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2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 27

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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 27

This afternoon's pairings are being handled a bit differently. For people in the top 40 of the standings, pairings will be done round by round as each set of results comes in. For the rest of the players in places 41 and lower, pairings have already been assigned for the three games this afternoon as they've been all along in the event. So, essentially, what is happening is our rounds are getting longer and more staggered. While some players in a division are nearly done with round 27, some are only just beginning. It could potentially make for a noisy room toward the end of the games in round 28!

We went into this round with a heck of a run for first place in division 3. FIVE players have 19-7 records: wowsa!

In division 3, on a Diana Spiller (Ashby, MA) vs. Chris Williams (Vancouver BC) board, the play VARIOLES was front hooked to OVARIOLES! It was Chris's game this time, 442-335.

In the hallway, Carol Ravichandran (Northville, MI) tells me about her favorite play this tournament, yesterday. She played UNDERSCORE to the ORE on the board for 89 points. Nice find!

In division 1, the top boards were both upset. At table 2 John Luebkemann (Pineville, NC) defeated Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand), 400-398. By the look on Panupol's face, I think that one actually hurt. And, at table 1, Joe Edley (Coram, NY) defeated Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), 348-337. All this accomplishes is making the four play each other again, so it is a rematch at both tables. To keep annotating varied, the table numbers are switched this time and table 2 is to be annotated in the last round.

Division 5's Nat Gardenswartz (Newton, MA) had a big win this game against Ken Kasney (Cypress, TX). Ken got down DOLLOPS for 87, but it was Nat's outbingo that determined the game's winner. Nat got down STOOLiE for 71, catching Ken with UNRAEI on his rack, ultimately winning, 343-322.

Board 1 in division 6 boiled down to a "keep on trying until you get it" situation. Holding AEGILRS, Jason first tried REGAILS*, which was challenged off. Next turn he tried RESAILING*, which was also challenged off. On the third try with that rack, he got down REALIGNS for 72. Brandon played IRONIzED to the D for 63 and Jacob also played UNSOLVeD for 72. In the end, it was Jacob's win, 401-368.

In division 2, playing their hearts out for a chance at first place, [error: no such id: stevep] shows me his game as he wished it had ended, with him playing SUDOPARIORS* through separated S, DO, and S tiles for 86 and the win (see that board in this round's photos). What actually happened was he lost, 430-507 to Kenneth Rubin (New York, NY) (see that board, too, in this round's photos). At least he made the game fun!

Table 2 in division 5 boiled down to one measly point. And it was Michael Thelen (West Jordan, UT) who had that point against Bob Kilpatrick (Washington, DC), 345-344. Michael played FAERIES for 77 and Bob got down sELEcTED for 64. Toward the end of the game, holding IRRTWXZ, Michael played TWIXT for 57.

actually happened