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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 28

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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 28

A word about the room. The top 40 in each division have been paired this afternoon after each round. Atop this, the pairing software had some issues in each division wrapping itself around the proper pairing for the configuration presented (taking into account not enough repeats, too many repeats, etc.). Thus, while the majority of the room has been humming along, going from one game to the next with ease, a chunk of the "contenders" have been up and about, milling around, talking excitedly, waiting for pairings. This was more true in divisions 1 and 2 than the others. At one point, it looked almost like the computer pairing stage was an overfull train and 5 o'clock commuters were trying to crush in from all angles. There are times when you see someone wtih a job you wouldn't want and for me, it was that job today. However, the talented computer team managed to stay cool and productive through it all. Kudos to Jeremy Brooke and his team! Double kudos to Jim Pate for keeping up with those whippersnappers.

Pairing was made even more complicated coming into this round, since FOUR "winners" had been determined before round 27 pairings could be created. Hearty congrats to division 6's Jeremy Hall (Menlo Park, CA), division 4's Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON), division 2's Carl Johnson (Beaverton, OR), and division 1's Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN). They join division 5's Michael Rhodes (Tucson, AZ) in knowing their placement NOW.

A slight difference, but one that has been outlined before. Division 1 has been paired differently than the other divisions in that we have been promoting TWO winners and not just one. So, though Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) has "won," what he has won is a berth into the finals tomorrow. What round 28 will do is determine whether Mark Pistolese (Pahoa, HI), Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand), or Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) will be the one to join him!

In division 3, Jeanne Freebody (Santa Cruz, CA) tells me that she had her first tournament triple-triple this round, ANTERIOR through the first R. She ended up losing the game, 492-422, to the ever-strong all the time, Charmaine Wolfe (N. Tonawanda, NY). Jeanne assures me they laughed a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the last game of this US Open.

Event roommates and real life club co-directors, Mitch Bayersdorfer (Menlo Park, CA) and JC Green (East Palo Alto, CA) had a remarkable similar US Open experience this year. They both ended up with 14-14 records and one had a spread of +21 and the other had a spread of +23. Talk about middle of the road kinda guys!

Though there were other battles raging elsewhere in the event room, much attention swirled around what was going on behind the velvet rope of division 1. The Thai contingent focused on their player of choice, Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand), who was playing Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL), at the unannotated board 2. Mark Pistolese (Pahoa, HI) squared off against Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) at board 1, which was annotated. My internet laptop was taken over by a group of players who wanted to watch the live game without craning over the rope. I jostled around for shots with two camera guys from ESPN, who were trying to zero in on the final two. They had just enough film to catch a shot of the Gibsonized Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN), who was not in the throng during the last round. They caught Jim, surrounded by a bevy of excited women from Minnesota who were showering him with well wishes!

There was much tension in the room, but by the midway point, Geoff had a pretty strong lead on Mark at board 1 and Pakorn was doing much the same to Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) at board 2. At board 3, a battle raged between Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ) and Stefan Rau (Newington, CT). I see the completed board and find IRS on the side, as unplayed tiles left on the rack. It made me giggle as it seemed like a reminder of who was going to share the prize winnings with the winner of that game!

The game at board 1 wrapped up first, with Geoff winning, 491-377. Quick stasticians went to work and determined that Pakorn needed to defeat Brian by 202 points to overtake Geoff in the finals. As it turned out, Pakorn did win, 441-395, but by not enough, and with that nearly final game in the room wrapping up, the finalists were determined. Both players were down to less than a minute each on their clocks. It was just so exciting!!

As the annotated game pointed out, Geoff got down three bingos: GRADIENT, FINAlITY, and ELASTINS and Mark played three bingos: SINUATED, sPORULES, and AVERAGED. So, it is clear, they both gave it everything they had!

Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) played his Gibsonized game with Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) this round and still managed to get a win, 512-374. He played STARVING for 66, SErIATE for 81, GUIDEWAY for 84, and URINAtE for 78. Once again today, Robin struggled with her racks, but got down a 70-point MELTERS midway through the game.

I apologize in advance for there not being enough of me to go around and fully cover the rest of the room during the last few rounds. I hope the photos do a bit to help flesh out what was going on in the absence of enough time for me stay and digest all the ins and outs of the final games.

Suffice it to say, the excitement was everywhere, and our support of excellence in SCRABBLE^® was omnipresent! Now onto the prize ceremony preparations!

Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) and Mark Pistolese (Pahoa, HI) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.