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2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 10

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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 10

Lisa Kessler tells me about a dream a division 6 player shared. Edith Einstein (Roseville, CA) dreamt that she had 4 blanks. Still asleep, she cried aloud, "How could that be!?" awakening both her sleeping son and herself. She said, "too bad it was only a dream--I could have used those 4 blanks!"

Division 3's Roger Cullman (Toronto ON) brings me over to his game against Harriet Strasberg (Roseville, MN). Roger lost, 346-428, but he liked two of his plays. Down the left triple lane, he placed STUCCO which hooked on to make CUM and CHI for 45. HE also played RHEUM to a triple, hooking on to make EWER for 49. Harriet also had a nice non-bingo play of FROZE creating TORE down a triple for 85. Roger got down TORsADE for 67 and Harriet played REPRISE for 71.

I'm confused by the top tables in division 6 and now I know why. Chad is a pretty uncommon name, so when Sharon Valorose (Williamsburg, VA) kept playing "chad," but it wasn't the same man, I was wringing my hands. Why did my notes make NO sense. Now, I got it! There are TWO Chads at the top tables in that division: Chad Hopper (Austin, TX) and Chad Harris (Clemson, SC). It took seeing one Chad put what I took to be his own name on his contestant scorecard for me to "get" my problem.

Division 3's female superstars wrapped up their mini round-robin this game. Miriam Green (Las Vegas, NV) had it all sewn up and was poised to deliver a loss, finally, to Melissa Routzahn (Crystal Lake, IL). It was not be. Miriam played RALLIES for 66 and Melissa played SLIDERS for 77. Before the last play, Miriam had a two-point lead. Then, Melissa laid down MINTeRS/SKA, bingoing out for 77 points and taking the win.

Next door, the other two gals, Diana Spiller (Ashby, MA) and Judy McLean (Vancouver BC) were just finishing up. Both got down two bingos each: Diana's MEETInG for 72 and and LINTERs for 60 and Judy's VOCALISE for 76 and GRANNIES for 60. An interesting fact: in a game with too many Is, both of Judy's 8-letter-bingos played through an I!

When Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) himself comes to get me, I know I'm in for a treat. He and Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) created a combined 1007-point masterpiece at table 2 in division 1. It was Joel's win, 541-466. I wrote as fast as I could and think Joel told me that Randy played QUIPPED through the first P, hanging the D in the bottom right triple lane. On a subsquent turn, one row above the triple, Randy played BEDEW thorough an E. Then, he got overlap happy and placed WIDENER on the triple lane beneath BEDEW, creating BI/DE/EN/WE for 51 points. Joel played NOBILITY for 102, SEALERy for 79, SUCTION for 95, and REGENTAL to the L for 95. Randy also played AIRFIELD for 69.

Meanwhile, on board 1 in division 1 this round, John Luebkemann (Pineville, NC) and Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) had a lively game. In the first three plays John's ETOILES and INtERNEE and Panupol's EMEERAtE, they ripped through 8 of the games 12 Es! John also got down SEArING for 71. Panupol exhanged tiles twice and played a new word to me: VOMICA for 39 points. Amazingly enough, this was Panupol's FIRST loss of the tournament!