December 5-8, 2003

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Back to 2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Live Coverage

2003 Canadian SCRABBLE Championship Commentary: Round 15

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.

George MacAulay (Saskatoon SK) played Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) at Board 2 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.

round 15

Fortified with lunch, we are happily back in our places with bright shining faces. A Toronto Sun photographer dropped by this round and John Chew helped point out some good boards and players to him.

Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) is alone at 12 wins and Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) and Tony Leah (Ajax ON) are right behind them with 11 wins. Tony asserts that he is doing his part to represent the "older" players in this room. It won't be all young bucks if he has anything to do with it.

At table 21, Diane noted that Sinna Vijayakumar (North York ON) opened with vAULTED for 68 and later got down DEADLIER through the second D for 72 and FAWNiEST to the T for 76. He also got down JEERS for 56. Ian, struggling with no vowels for the first part of the game, didn't get an E until his third to last turn. However, Ian played the non-bingo ACQUIRE to the E for 40 and XYST for 30. In the end, it was Vijay's game, 470-261.

At table 25, Trevor Sealy (Oshawa ON) played Michael Krepakevich (Mississauga ON), and he opened with ZONER for 48. Mike got down MOCASIN* for 79 and TINGLES for 71. Trevor played SNORTING for 60 and LInEATED through the I for 59. It was a very tense endgame with Mike the winner, 435-413. This is Mike's second win of this CNSC, a needed change to a yellow W sticker for him! On the bright side, Mike is currently the top contender for the tournament's "tuff" luck prize.

At table 7, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) had another strong game. She says she's never had so many triple-triples in her life. She confesses that in an earlier game she played and got away with the phoney WORSTERS* played through the T for 149. On such a bad losing streak at that point, she knowingly chose to forego the safe TROWSERS for this phoney. In addition to a 140-point triple-triple cARYOTIN played through the Y in this game, Robin played ARGUFIED to the D down another triple lane for 92. She opened with XYLOSE for 48. Shaun made a fun endgame extension to SEX by making SEXTARII. The game score, 522-413.

"This was the most pathetic game," said Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) as I approached his board 2 game against George MacAulay (Saskatoon SK). I asked if losing had anything to do with it and he gave me a noncommittal shrug. Gazing over the tiles, I see that George found the non-bingo CAULINE through the L and later added an A to the front for ACAULINE. He also played SULTRIER to the R for 70 and SlAVInG for 70. Somehow, Evan managed to lose by only 22, 347-325, with some solid strong plays throughout.

Montreal resident Bernard Gotlieb (Cote St. Luc QC) has always claimed to me that he doesn't speak French. Well, the gig is up.I caught him conversing at length with Quebec native (now living and working in Saskatoon, SK) George MacAulay (Saskatoon SK) totally in French. Fellow Montrealer, Fran Silver (Cote St. Luc QC) then walked by and let me know that she, too, speaks French. Having traveled around Quebec a time or two, proficiency in French is a necessary skill.

As I walked up to board 1, I caught Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) and David Stokoe (Windsor ON) cleaning up their game before I could get any notes. In a nutshell, Dean won, again, and is in danger of being Gibsonised (taken out of playing the top players so as not to have or appear to have any influence on the other player finishes since his spot in the finals would be guaranteed).

Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) played David Stokoe (Windsor ON) at Board 1 this round, and their annotated game is available for browsing.