2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Photos: Final Round 1

In the finals room. Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) at their playing table. Racks, clock, and board taped down to keep camera angles working throughout the finals. Kristen Chew and Gregg Foster will do annotation from afar. John Chew sits at the directors' table with Mary Rhoades and Bonnie Rudolph, who watch the game on monitors placed on their table.

The NSA's Patty Hocker in a quiet moment. John Chew, Mary Rhoades, and Bonnie Rudolph at the directors' table.

From the back of the annotators, through the players, to the crew of ESPN cameras.

Ben Lyons, hooked to the ESPN director.

Patty Hocker, Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA), and an ESPN camera operator.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) and Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) wait for game 1 to begin while an ESPN cameraman communicates with the director on game angles. Two representatives from Hasbro, Helen VanTassel, Public Relations Specialist, and Scott Rabe, Associate Director of Marketing, stand quietly in the background.

John D. Williams, Jr., warms up the crowd in the viewing room right before the games begin. He explains that the players are far enough away from us to miss most noise, but that we shouldn't try to shake the house down. The crowd tested the boundaries by making a very loud cheer that both players could hear slightly and they both smiled into the montiors. I assure you that the players could not hear any of the play suggestions from the viewing room and any time there was the possiblity of us foretelling a move with an early reponse, the room quieted down.

Division 4 director, Matt Hopkins, receiving a warm round of applause for being the NSA's Director of the Year.

The viewing room fills up.

Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) and Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) will emcee the games and at least one ESPN camera operator will roam around and catch our responses to the games.

Lisa Kessler, division 6 assistant, is on Dave's giant rack and [error: no such id: johnlo] is on the scoreboard.

Laptop plugged in, Steve Pellinen (St. Louis Park, MN) is ready to run software during the games to suggest player moves. He is "assisted" by Hudson Ashby, son of Liz Ashby (Eureka, CA) and Rich Baker (Eureka, CA).

Bryan Pepper, division 3 director, is on big board duty. Lisa Kessler and John Luebkemann (Pineville, NC) keep up with their jobs magnificently! On the screen, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) concentrates on his next play.

Enjoying the viewing room perspective: Marty Gabriel (Charleston, IL), Mr. Thivavarnvongs, Kanittpong Jittmaneerat, and Steven Alexander (Portland, OR). Behind them: Lester Schonbrun (Oakland, CA), Jesse Day (Arlington, MA), Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN), and Trip Payne (Boca Raton, FL).

Bryan Pepper looks at a very nice rack for Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR).

Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) discusses play options while John Luebkemann (Pineville, NC) and Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) check out play suggestions made by Maven, the game simulator we all adore.

An audience riveted with every nuance.

Joe Edley (Coram, NY), Jerry Lerman (Foster City, CA), Zev Kaufman (Toronto ON), Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON), and behind them Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) and Ron Hoekstra (Grand Rapids, MI).

Congestion at the front of the viewing room.

Final board, game 1.

Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA), Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), ESPN cameraman, John D. Williams, Jr., and Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) discuss the game in the finals room.

Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) smile about game 1.

[error: no such id: dave] went down to 6 seconds on his clock!

A smiling Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand).

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR).

Gregg Foster finishing up game annotation details.

John Chew looks on while Kristen Chew finalizes game 1 annotation.

Finals directors, Mary Rhoades, division 2 leader, and Bonnie Rudolph, division 1 leader, sit in front of monitors set up for them to watch the games remotely.