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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 6

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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 6

Nancee Mancel (Albuquerque, NM) finds me to point out her favorite play today, a 10-letter word. It started out with her bingo of HARMONIC, then it grew to HARMONICA, then she added the S in a later turn for HARMONICAS! She is now 3-3.

The award for the longest span between US Open attendances goes to Peter Skaggs (Los Angeles, CA). His last US Open was in Boston in 1985 (when we called it the National SCRABBLE^® Championship) and he is here this year in division 3! He was 51st of 302 players in 1985. Let's not make it so long before your next one, Pete!

The wordmeister, Daniel Stock (Rocky River, OH), is intrigued by his game between Jan Mills (Georgetown ON) and himself where STOCKIER was played for 107 points!

Though he won their game, 460-436, Carole Miller (Houston, TX) made a great play against Peter Manzolillo (Bellmore, NY). He played StABLES down, parallel to the triple lane, and she replied with READILY, creating AR/BE/LA/ED/SI for 107 points! Great find, Carole!

At a nearby table, Roger Cullman (Toronto ON) points out his favorite play in a game he lost to Roy Dixon (Dade City, FL), 315-408. Late in the game, Roger had some great tiles. Fearing a bingo, Roy blocked the bottom triple lane with GANG. Seeing the writing on the wall, that there was not going to be a place for his myriad of bingos, Roger got playful and put down STERs to the triple, creating GANGSTERs for 33 points. Though it wasn't much in terms of game points, it yielded bountiful style points!

Mr. 770, of The Guiness Book of World Records fame, Mark Landsberg (Laguna Woods, CA), walked up to the internet table saying he was getting too old for this. He has won 4 games so far, so he isn't exactly doing badly, but he feels tired by the effort. As he adjusted his Mr. 770 hat, Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA), of Mr. 338 fame (he was the one who lost to Mark in that game that has made one of them more famous than the other!) walked up and gave him a big hug. They laughed, posed for a few pictures, and as they headed off, Mark said, "I love that guy, I just love him!" I think Mark was a bit rejuvenated for the next round!

Carol Canik is a parent here on the sidelines. Of her five children, two are here at this US Open: Matt Canik (Austin, TX) and Chris Canik (Austin, TX). They bugged her for almost a solid year about coming, saying this was all they wanted to do this year. She made bargains with them throughout the past year to get good grades, keep their chores up, etc. Well, they help up their end of the bargain and so she held up hers! We are so happy to see them here!

Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) and Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.