "I think it is better than ZORIS."

It is Ron's turn and he is thinking with IOORTZ?. He needs to manufacture a large Z score and a miracle bingo, says Jim. On the screen we see him pull some tiles from his rack. He's played ZOO/GO/YO for 37.

Marlon just shouted out a not for tv expletive. We are all worried. :)

The lights have come up suddenly and now they've gone down.

325-403, David still ahead. Ron is still in range if he can find a that miracle play. Very difficult to bingo on this board, though, says Jim.

David's turn and he holds ABEEIIS. He plays ZEE to the triple for 36. It gets him back up to a more than 100-point lead again.

Ron holds AEIMRT? and David holds ABTVIIS. Five left in the bag CIFLO.

David looks composed and he might feel he has the game under control. And, he certainly won't do anything dangerous in this endgame as he did in the last one.

Ron has 4 minutes left on his clock.

Jim suggests that he should not bingo now, even if he has one. He needs to use his M to score some points and then try to find a miracle bingo when there are no tiles left in the bag.

Ron played MAIR, pulling to within 74.

David plays DAVIT, as close to his name as he can get! He now holds BIOS, no tiles left. He up by 92 and Ron holds CEFILT?.

Ron is playing FILCHER for 42, a non-bingo, to cut the spread, but the game is now definitely lost and David will go to lunch with a 2-0 lead in the finals.

David sits with BIOS and no one is shouting out suggestions of where to play as it is immaterial.

He plays out with BIOS/YOB. He asked if YOB was an acceptable play as it could be construed as offensive and not right for television, but it is not a banned word.

Final score: 407-475 (according to us) and 410-475 (in the room).

now we eat!

This round's recorded game matched David Gibson (Spartanburg, SC) vs. Ron Tiekert (Alpharetta, GA).