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2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 15

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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 15

In general, the paperwork errors are lessening and this is a good thing. Only one or two incorrectly submitted result slips were discovered this morning and this delayed starting time by a minute at most. Signs of progress and the fact that even old dogs can be taught new tricks!

Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC), once able to eke into division 1, is this year playing in division 3. He is writing a blog of his experiences for his employer the Wall Street Journal. He asked me to take a few photos of him so he could use one for the site. I carefully took the table number, 50, and laid it down flat so as to avoid pointing out just how low in the division he was playing. He caught me doing this and righted the stand and said, "the fact that I am here is totally relevant to the reports." I chuckled and included the table number.

Yesterday and this morning, I've been racing around the room, trying to get headshots of players who have managed to avoid being photographed so far. And, I've made a bit of a discovery. They aren't photographed for a good reason: they avoid me like the plague!

Before the round's game start, Joe Edley (Coram, NY) alerted me that his blank deficit was righted yesterday and he got 9 of 14 blanks, and his 6-1 record proves that a little blank love goes a long way. He enjoyed all his games yesterday, particularly the loss to Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand). And this proves that we can enjoy our losses almost as much as our wins!

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) works part-time as a child's jungle gym. He spouse and two young daughters came into the playing room this morning and "helped" dad put out his tiles into the four corners of the board.

I hear a distinctive laugh coming from table 2. Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) is sharing a "tiles are cursing me" moment with Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), who Chris tells me later, "smoked" him.

A little bit of revenge tastes good. In division 4's round 14 yesterday, Nancy Hanley (Wilmington, DE) defeated T C Houlgate West (San Luis Obispo, CA) and this morning they were matched up again (repeat pairings are beginning to occur). It was TC's turn to win this tme, 371-361. TC got down the game's two bingos, ErOTICA and an 83-point DEBASiNG outbingo, which won her the game.

Division 3's Norbert Saldanha (Richmond BC) had a 508-496 game against Patty Wayne (Albuquerque, NM). Norbert excitedly explains that Patty put down EXALTER for 114 points. He said he wasn't even sure it was good (it is) and didn't much care, because her slotted R in the triple lane gave him EARTHING for 194 points! Other bingos went down, her MISTERS and his FORaGING and ANEROID, but he only had eyes for that triple-triple. Who can blame him?

At table 38 in division 3, Robert Gillis (Owens X Roads, AL) had a 445-285 victory against Woody Chen (Flushing, NY). Bob opened with HERSTORY for 70, played SCRIPTeR from the S for 78 and TABLOIDS to the S for 78, but his favorite find wasn't a bingo. It was the double-double DUOTONE for 32 points. Sometime style makes us happier than points! Woody started strong and after 3 plays (including MAX for 43 and JOWING for 45) had 146 points, which turned out to be half his eventual score total!

Bill Payne (Calgary AB) beckons me over to his division 3, table 65 victory against Steve Hartsman (Brown Deer, WI), 453-297. Bill played DABBLINg for 62 one slot short of the bottom middle triple word square. He patiently waited through three racks until he picked the right tiles to play SUQ/DABBLINgS for 75 points! His next play was ZOOS for 48 and he also got down ANNeXES. Bill was kind enough to permit Steve one premium tile, the letter J. Steve, distracted by the great play, missed Bill's phoney TYED*, which scored 46 points--ouch!

An appropriately Reno board in division 3. Chris Williams (Vancouver BC) defeated Melissa Routzahn (Crystal Lake, IL), 370-352. The game's two bingos were played by Chris: ROULETTE from the R for 60 and EReLONG for 71. Melissa explains that they were neck-in-neck throughout,

A typical tournament scene. A postgame analysis between Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) and Paul Avrin (New York, NY), where about one-quarter of the board has been disassembled and reconfigured for other possibilities. In the end, this game was Robin's win.

Michael Baker (Portland, OR) fell to his buddy Chris Lennon (Lake Oswego, OR) in their division 1 faceoff, 393-433. Mike admits that he had all the good stuff and got stupid in the endgame. He noticed that Chris played off one tile, opening the bottom triple lane, but he didn't care. Mike had a 9 and he was going to pay it no matter what. The 9, played through Or was ROCKWOrTS* but not seeing the forest for the trees, Mike failed to realize it WASN'T GOOD! So, Chris wisely challenged it off, played his own bingo, PLASTER/AHA on the triple lane for 86, caught Mike with 32 points in his hand: STWOCKR, and won the game by 40. Mike is too good-natured to be thrown for long, but he knows he could have done far better in that game.