December 5-8, 2003

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Back to 2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Live Coverage

2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Commentary: Round 4

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

round 4

A beautifully crisp morning in Toronto and this round began on time. Director John Chew sensed discomfort at the other end of the room. Seems the early morning sunshine was coming through the large windows on the north side of the building. Before people let me know that the sun doesn't shine from that direction, it was the glare off the next building into our windows that was causing the problem!

The Ontario Club set out a morning breakfast of elegant pastries and coffees and the players were comfortably lounging around before their games began. I see a scattering of glass plates and cups of coffee around the room on the individual tables.

Scheduled to play at table 1 this morning, Bernard Gotlieb (Cote St. Luc QC) and his opponent David Stokoe (Windsor ON) are instead at table 20 where Bernard has easier ingress and egress into the playing room. The game annotators, Lilla Sinanan and Sophia Ozorio, are flanking them at this table, with their chairs partially out into the aisle. We are going around the other side of the room to reach the head of the room!

During this round, Player A traded four tiles, drew four new ones and then decided to award him/herself another 4 tiles, managing to overdraw by 4. John was called over to help them figure it all out. In the end, Player B managed to turn over and return to the bag the most painful (for Player A) ?ERS. Ouch.

At table 12 I overhear Sary Karanofsky (Cote-St-Luc QC) call for a challenge and out of the corner of my eye see Daniel West scamper (yes, he is so cute he actually scampers) over to retrieve their slip (which he then brings to Lisa Deift who is acting as our word judge this round). I make my way over to discover that her opponent, Andrew Golding (Verdun QC) was issuing the challenge of her play PREDIALs*. Turns out to be a good challenge for her and she got to take her tiles back and think of a better turn next time.

As I stand there, at table 13, Brenda Megannety (Toronto ON) makes a really pretty endgame bingo of hEROICS, hooking LINE to make CLINE. Her opponent, Jim Nanavati (Burlington ON), doesn't like it and challenges. The play is acceptable and she ends up losing, 337-367, making a huge recovery in the game spread. Earlier in the game, Jim got down ARtISTS. There are some situations that make a loss less painful and this is a prime example!

As I wander by table 23, I see Steve Ozorio (Mississauga ON) with two blanks on his rack. He holds COTEU??. Mad plays HERE to the second E, slotting the H in the open top part of the board. Thinking for only a few seconds, Steve slaps down OUTCHidE for 74. She holds, she ponders, she challenges. We all wait breathlessly and sure enough, it is good! Steve won, 548-275. I walk by later and discover that Steve later added a D and made OUTCHidED/VIDE, the latter down the triple for a bunch of points and he also got down HORNTAIL to the L. She's contemplating whether she likes him anymore or not.

Allen Pengelly from the Cambridge club is here today to volunteer to work. We're happy to have him. He is rooming at a nearby hotel with players John Robertson (Cambridge ON) and Carl Madden (Brantford ON). Carl, standing outside the playing room is virtually beaming. He is 3-1 and couldn't be happier. He says, "I'm seeded dead last in 50th place and I expected to only win three games this weekend. I can go home now!"

Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) had a big win against Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) this round with a 443-322. As he sat surveying the board I asked how it went. He said, "I missed a triple-triple." He played SiLVERN down to the bottom row and instead of seeing QuANTILE through the N for 203, he saw QuARTILE through the R for 86. Robin got down DECANTS in that game.

The good-natured Ron Hoekstra (Kentwood, MI) had the misfortune of sitting at table 25 in front of this internet table. For the entire round, and his game was one of the last to finish, he was bumped into by people passing behind and he certainly overheard every comment made behind his head. As he was completing after-game paperwork, I commiserated with the interruptions and he smiled and said, "just like playing at home!"

Diane Brown spots a big game between Carl Madden (Brantford ON) amd Sinna Vijayakumar (North York ON). While Sinna found the lovely LEPORINE through the first E, Carl had four bingos: CYANITES from the C, RERIsEN, MOTLIEST to the T, and ROTUNDAS through the A. He won, 530-303.

At table 17, in a game Hugh Currie (Toronto ON) and George MacAulay (Saskatoon SK), Diane spotted Hugh's GAMEyES!

At table 19, in a game against Danny Panganiban (Calgary AB), Fern Lindzon (North York ON) played GRACILIS and ERRHINE.

Bernard Gotlieb (Cote St. Luc QC) played David Stokoe (Windsor ON) at Board 1 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.

Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) played Shaun Goatcher (Mississauga ON) at Board 2 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.