Go to: Finals Commentary Games Players Photos Profiles Standings Teams Press

Congratulations to the 2001 World Champion, Brian Cappelletto!

Back to WSC 2001 Live Coverage

WSC 2001 Commentary: Round 5

Go to: Before Round 1, 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, Final Game 1, Final Game 2, Final Game 3, Final Game 4.

Going into lunch, eight players were undefeated with Kendall Boyd +487. As John Chew puts it, there was one Brit, two Americans, and five from the Southern Hempishere. Walker Willingham points out that Sri Lanka, Thailand and Singapore are all in the Northern hemisphere, and John sits chastised at his computer. As I type I hear that Kendall Boyd (New Zealand) lost to Steve Polatnick (United States) by 68 points.

The major news this round is that there was a player who made six bingos in his game! Taewan Sutthasin (Thailand) defeated Christopher Sykes (Canada) 589-337! Chris opened with MANIAC to which Taewan played NOTCHES/MANIACS for 87 points. The bingo fest began in earnest with the following plays: ADJOINED for 66 through the N, PALTERER for 70 through the A, AGONIZED for 71 to the D, FIGEATER for 76 to the R, and finally ANOMIES for 90 (making a side play of QI, that lovely two-letter British Q-dump!). Chris managed to get down EsTIVAL for 88 on the triple lane, which also created VAUNTS.

In a Canadian-American duel, Joe Edley (United States) defeated Robin Pollock Daniel (Canada), 442-403. Joe played GaBBERS and told Robin after the game that he made the blank an A because he "likes being ornery every so often." She used that blank anyway to respond with PICRaTED. Joe played the lovely GUAIAcOL from the G and put down EDIFIES. Robin says she was sitting there with SATIRE plus a Y after that last bingo. Just to keep the game interesting, she played AY to one short of the triple lane. Joe didn't use it, so on her next play she put down ARISTAE, hooking on and making AYS. In this endgame discussion as Joe explained the strategy behind his plays, I overheard Robin saying that his explanations only seemed to make it more clear that she should have won! That's our girl: confident to the end.

We are now down to only four undefeated players: Brian Cappelletto (United States) +380, Naween Tharanga Fernando (Sri Lanka) +342, Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) +293, and Siu Hean Cheah (Singapore) +254.

The tournament is really going along smoothly. Onlookers fill the chairs along one wall and there is rarely an open spot! Media continues to swarm the players. Among them is a reporter here from Spin magazine, who is following Matt Graham (United States) pretty closely.

We are now breaking for tea. I'm sure our British guests will be feeling right at home!

HASBRO is the owner of the registered SCRABBLE^® trademark in the United States and Canada. © 2001 HASBRO. All rights reserved. "SCRABBLE^® Brand Crossword Game" is the proper way to refer to this unique group of word games and related properties marketed by HASBRO. "SCRABBLE^®" is not a generic term. To use it as such is not only misleading but also does injustice to the company responsible for the trademark's longtime popularity. All we ask is that when you mean SCRABBLE^® Brand Crossword Game, you say so. 

The SCRABBLE^® trademark is owned by J.W. Spear and Sons, PLC, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. outside of the United States and Canada. 

For more information about SCRABBLE^® or the NSA, or to comment on or correct the contents of this page, please e-mail: info@scrabble-assoc.com 
To report technical difficulties in reading this page,  please contact webmaster John Chew at: jjchew@math.utoronto.ca