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2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 16

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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 16

A chat window opens on my screen alerting me that at table 1 Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) has bingoed with THEORBO. Can't wait to go see that!

He may be quiet, that Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), but he's got all his opponents laughing. I can hear Lisa Odom (St. Louis Park, MN) giggling from several feet away during her game.

An old point, by now, but the first game finished again this round is Gail Wolford (Portland, OR) vs. Jason Bednarz (Ann Arbor, MI). Gail jokes that perhaps she should be charged a reduced entry fee as she plays for a lot less time than other players in the room. She won this game handily, 469-297, but insists there was nothing special about the game. When I push her she says, "oh, okay, last game I played THRILLED and this round I opened with THRILLS." i do see her bingo, FlITTER (should read as FLITTER, the blank L can make it look funny), and Jason's RESaLUTE.

Joev Dubach (Somerville, MA) won his division 4 game against Maggie Morley (Kensington, CA) this round by bingoing out. Maggie was in the lead, but Joev managed to open up two places for his last rack. In the end, ARENOsE fit best for 70 and he got 40 points off her rack: UJHDSCO, and the win was his. Maggie, ever the good sport, was still smiling and wishing Joev well.

At division 4's table 4, Gerry Smith (North Lauderdale, FL) just has big win against Darren Johnson (Bend, OR). He jokingly said, "How many Is does the game really need?" Gerry explains that 6 came in the endgame. Darren played PANTiLe for 73 and Gerry got away with two phoneys: BEDOUINE* for 65 and JAWER* for 66.

Jeremy Frank (New York, NY) cataches me in the hall and tells me about his round 15 game. He had just 55 points after 7 turns and managed to bingo/bango out (play two bingos in a row, including an outbingo) and ended up winning, 415-293.

Kevin Fraley (Madera, CA) tells me that his dad read the web commentary and I mistakenly said he beat Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA) in round 4, when he actually lost. In the telling of this fact, Kevin has my complete and undivided attention. About 5 minutes later, division 1 director Bonnie Rudolph said to me, "did you hear that Kevin beat Trey this round?" I found Kevin across the room and thanked him for the correction, but then asked insistently WHY did he not tell me of his game this round?! He blushed and kicked the toes of his shoes into the carpeting. In their game this round, Trey played BESPRENT through the second E and AErOLITE. Kevin played pOTTERY, ZERK for 52, TAXIS, ans AVOWING to the G for 54 points, winning, 429-365.

So, this tidbit is about the two 9-letter words that never were. At their division 1 table 39 game, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) and David Pearl (Long Beach, CA) realize after the game is over that they both had 9s that didn't go down. Robin was poised to play NOMINATED from the NO, but settled for playing MEDIANT instead. A few turns later, her play of FAQIR blocked his potential JUSTIFIEd. He consoled himself with KERATOiD for a bunch of points. Robin also got down SATIABLE through the T and lucked into the penultimate play of REALIZED to the D for 104 points. She says she went from a deficit of 80 to virtually unbeatable in a short time. 412-370, Robin's win.

More Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) humor. He saw Rich Baker (Eureka, CA) open a game with LO and then Rich's opponent, Steve Grob (Fenton, MI), played LOO, creating LOO LOO on the board. Sam asked them if they had to go to the restroom. Along this same theme, competitive players tend to think of words as game pieces and use them in sentences in a way that defies explanation. For instance, a couple of rounds ago, Paul Avrin (New York, NY) was talking about a tough game where a certain opening caught his eye and wouldn't go away, so he said, "I was looking for FECES the whole game!"

I finally got to check in on the THEORBO board, and lo and behold, Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) took out Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) this round, 435-358. Panupol opened with THEORBO for 71 to which Chris replied with ARTIsTIC for 76. It was neck-in-neck until Chris got down SPEANED for 76.

News from division 6 about a Yvonne Klaskow (St Petersburg, FL) vs. L Cheryl Francis (Old Town, ME) game. Yvonne went up to the division 6 desk to submit a biggest comeback entry. When Lisa Kessler, the division assistant, went to look at the board, she discovered Yvonne's opponent, Cheryl, helping fill out the paperwork, cheering Yvonne's win. This kindness came despite Cheryl feeling sure she had the game won herself! Yvonne wants to nominate Cheryl for "best sportsmanship!"

Division 6's Polly Lenzen (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) had a bye in round 15, and she wrote a note about her time spent away from the playing room: "I went to the casino and played a nickel slot machine and got up to 975 nickels, but I had to get back to the tournament. So, I pressed the "cash out" button and all the nickels came out except 775! The hopper was empty. An attendant came over and filled the machine back up and I got 775 more nickels, cashed them in dirty hands and all, and received $47.00! I got back in time to play the next game. I may not be winning at SCRABBLE^®, but I am at the casino!"

A missed photo opportunity: Ruth McCandless (Jeffersonville, PA) actually had SEVEN Es on her rack in round 15! Yikes!