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Back to 2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Live Coverage

2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Final Round 2

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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.

Finals 2

Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) goes first and bingos immediately with FLoRINS .

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) plays HUGEOUS for 21.

Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ) jokes that a knock on Dave is that he doesn't think very fast. We all laugh.

Panupol now holds TOWYCAY. COGWAY has been suggested by Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL). He sees it and plays COGWAYS for 36, we applaud!

Dave has just drawn a U-less Q rack, but he has FAQIR off the F and plays it immediately. He had IRHANRQ going into that play.

Panupol has AVEIGTY now.

112-55, Panupol leads.

Joe Edley (Coram, NY) suggests GRAVITY, but we have no R. The best play suggested is EVICT to a triple. Someone suggests GAYETY. Panupol moves tiles frantically on his rack and has his tiles set to play GRAVITY we think, getting rid of more junk, but scoring less. He is taking his time on this decision.

It is almost like Dave wants NO TIME trouble like he had last time and is playing fast.

Panupol plays GAYETY and we are all happy.

CHEFNRT is Dave's rack. I hear FELCH shouted out as a joke. FETCH to the triple looks like a good play, suggests Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) now helping me this round at the Internet table. We see him play FETCH to the triple word score for 39 points and there is a smattering of applause.

The score is 146-94, Panupol's lead.

Panupol holds VVIDKAT and plays VIVID through the I for 24.

Dave holds CORNEAL. There is a fantastic play that Maven finds through 3 disconnected letters: RECHANGE through an E H and a G. LOACH has been suggested as a possiblity. Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA) says VOCAL loudly. But someone says that one opens a triple line, but a nice leave of NER.

Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) wonders if Dave is a gambler.

Dave plays COL for 18 and Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) says that this is a good play.

Panupol has TANKING and it will fit on the board. The room ERUPTS in excitement. Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ) says he might not know tank is a verb.

He gets 96 points for TANKING!

Dave has AEEIINR and the room groans.

266-112, Dave is way way behind.

Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) suggests that if a T were open the rack would be INERTIAE.

Nobody likes to play racks like this, says Jim Kramer. Dave played VEIN opening a hook a triple. He got 16 for this play. Dave has to keep the board as open as he can at this point becasuse he is VERY far behind.

Panupol NMZOWER. Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ) shouts: WOMANIZER though A and I. I hear that Maven suggests WOOZIER through the blank o and an I separated. A beautiful play if he finds it.

All this good commentary compliments of Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) and my fast fingers trying not to typo. Been lucky at the internet table having David Pearl (Long Beach, CA) in round 1 and Jim this round.

Panupol plays MOWN for 28 points. We are not sure it is the right play, we don't see the purpose, but it does score reasonably.

AEINRXU for Dave. And Dave finds ANNEX, a very nice play for 52 points. Dave is still very far down, but the board is so open, he is not dead yet.

EEEAORZ, for Panupol. Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ) suggests fishing for WATERZOOI. We laugh. Suggested reasonable plays AZOLE and ZOEAL. He plays ZEE hooking the E on the back of ANNEX. He gets 35 points.

329-194, all Panupol.

Dave holds DEEIJRU and the room is absolutely silent. I can now only hear Jan Dixon (Newark, DE) making a suggestion, but too quietly for me to hear. Dave is thinking, says Jim, "how do I make a miracle play and come back in this game?"

Maven just threw his pen laughs Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ). JUREL has been suggested by Jim Geary. Rich Baker (Eureka, CA) says exchange JUI.

As Chris said before, you have to score points in this situation, NOT exchange tiles. And Jim Kramer agrees.

It is down to 12 minutes for Dave and 15 minutes for Panupol.

Joel Sherman hates Dave's play of JUREL for 24. It kills two bingo lanes.....

AEEOPRR is Panupol's rack. He started to play something and takes it back. Then he goes back: OPERA, killing one line, creating another, says Chris Cree (Dallas, TX).

Dave has drawn DIILOTU and the room groans. If an open R with on the board, he could play UTILIDOR, which he has arranged his tiles to show, but there is no R says Jim, sadly. Even the ever optimistic Jim Geary says this game is over. It's in the ice box.

The room is clearly sad to see such bad tiles. Dave is concentrating deeply.

John Luebkemann (Pineville, NC) suggests LIEU to the triple. Dave plays DIEL to the same triple, leaving a worse leave.

Joel says, Dave is just playing damage control now.

Panupol is going to blow this game open as he has just drawn a blank and even, Jim Kramer, the last person to ever give up, says this is over.

Panupol holds DELRST?. He plays RuSTLED hooking the S onto OPERA for 72 points.

Dave holds TIMEOUS on his rack. He slaps down MISROUTE, too little too late, but the crowd roots for him.

Jim Geary said, "Panupol knows how Lance Armstrong feels now."

417-313, Panupol's lead.

BAPIADE, and Panupol plays AIDE to the triple for 35 points. He has a huge lead, we are all sad.

ABIORST, Dave's rack. Players are suggesting words not in our dictionary. Jim Geary suggests that if we could make the past tense of FETCH FETCHT*, then we would have a bingo lane here.

Panupol's rack is ABOP and the bag is empty. The room is silent. Unless Panupol runs over time by 15 minutes, this game is over.

Dave played RIOT for 17 points. Panupol plays BAP. Dave goes out with BARS, hooking onto RIOT for 11 points.

471-330, Panupol wins.

2-0, Panupol's lead. Dave will have to sweep Panupol to win this championship.