Go to: Early Bird Commentary Games Players Photos tsh Reports
... Scoreboard (A B C D CSW) Standings Prizes

Back to NSC 2012 Live Coverage

NSC 2012 Commentary: Round 27

[ ]

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, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 27

Another one of those 6-passes games took place in div 1 this round. Win Inthara (Orlando, FL) defeated Stefan Huber (Tampa, FL), 15-10. The way I heard it, one of them played XI and then the other played QI, so the openings after that were limited. Stefan tried a word that Win called off and then the passing began. Stefan was unaware that a word challenged off the board applied to this rule.

I'm not sure how it is possible, but after all these games, a mere 8 spread points separate David Gibson (Spartanburg, SC) and Nigel Richards (Malaysia). Everyone is whispering about this and remarking on what a horse race this is going to be!

Chris Schneider (Chicago, IL) played Judy Cole (Concord, MA) this round. Chris brings me over and Judy walks me through some of the better plays. Things start heating up with his back-to-back bingos: EUCHAlON* for 89 to the triple and CUDDLIER for 68. As I'm writing, he's typing into his handheld. I hear the dreaded "uh-oh" and look over. He points to the phony and says, "it's not good. It is EULACHON!). He looks at Roy Kamen (Covina, CA) at the next board and says, "did you notice this?" Roy nodded quietly. I assure them the game is still great and to keep going on. Judy finally joins in the fun and plays URINOSE for 74 and then Chris got down REALiTY for 78. Still behind, Judy has two high-scoring triple plays: ZARF for 48 and BOXY for 48. And then she pays ANTIKING for 64, thinking to herself she may be in this game after all. Then Chris' SPRINTER for 62 went down. Game over man, 471-390. Chris' win.

I nod hello to Purinth Thitiyagoon (Thailand) as he walks to the command center with his winning result slip. Timothy Bottorff (Orlando, FL) remains at their board. I see TINDERS, REMINTS, REfUELEd, and VINEGARS. The Thai won, 484-383.

Dave Rauppius (Athens, GA) gets a crack at Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) in the top row of tables. I see Dave's LINGERS and Jackson's ESTIvAL and hIPBONE. A 440-386 win for the kid from Canada.

At a nearby div 2 table, a humdinger of a game is going on and on and on between Mason Shambach (Battle Creek, MI) and Adam Ginzberg (Swarthmore, PA). Adam is a member of the "I can read his scoresheet" club, so I comb it quietly for fun plays during Mason's recount. REDUCINg for 72 and QUEERINg for 73 by Mason. DELIRIA for 72 and SWISHES (a three-S, not bingo) for 52 by Adam. Fun small words: Mason's FRORE and Adam's BEWEPT, CLOMB, VOLTI, and TALKY. The game was so tense because it all came down to a carefully planned endgame. Adam had a lot of time on his clock, maybe even as much as 10 minutes. And he spent a lot of time sitting quietly, his clock running. I didn't exactly see steam come out of his ears, because Adam doesn't let you see him sweat, but I could sense the gears turning. So, he does what folks often do after these power sessions, he played the shocking AND from the A for 5. But, cleverly, he'd set up an unblockable play by Mason and an opportunity to get the V off his own rack. Adam's next play was VINAS/ANDS to the triple for 51, which won him the game, 409-400. Not bad for being down by 112 at one point. The recount over and by far the longest running game in the division, Bryan Pepper was happy to get their slip and turn it in.

[error: no such id: kirk] is happy to point out her fun play this round against Lynda Wise (Toronto ON). She got down HORIZON through the O and I for 38.

Over in Collins land, John OLaughlin (Cambridge, MA) played pUNITORY for 97 through the I, which hooked the T to make BEAUT for 97, which put him up by 90 in his game with Sam Kantimathi (Sacramento, CA). I see Sam's INFINITE for 94 and John's COrNETTI# and later WAURST# which hooked to make INTERNETS# for 48. Sam explains that he needed to bingo big to win. So he played off the X one short of the triple line, hoping John would use the less complicated triple area on the bottom right side of the board. As it turns out, Sam's spot was left open and he got down the outbingo FARADISE/AX for 98. He needed the extra 9 points that AX gave him. He caught John with HPG and won, 458-445.

Waiting for her next division 2 table to be ready, Nancy Scott (Schertz, TX) meets up with me by the water cooler. She tells me she is 5-1 today and has won 5 in a row. She is pretty happy.

The next round starts and Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON) tries LAGOONED* and I watch he and Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC) do the Zyzzyva challenge machine field trip. Up came the word.

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, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.