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Back to 2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Live Coverage

2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 2

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Go to: Anagrams Championship, 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, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, Final Round 4, Final Round 5.

Round 2

Division 3's Bryan Pepper, on the lookout for good boards, points me towards a game between Steve Moniz (Manchester, NH) and Lam Tang (Vancouver BC). I see Steve's REINJURED for 80 and RAINIEST for 77. Lam has played REInKING for 68 and qUIETUS for 64.

At table 43 in division 3, Sarah King (Scottsdale, AZ) plays Denver Steele (Sparks, NV). I see Sarah's RELIANCE for 78 and TANDORI on the board. Daniel Fogel (Newton, MA) faced off against Matthew Collins (Cincinnati, OH) at table 6 in division 3. I see Matt's ESTRIOLS for 68 and Daniel's lovely GRAFFITI for 78. Table 12 featured a battle between Ben Dweck (Great Neck, NY) and Paula Catanese (Mountain View, CA). I see Paul's ENTRENCH for 64 and ZANIEsT for 116. Ben got down the nice ESURIENt for 59.

I run into Trip Payne (Boca Raton, FL) in the hall and he is happy to have only lost by 10 points to Nigel Richards (New Zealand) in their division 1, board 1 game. You know a game was tough, when you are still happy when you lose! In their game, Nigel held GUID?ST, and he chose to play GUID. When asked afterward, why he did this, Nigel explained, "I didn't play a bingo because I am stupid and should be sent back to grade 6 for it."

Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) is quietly moaning at table 2 in division 1. He had one of those dreadful games where he traded tiles SIX times during the game, ending up losing, 322-438. His opponent, Gail Wolford (Portland, OR), got down CaTtIEST to the last T. Even sticking her with the Q did little to ameliorate the pain of the loss.

Lester Schonbrun (Oakland, CA) continues his winning ways, defeating Iffy Onyeonwu (Austin, TX) this round, 439-335. Lester doesn't boast, he just shrugs his shoulders as it to say it amazes him, too, that he won.

I spy on an abandoned, completed game nearby. Darrell Day (Richardson, TX) has pulled off a win against Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON), 482-381. An onlooker walks by and wows at Darrell's play of TRECENTO, which was pluralized with an S, and says, "more than one 13th century... interesting.... " I run into Robin across the room and she mentions that she did manage to find JIGSAWN and she bingoed out with DIALOgUE for 59, catching her opponent with a dreadful endrack like KVQSTR. She laughs about how she should have lost by more.