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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 14

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Go to: 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.

round 14

Kurt Davies (Phoenix, AZ) is floating on air: he's won all 7 games today and is now 10-4.

Todd Pfalzgraf (Charlotte, NC) is just about as happy as Kurt over his last round defeat of Esther Kisich (Long Beach, CA) this round, 356-303. Todd actually stumbles as he tries to explain how there is almost no way he could have won. What it boiled down to was his outbingo of ANISOLe which hooked under ELS to make ELSe for 80 points. However, catching Esther with IVLLVXT for 40 points was what gave him the win since he denied her the opportunity to play an of them off. In their game, Esther played SKIRTED for 81 and Todd played AEROSAT for 71, which drew a challenge.

Student SCRABBLE^® phenom, Andre Ornish (La Mesa, CA) is lucky to be at this NSC with one of his biggest fans in the world, his mom Marty Ornish. She's delighted to be here and to see Andre playing so well in division 4.

I get called over to a game between two players who joke that their combined ages total up to 500. Gretchen exclaims a headline as I walk over their way, "Glenda Short (Oklahoma City, OK) beat Gretchen Cowan (San Clemente, CA) by 16!" I look over their score sheet and see a 442-426 win for Glenda. The game has a total of six bingos! Early on Glenda got down LEPIDOTE through the P for 67 and PURITIES through the R for 61. Gretchen then fired back with a couple bingos of her own: UNLOADED for 63 and BROWNISH for a 114-point double-double. Glenda then got down CERULeAN through the L for 70 to which Gretchen replied with STARLINg for 58. Glenda's last play of QATS sewed up the win. Gretchen jokes," Instead of the blue plate special, this is the blue hair special!" They both admit the game had them on tenterhooks and was massive amounts of fun.

Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) defeated Marty Gabriel (Charleston, IL) at table 1, 416-368. midway through a game with a slowish start, they traded bingos: Joey's ENUREtIC for 61 and Marty's gROYNES for 78, which lost Joey a turn for a failed challenge. Plays like QUOTE for 48, HADJ for 45, and WILY for 81, put Joey in the lead despite Marty's second bingo of AERATES for 70.

I approach division 1's table 5 to find Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) and Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) pouring over their board. Jim suggests I ask all of you to figure out what he should have done. Say your opponent opens with LOGO at 8G, and you hold AEIOMTZ, what do you play? If you don't want to know what Jim played, then please stop reading now and work on the puzzle. I am putting as many words in as I reasonably can so that you miss what he did before you decide what you'd do. Send your suggested plays to the webmaster! Anyway, Jim played ATOMIZE/LOGOI for 92, but he got bitten badly by Pakorn when he came back for the 140-point double-double AERUGUS which slotted the S on the double word square at the end of Jim's bingo, making ATOMIZES, too. Jim later got down SiNKERS for 94 and bingoed out with ARANEID for 66.

A monster game in division 2 between Greg Heidler (Waialua, HI) and Ted Rosen (Rochester, NY). Their scores combined to 1009 points! Greg opened with SPICULA for 76 and Ted replied with CONFIDE/SPICULAE for 80. In the end, it was Greg's win, 591-418.

Though he got down CURTAINS for 61, it was curtains for Darrell Day (Richardson, TX) in his game against Jean Carol (Cincinnati, OH) at table 2 in division 1. She played ENCINAL for 105, SETTLES for 72, and dUETTING for 77, and won, 541-313.

Joe Edley (Coram, NY) tells me about a round 13 game against Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand). They exchanged mid-to-low scoring first plays and then Pakorn played OVERWEAR for 100 points. Joe blocked on the play and lost a challenge. Perhaps suffering some form of bingo revenge, Pakorn's next play was LOOIE slotting an I out that Joe pounced on to play SATIATED. So, essentially, Joe was rewarded for losing a challenge and brought the game to a virtual tie with that misfortune turned into fortune. Joe went on to win by 100 or so points.

Joe then goes on to tell me about a terrific play made by Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) in his defeat of Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) today. Chris fills in the details to say that he held ADDIRNZ and unseen to him were tiles closely resembling GREWWYLNEIU. He knew the only way he could win was to get an E, so he went on a fishing expedition. As Chris predicted, Brian was distracted by a wide open E on the left side of the board, which left a more complicated spot open directly opposite on the left side. Through an N, Chris played RENDZINA down N2 for 140ish points. Not only was the play UTTERLY FANTASTIC, it won Chris the game! So, all his earlier grumblings about Brian's luck was for naught!

In division 3, Bryan Pepper has detected a statistical anomoly. There players have 10-3-1 records!

As we wind up day 2, we are halfway through the main event and many contenders have risen to the top of their divisions.

Seeded 13, and no surprise to anyone in the room, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) is 1/2 a game in the lead with a 10-3-1 +795 record. No less than 8 players are just half a game behind her with spreads ranging from +825 to -26. In order, they are Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX), Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME), Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN), Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ), Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD), Darrell Day (Richardson, TX), Marty Gabriel (Charleston, IL), and Daniel Fogel (Newton, MA). Interestingly, Geoff is seeded 71st in the division and Daniel is under 18 years of age! As he's been long predicting, maybe it is Marlon's year to win the NSC!

In division 2, Doug Brockmeier (Yorba Linda, CA) is alone in first place with a 12-2 +943 record. Four are just one game behind, Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA), Scott Anderson (Berkeley, CA), Nat Gardenswartz (Newton, MA), and Debbie Stegman (Kew Gardens, NY). Conrad and Nat are two of the youngest players in division 2, with neither being 18 yet.

John Gove (Sun City Center, FL) is in division 3's first place with an 11-3 +221. The aforementioned statistical anomoly of three, 10-3-1, are all half a game behind John: John Stardom (Ottawa ON) at +1012, Peter Skaggs (Los Angeles, CA) at +529, and Jean McArthur (Austin, TX) at +417.

Division 4 has two players at 11-3, Bruce Shuman (Wilmington, NC) and Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON). Half a game behind are Geoff Tongue (Tacoma, WA) and Becky Dyer (Austin, TX).

Michael Rhodes (Tucson, AZ) stands atop division 5, with his 12-1-1 record. A mere half-game behind are Thomas ORourke (Alpharetta, GA) and Jeff Cooley (Jacksonville, FL).

Finally, there is a four-way tie with a 12-2 record in the hotly contested division 6: Robert Collins (Phoenix, AZ) +1184, Thomas Reinke (Middleton, WI) +1175, Ben Lam (Markham ON) +1129, and Jeremy Hall (Menlo Park, CA), +792.

John Chew arrives tomorrow afternoon to help us on site for the rest of the event, provided Kristen doesn't go into early labor!

Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) and Marty Gabriel (Charleston, IL) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.