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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 5

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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 5

Lisa Kessler, division 6 assistant, discovers insteresting stories and runs over to share them with me. I say run as she is about a football field's distance away from the internet table! Division 6's Sedona Maniak (Portland, OR) caught her eye. Sendona, who grew up in Arizona was named after the nearby city. Lisa is a Montesorri school teacher and she sees many twins in her field. However, the two twins in her division, Charles Reinke (Middleton, WI) and Thomas Reinke (Middleton, WI) caught her eye several times as they are dressed nearly identically and look so alike, it is impossible to tell them apart without looking at their nametags! She helped one of them and then turned around and he was there again, so so she thought!

Channel 12, NBC, sent over reporter Monica Frescas to cover the tournament. Her report should air on the 6pm news!

Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) is opting to stack two chairs one atop another to give him a better view of the board. I usually only see this with the more diminutive players. On his in-progress game with Robert Ellickson (New Haven, CT), I see LATERED, ZARFS, and RIVULETS.

On an in-progress game between Jean Carol (Cincinnati, OH) and Ben Withers (Houston, TX), I see Ben's SERIEMAS for 63 and Jean's GRADATES for 74.

On a board between Jeanne Freebody (Santa Cruz, CA) and Peter Manzolillo (Bellmore, NY), I see that Jeanne played YANKERS for 97. Knowing Jeanne as I do, were it a good word, she'd love to play YANKEES* instead!

I ran around the room this round, taking many player photos that were lost in the digital abyss. One that I hope to replicate: Nancee Mancel (Albuquerque, NM) in turquoise shirt, in the turquoise colored division, using turquoise tiles. The woman is a maniac for turquoise! Her rating can't change much or she'll face having to be in the green division or maybe the purple division!

Trip Payne (Boca Raton, FL) is smiling after his defeat of the #1 seed in division 1, Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand). He is most proud of his opening play: hOWBEIT for 80 points. I may have been there still, trying to find that word....

Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) walks by shaking his head. I ask him what is up and he says, "I just beat Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) by 270 points..." I think it still wasn't computing.

A great game betwen Cecilia Le (Wilmington, DE) and Iffy Onyeonwu (Austin, TX) wrapped up as I walked by. I see his DAYSUrES* from the D for 83 and ROILING for 69. She played nITROSO for 67, RATTIER for 78, and REALIZE for 127 and won the game, 506-374. Add Iffy to the list of folks who want to know who this Cecilia Le woman is! She is now 5-0.

Trip Payne (Boca Raton, FL) and Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.