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Congratulations to the 2001 World Champion, Brian Cappelletto!

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WSC 2001 Commentary: Round 9

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.

About six moves into table 2's round 9 game, Adam Logan (Canada) and Andrew Perry (England) are smoking up the room: Four bingos: DUSTPANS through the P, BREWINg, DOWAGER, and MUSSIER. And as I write, it is Andrew's lead, 290-253. I don't foresee another bingo however. It is Andrew's turn and he is sitting on CNVVETO! I spy him playing VETO out of the corner of my eye as I walk on. Later on I learn that Andrew defeated Adam, 438-397.

Only two players were tardy this morning: Matt Graham (United States) and Catherine Costello (Ireland) and they lost a small bit of time on their clocks. Both went on to win their games!

I see CRONYISMS on the board in a game between David William Boys (Canada) and Taewan Sutthasin (Thailand). David just played DEFLATER for 71, which Taewan challenged. It is good.

At table 16, Randy Hersom (United States) and Evan Simpson (England) are doing battle. I see: Randy's RACLETTE for 64, Evan's DRAWLEd for 73, Randy's AGITATORS through an R for 60, and Evan's VAUNTIE for 80. Evan ends up winning this one, 412-406.

Board 1 featured a game between Joel Wapnick (World Champion) and Andrew Davis (England). Joel opened with PIANISm for 72. A move or two later he played ARCsINE/PIANISMs for 95. About halfway through the game, Andrew, in a slow and measured way, put down the word SENSUAL for 75. Not such an unusual word in itself, but it was the way he put it down. First the U, then the A, then the L, then the N, an S, an E, and then the last S, all played while the board was upside down and on row 14, inches from Joel's rack. I also spy EATERIES for 60 on that board played by Andrew. Joel wins, 453-402.

At table 6, I see Steve Polatnick (United States) really struggling in a game against David Wiegand (United States). Steve has dumped twice, but his play of RATTIEST, a 131-point triple-triple, is keeping in the game. From Dave's scoresheet, I see that he has played TANKIES for 71, REAVINg for 90, and the gorgeous but offensive play of GoLLIwOg for 61 to the blank g in REAVINg. Not surprisingly, Dave went on to win this game, 519-390.

A smiling Chris Cree (United States) was heard to say, "This man comes to my country, to my fricking country, draws seven tiles out of a bag for 230 fricking points!" This about the play of METALIZE by John Grayson (Wales).

Mentioned above, Matt Graham (United States) defeated his opponent, Samuel Fomum Tanee (Cameroon) this round, 530-378. Matt got down HERITAGE to the E, CONNERS on the triple, and TALIPOT. Samuel played RELIERs. Matt pulled over a reporter watching his games to point out how skillful Samuel was in blocking Matt's two openings to play FILEMOT during the game. He also mentioned what he termed an "ethical dilemma" players face of when tiles are left in the bag but opponents don't notice. In this game, since Matt was well ahead, he told Samuel about the last tile when Samuel made no move to draw it. Matt confessed that had the game been closer and had Matt needed to not tell Samuel about this tile to win the game, he might have been silent.

In the style category, I've been told with certainty that Naween Tharanga Fernando (Sri Lanka) has the nicest handwriting in the group and he uses a silvery-blue pen.

New high losee this game: David Acton (England) defeated Michael Tang (Malaysia), 542-497, ouch.

We head into round 10 with three players 8-1, Joel Wapnick (World Champion) +601, Brian Cappelletto (United States) +466, Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) +366, and Howard Warner (New Zealand) +284.

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