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2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 19

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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 19

It was a great table 2, division 1 game for Jeff Widergren (Los Gatos, CA) this round. He defeated Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand), 426-402.

Also in division 1, at table 10, Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) had a 447-422 win against Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC). Randy played three bingos: INDOLES, INFANTE, and aNTHERS. Joey got down MEDIATOR and SAVaGER.

With a score of 446-347, Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) defeated Paul Sidorsky (Calgary AB), this round. Paul playes GUNFIRE for 72 and Jim's bingos were MARLIeR for 72, FIREBRAT through the first R for 77, and AVERSION for 62. Jim also played the non-bingo but fun QUINONE. Standing nearby, Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) gave us his pronunciation of this word, which sounds a lot like a compound word and soft drink rolled in together.

Not at all disturbed about it in the least, Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ) lost a game to Larry Rand (Chandler, AZ) this round, 376-418. Jim said, "He played a very nice game." I spot three bingos that I suspect were all Larry's: DIARIES, GAlEATE, and SELTZer.

In a revenge for the loss he suffered yesterday, Ken Kasney (Cypress, TX) took pleasure in defeating Jesse Day (Arlington, MA) in their division 5 rematch, 380-342. I see Ken's PEDDlES for 70 and Jesse's RESiDUE for 64.

Table 1, division 6: Ida Scaglione (Tonawanda, NY) defeated Michael Donegan (Austin, TX), 413-380. She confesses that she erred and transposed vowels when she played ORAGINS*. Not fooled for a second, Michael called it off. She played it right the next play: ORIGANS fr 69. I also see GELATIN for 66 on the board and I think Michael played that bingo.

Ben Harrison (Cambridge, MA) defeated Nancee Mancel (Albuquerque, NM), at table 3 in division 4 this round, 401-332. Ben got down the fun INbURST for an 84-point double-double and Nancee played REtILES for 79. Though their board was interesting, I pretty much only had eyes for Nancee's shirt, which is the exact shade of blue (aqua) that is the division's color. Everything from her shirt to her earrings to her Protiles to her name badge to all the game paperwork is this same shade of blue. Talk about coordination!

So, I approach a completed game in division 2 and Kenneth Rubin (New York, NY) is sliding under the table, which I find curious, since he won that game, defeating Bernard Gotlieb (Montréal QC), 363-346. Upon closer inspection, I think I see why. He played gLEEKIeR * for 74. Bernard suspected the play was phoney, but it used up both blanks and didn't "cost" too much score-wise. Unfortunately, the tiles didn't cooperate all all, denying Bernard any vowels in the endgame. Ken suggests I make the first blank an S since sLEEKIeR is actually an acceptable word!

Division 3's top table was in a recount when I was called over by Bryan Pepper to take a photo. The scores stood and Diana Spiller (Ashby, MA) eked out a mere 4-point win over Jeff Martin (Albuquerque, NM), 405-401. Jeff played ORDAiNS for 69 and Diana's bingos were RELINES for 83 and COINErS for 76. Jeff shaved the clock a little close for comfort, ending with only ONE second left!

Table 1 in division 1, now cordoned off from overzealous onlookers with table 2 behind a red velvet rope and stanchions, was the site of the Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) vs. John Luebkemann (Pineville, NC) battle this round. And it was a mere two-point win for John, 408-406. Dave played the games first bingo, TAWDRIES for 66, which was responded to with UPGIRDED for 76 by John. Midway through the game, John played INUNdaTE for 72 and on his next turn GROUTER for 80. Do check it out more fully in the annotated game section of this web site!