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Back to 2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Live Coverage

2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Final Round 3

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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 3

I reach my computer with a few plays down.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) started the game, bingoing SCABIES for 78. The room was happy!!

Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) with STULLER, played BULL from the B for 8 points. Not perhaps the best play, but a great leave.

Dave held AAAEIOQ and fairly quickly exchanged 6 keeping an E.

Panupol then played ARSENITE to the E for 77 points.

Dave bingoed with EULAcHON through the L and the room went berserk! He got 90 points.

Panupol's rack was REDENVY and Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) made a joke about it being a Lester Schonbrun (Oakland, CA) kind of rack.

Dave's turn and he has DEIOOPY.

Dave leads 168-114.

Dave played ISOPODY*, which is unacceptable but went unchallenged. Everyone in room said it was great. 30 points.

Panupol holds VVERDFM and plays REVVED for 26 points.

Dave has drawn a blank and has EEIKWZ?. The room is happy.

Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) says this may be the first phoney to stay on the board in SCRABBLE^® tv history.

Dave just played ZOWIE for 34 points.

The score is now 232-144.

Panupol holds HIMBIMF. He plays cHIMB to a triple for 45 points from the blank c.

Dave's rack: EEEIKS?. He played EKED for 27 and the room didn't like it. We wanted WEEK.

Panupol has FIMQAIT. He played MAFIC to the C for 24.

Dave: SITTOE? and is going to bingo. I hear Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ) on his cell phone, telling someone before the game is done that Dave will win. What confidence.

Dave played TINSTONE hooking the S to make EULAcHONS for 79 points. He could have scored 80 for BIOTITES, but he made a much more defensive play, because he has the lead.

The Thai fans are looking quite serious on the big board audience shots.

Panupol holds QATIFJO. He plays QAT for 32.

We get a peek at Dave's rack, it is COLOGNE, and Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) jokes that maybe Dave should have played BIOTITES last time, he could now play COLOGNE. Hoist by his own petard.

CLONK is suggested Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) down to the K, which would block the board nicely. Dave still have a very healthy lead and the board is not real conducive to bingos.

We lost internet access at my table due to a short the tech tells us, so we are more limited this round with no access to the playing room.

Connected again and John Chew tells me that Dave said earlier that he guessed we liked his EULACHON play as he heard our cheers.

Dave played COOK instead, just as defensive for 20.

FEDJILO for Panupol, and he played JEFE for 30.

Dave then held ADEGLNN and he arranged his rack to make ENGLAND, which drew a reaction from the room. He has just played ZEAL from the Z for 34. Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) says it is a dangerous play, but Jim Geary (Phoenix, AZ) says he is wrong as there are no Ss or blanks left.

411-284, Dave's favor.

Panupol DILORTX. His Thai friends in the audience are tense. I hear XI suggested. Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) suggests EXIT. DETOX through the E to the triple for 39 and the audience is quiet. It is what Maven liked.

Panupol is within 100 says Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) kindly. He is always so kind.

Dave's rack is PONDING. Nowhere to play it. He shuffles the tiles.

The players switched to old fashioned wooden racks that they prefer for the back height. It is fun to see that old, rough blonde wood in high closeup on the big screen.

Dave has chosen to block the highest-scoring reasonable bingo lane with DONGA. The crowd applauds despite it only being for 9 points.

Panupol's rack is RUAGIRL, that Jim Kramer pronunces like a question: Are You a Girl? How cute! 420-323.

The smallest of things makes us happy here and when the scoreboard gets put higher, we cheer because everyone can see it now.

TRUG has been suggested to the triple. He plays TRUG but he plays it in a spot most people would not think about. This allows Dave to get down TAPERING to the triple for 83.

The room went NUTSO over this, so much so that Joel Sherman announced the game over when it isn't quite, yet.

Panupol holds ANILRUW and the crowd is quite restless. Panupol has put WIN on his rack. Jim Kramer thinks he detected a wry smile on his face. A fellow Thai player here is Win Inthara (Orlando, FL).

Panupol plays WHIN though the H for 26.

Dave holds GIR and plays MIG from the M for 10.

Panupol has ALRU and plays LAR.

Both players are down to 1 tile on each rack.

Dave plays MAR for 5 points and out for a 501-364 win.

So, we are 2-1 in Panupol's favor and it is now time for lunch.