December 5-8, 2003

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Back to 2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Live Coverage

2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Commentary: Round 8

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 8

John Chew knows how to appeal to these obsessive players. He's offering printouts of estimated rating changes after each round! As of round 7, Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) is up 10 points to 1920, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) is up 7 points to 1965, and Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) is up 23 points to 1841. By far, though, the highest rating change belongs to Carl Madden (Brantford ON), who at 5-2 +85 is up +141 points to 1495.

Three players are 6-1 coming into this round, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON), Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON), and Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON).

Diane noticed a fun play by Siri Tillekeratne (Calgary AB) in his game vs. Steve Ozorio (Mississauga ON). From the Y he played YPeRITES for 89 points. Steve went on to win that game, 390-373.

PREGGERs is a 66-point play that Salvatore Desiato (Toronto ON) made this round.

I see David Boys (Dorval QC) and Trevor Sealy (Oshawa ON) sitting with their clock neutralized and figure it must be a challenge under way. Before I can see what it is, I hear unacceptable and tile is whisked off.

At table 2, Vince Castellano (Fairfax, VA) is facing off against Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC). Vince opened with JAPER for 44 and Dean later got down EROTIZED to the D for 107. Pretty low-scoring stuff and Dean ends with the win, 397-335.

As I approach table 11, Sary Karanofsky (Cote-St-Luc QC) says, "I'm a big chicken." I can tell by her forlorn look that she's lost this game, but it turns out that she could have won had she played KAOLINE for 80. She did get down ADDITION for 79 and Libero played SANtOUR for 75 and SHIvERED for 85. Libero's game, 385-327.

Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) breezes by and I ask about her game this round. She played Carl Madden (Brantford ON) and got down ACEROSE early. Then she picked both blanks and played SPIRITED to the triple. What she really wanted to play was POSTDIVE, but the S was in the wrong place. She claims that all her on-line word game playing is paying off. She's fond of a site where she anagrams for hours on end.

After this game we have a coffee break and everyone is looking forward to the momentum slowing down.

Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) played Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) at Board 1 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.

Vince Castellano (Fairfax, VA) played Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) at Board 2 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.