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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 2

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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.

John OLaughlin (Sun Prairie, WI) and Daniel Fogel (Newton, MA) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.

round 2

So, round 2 was beginning and we had a void. There were no players at table 1. We looked high, we looked low, we even looked UNDER the table. Sure enough, Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) had moved to his opponent's table. Ira Cohen (Los Angeles, CA) is using crutches and finding moving around to be too painful, so Panupol went to him and their game was already in progress. Plus, the annotator computers are attached to my computer with wires taped to the carpeting. So, what were we gonna do. Ah: I spied two victims, who were just pulling tiles out of the bag to determine who would go first. Thinking it was his lucky day, Daniel Fogel (Newton, MA) pulled the blank, and then I happened upon him. I power of personality-ed him and his opponent, John OLaughlin (Sun Prairie, WI) to move to from their comfortable spot at table 19 to table 1. And they agreed, a bit reluctantly. I guess one needs to buck up a bit for the spotlight. Anyway, we were very appreciative that they agreed to move as it gave us a game to view, but also, it gave us a game to view of an up and coming young player, Daniel. I stopped by as the game was winding up to discover that John lost on time!

I found three people huddled in the middle of the floor, looking over a scoresheet. I assumed they were all players, but no. It turns out that Mark Movic (Des Moines, IA) has his own groupies. His local friends came to cheer him on and relive his plays! Mark is now 0-2, so it is more commiseration than anything else, but the wins will come.

Three players in division six are playing with lights and are stationed in the same spots due to their lamps being plugged in and taped to the carpeting. Eva Bartholomeusz (Winnetka, CA), Helen Burns (Santa Monica, CA), and Lin Lehmicke (Luck, WI) are using these intense lights to help them see the boards due to macular degeneration. Large font tiles and bright light help these players even the playing field.

Bryan Pepper of division 3 tells me the word of the day so far is MAILAISE. He has seen it twice and both times it was pluralized.

A division 3 board catches my eye. It was a 432-358 win for Helena Gauthier (Merrimack, NH) vs. Cindy Quinn (Laguna Woods, CA). Though Helena got down MARTENS and FLOATER, it was Cindy's play of nITERIE that was the most striking. I don't think I would ever find that play.... Helena mentions that it has been a good event so far. In her first game, she got down four bingos: TRIBADE for 72, AREOLES for 62, HITTERS for 81, and DIALOGER to the R for 70.

It was with great sadness that my chiropractor moved to California from Massachusetts. However, she is playing here and she gave me a post round 2 adjustment. There I was, right out on the carpet getting all my kinks removed when someone stopped by and asked if I was okay! I explained that though it looked a bit odd, it really made me feel a lot better! Now to see if we can get chair massages offered in the lobby!