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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 9

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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 9

Two Canadians faced off at table 2 in division 1 this round. With plays like XENON, SAPONiNE, VARMENT, RECREATED, and FEIsTY, Lloyd Mills (Georgetown ON) defeated Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON), 503-408. She played MERITING and NATTIEST and said, "I spent so much time studying only to play the easy bingos..."

Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) has his first loss of the event, falling to Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ), 413-431. Joey's comment, after the game was over, was "well, I guess I'll go undefeated next year." Joey is very funny.

Peter Armstrong (Baltimore, MD) is not a big fan of Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) after this round's game. Neither of them will tell me much, but their game is strewn all over in a mess. It appears that Pakorn early doubled Peter's score, but you didn't hear it from me.

At table 1 in division 1, Rod MacNeil (Wilmington, DE) reminds Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) that he is no longer undefeated by handing him another loss, 442-421.

Paul Haverly (Mount Dora, FL) had two monster games in a row. This round, he defeated Ann Raymond (West Chester, PA), 519-327. He got down UNDERLIPS for 74, CRESTED for 76, VARIEDLY for 74, and bingoed out with HALIDOME through the O for 76. Ann managed to get down LEASINGS for 59, but agrees that it was totally Paul's game.

I see Debbie Stegman (Kew Gardens, NY) and Orry Swift (Dayton, TX) in a tense recount. As I watch, it is 229-332, in Debbie's favor...

Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) never wants me to photograph his boards or see his good plays, but he does slip up to my shoulder and whisper things into my ear. This round it was "I'm 3-0 against NSC or WSC champs." I know he won his game this round, 403-366. But against whom.....

I had to figure out who this phenom is in division 6. The undefeated as of this round player is Thomas Reinke (Middleton, WI). His twin, Charles Reinke (Middleton, WI), is 7-2, so it appears that excellence runs in the family. This is the boys' first visit to Phoenix and besides the Botanical Gardens, all they've seen is the inside of the hotel. And, according to Thomas, that is just fine. Both boys will be juniors in high school this fall. This is their third tournament. Looking over Thomas' scoresheet, I see scores like 502, 431, 538, 437, 453, and 419. Seems he will be moving up a division or two soon!

Roger Cullman (Toronto ON) tells me about a play this round against Michael Eldeiry (Davie, FL). With RE on the board, Roger played REBOUNdER for 83 points to the triple.

We have two mysterious fairies in the room. One of them put Dove chocolate bars by all the worker computers (so we had a brown-fingered breakfast) and another bought the staff three giant boxes of donuts and pastries and with two giant tureens of Starbuck's coffee. I'd thank you both by name if I knew who you are! I guess the carrot fairy will have to visit us tomorrow to balance out for all the gastronomic excess!

Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) and Rod MacNeil (Wilmington, DE) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.