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NSC 2008 Commentary: Round 21

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Go to: 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, Award Ceremony.

Round 21

Quiet Keith Nishimi (League City, TX) comes up to the Internet table to ask for a headshot. So many players have them now that the few who don't stand out. Keith is 9-12 at this, his first Nationals and he just played Margaret Bee (Houston, TX), his club director at the SE Houston, TX, club. He promises to let me know about his next good game/play!

Hannah Lieberman (Charlotte, NC) has become famous across the whole hotel. Her SCRABBLE chat was such a hit, she was asked to write one for the hotel's employees, which she did. She then was invited to perform it for the main staff (about 50 people!). I think she will be asked to do it several more times before the event ends!

Table 1 in division 6, Bradley Robbins (Windham, NH) defeated Dave Krook (Mississauga ON), 361-325. Bradley won all his games today, and is 19-2, gulp! His opponent is 12-9 now. I ask Bradley to point out his better plays. He points to his opening play of FISTED for 28 and REGAINED for 70. Unsolicited, he also pointed out Dave's best play, ASTERIa for 62.

Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ) finds me at the ballroom door to the foyer. He flashes me a wide smile and asks, "Want to her a story of revenge?" I said, "do I!" Earlier in the event, he lost to Matt Graham (New York, NY), 352-609. This round, they had a rematch and Nathan won, 565-278. Talk about the other shoe dropping!

John Stardom (Ottawa ON) defeated Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA) this round, 524-307. Turns out that this win was kinda necessary. Without it, Conrad would have started tomorrow 3 games ahead of the pack. This way, there is only one game between them. John played RENTIER for 73, COPULATE to the E for 76, HErOINE for 79, and TrAMWAY for 97. Conrad lplayed AERIALS for 83, but then John played JIGGLY on the triple lane for 77.

Alex Fiszbein (South Lyon, MI) defeated Win Inthara (Orlando, FL), 503-360, this round. Win opened with JAMB for 27, Alex the played NEUTRAL for 63. Win played WAVING for 34, and then Alex played COZENERS through the N, hooking to make JAMBE for 98. The play drew a challenge: it is good! Alex then played XI for 29. Trying to stay in, Win played IONISED for 72. Alex played oUTSAID for 68, which drew a challenge from Win (Win explained that it is a new word to the dictionary, so him not knowing it isn't truly terrible). Win's next play, TOLErANT to the last T for 74.

I notice that the Fizbein family is doing well in division 2! Dad, Jeff Fiszbein (South Lyon, MI) played at table 2 this round and son Alex was at table 3.

Joey Krafchick (Roswell, GA) won ALL his games today! Yeah Joey!

Louis Reed (New Palestine, IN), at table 18 in division 6, played MANIfOLD through the O, nice find!

Joel Horn (Reading, MA) tells me about one game against David Abolafia (Sarasota, FL) where David played very fast and ended with 18.5 minutes on his clock. Joel had second left on his. In the game, Joel played UNAWARE, MINUTER, and KYLIX for 68. Nice word!

Pat Sanchez (Dallas, TX) decided to recount her last game today against Tim Wise (Fort Lauderdale, FL). Tim opted to not participate, but did leave his scoresheet. When their game ended, they had the score as 279-280, Tim's win. After the recount, where Pat found one more point for her play of SPICED/TANS, they ended up tied: 280-280! Tim's best play was QUIT and Pat's best play was JIVED.

We end today with Bradley Robbins (Windham, NH) in first place in division 6, a spot he has held for every single round since the very first game. Not bad for an 11-year-old fairly new player.

My goal tomorrow is to get a head shot of Lesesne Kunz (Denver, CO), the div 5 leader for the past four rounds and a shot of Piengkamol Intarasuwan (Oakland Park, FL), who has also led her division, 3, for four games.

Since round 3, Phil Wertheimer (Short Hills, NJ) has led division 4 and we wil start tomorrow that way, too!

Directors Meeting

Joe Edley (Port Jefferson, NY) greeted NSA Ombubsman, Chris Cree, as he entered the playing room at 7:30 tonight, saying "Hey Chris, you want to lead this meeting?" Chris laughed and said that he was just attending, but agreed to lead the talk. Thirty to forty club and tournament directors gathered around division 2 tables for the conversation. The conversation ran the gambit from School SCRABBLE to what color combination is considered regulation official