December 5-8, 2003

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Back to 2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Live Coverage

2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Commentary: Round 6

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 6

This will be our last round before lunch and round 7 will begin at 1:15.

Daniel West lets me know that someone at table 11 tried to open with CANINGS*, but it was ruled unacceptable.

In a Joel Wapnick (Montréal QC) vs. Lynda Wise (Toronto ON) game, Lynda played REDEALT*, which Joel challenged off. Daniel was impressed and assumes that Joel knows that this word is only good in the British dictionary, which is used at international and World SCRABBLE^® Championships in addition to our own dictionary. Since this event is being adjudicated based on the Official Tournament and Club Word List, that play doesn't fly. I later learn that she won this game, 381-362. This is Lynda's first win of the tournament and both players are now 1-5.

I visit Lisa Deift, who is doing most of the event's word judging, and ask her for some better challenges thus far. She points out ANIMATER and INCUDATE as words ruled acceptable and CRUNODED* (it is good without the D), JURK*, FRACK*, FRYED*, and SIPHER* as words ruled not acceptable.

Fran Silver (Cote St. Luc QC) pulls out a win against Libero Paolella (Toronto ON), 433-365. Toward the game's end, Fran played XI from the triple for a bunch of points and picked both blanks. Her next play was PEyOTEs for 76. She also got down CANARIES and Libero played BARONETS down the triple.

At nearby table 4, David Boys (Dorval QC) fell to Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON), 366-474. Dave played REtINUE for 67, then SUPINATE through the N for 74. He later played QUID/SUPINATED and in a subsequent play made WEB to the triple, creating EQUID. Joining in the on fun, Robin finally played ONS which hooked to make EQUIDS. She also played INCREAtE for an 86-point double-double and ZITS for 66.

At table 22, Barbara Bultz (Dollard-des-Ormeaux QC) had a heartbreaking loss to Maddalena Palazzo (Richmond Hill ON), 430-424. Mad got down NETTLES for 62 and NEEDLING through the D for a 149-point triple-triple. Barbara played QuIzZes for 119 (with both the Q and Z tiles on triple word squares!) and STALKED for 82. If I can read Diane's notes correctly, Mad tried the phoney OUTROPE* and Barbara called it off. In a tenser than tense endgame, both players lost focus, Mad temporarily lost her mind and played GOATED* and Barbara failed to challenge. This brought them to a 424-424 dual, but the tiles off Barbara's rack made the end score, 430-424, in Mad's favor.

At table 2, Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) defeated Ray Francis (Pickering ON), 433-343. Evan played AIRIEST for 70, PLIANCY for 97 (hooking the P on front of REJOINED to make PREJOINED*, unacceptable, but not challenged), and LAdRONE for 73. Ray tried QuOINERS*, which didn't fly, but he did get down REJOINEd.

At table 18, Wendy McGrath (Calgary AB) and Ian Bell (Waterloo ON) finish up their paperwork quietly. I spot Wendy's lovely EVANiSH for 91, which Ian admits to discovering is a good word the old fashioned way (losing a challenge!). However, Ian won, 328-319.

The last game I saw this round was between Bernard Gotlieb (Cote St. Luc QC) and Jim Nanavati (Burlington ON). It was Bernard's turn to win, 386-370. Bernard is now 4-2 and he's happy. In their game, Jim went out to an early lead with NoNELITE through the I for 91, which also created HE, AL, IT, OE, which blocked TWO of Bernard's potential bingos (DOPINESS and RESPONDS), but who is counting? Jim then played AJAR for 37 points putting him up 140-69. Bernard kept plugging away getting plays of 31, 32, 39, and finally 73 for AERIEST which also made THEN. The score was now 261-261 after even turns. Then they round themselves tied again at 318 two turns later. Then Bernard held UMBOCEN and he wanted to go out in two. He played UMBO keeping NCE to play off NO, making NONCE. Good board vision, Jim saw that outplay and blocked it! Jim's last rack was BEAUXFY! He was trying to set up a beautiful 62-point X play, by playing BUFF to an F and then AXEL, but since he had to block Bernard, those dreams fell away. However, he did manage to block with BE/NOB/OPE. Bernard then played CORN, getting rid of his C and N for 18 points. Jim played FAX for 39, giving him a 4-point lead. But, Bernard went out with the E for 10 points and got his UY for another 10. Bernard later said, "It has been a long time since I beat Jim and to be truthful, I'm not sure I ever have, so this was a nice win."

Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) played Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) at Board 1 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.

Ray Francis (Pickering ON) played Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) at Board 2 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.