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Congratulations to the 2001 World Champion, Brian Cappelletto!

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WSC 2001 Commentary: Round 10

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.

At table 11, the game began with three bingos. Randy Hersom (United States) vs. Jakkrit Klaphajone (Thailand). Jakkrit opened with KERNITE for 82, Randy played THESAURI for 62, Jakkrit played MARABOUT through the second A for 69. Later on, Randy played WAITING for 68 and then two plays later made TRESSED hooking an S onto ORC creating ORCS, for 68 points. Not to be intimidated, Pakorn immediately shot back with GAEMSTER through an E for 72! The Thai player won, 506-414.

At table 10, David William Boys (Canada) was doing battle with Naween Tharanga Fernando (Sri Lanka), eventually losing 430-385. I walked by this game before it was over and Dave wrote on his scoresheet for me to see: WWWWVVVV. I took it to mean that things weren't going well and that a spanking was under way. At the game's end he explained that he had six Ws and three Vs (I take it he threw in a few times in order to receive this great tile drawing honor!). Naween opened with REfINED for 66 and Dave responded with EUGENIAS fronm the first E down to the triple for 80. Later Naween got down FORELENT for 99 points. Behind throughout the game, Dave kept making opening hook plays which Naween was most happy to use. Dave played ATRIUM, Naween hooked atop it and played NATRIUM. Then Dave played WAKING, and Naween skipped not a beat and played AWAKING.

Meanwhile, out at table 32, a few rows away from the head tables, Chris Cree (United States) and Ron Hoekstra (Canada) were in a hot battle when I arrived. There were five bingos on the board: Ron's DOLINAS for 68, MEUNIERE for 70, and WAmEFOUS to the S on the triple lane for 68. Chris got down ARRANGED off the A for 83, and TRAMELED for 92. As the game was winding up, Chris had a bingo on his rack: ENHALER, but he didn't dare play it because there were six unseen Is and the Q left in the bag. So, he kept playing off one tile at a time, praying to get one of the Is for an IEST play. He didn't. His last draw and the last tile in the bag was the Q. This wasn't well hidden from Ron as Chris hurled it to the table, got up, and walked a few feet away from the table. Ron, ever cool, just kept looking for his next play. A few minutes later when I dared speak to him I asked Chris how he was doing. In that sweet Texas twang, he said, "I'm doing fine now, darling." In postgame bantering as others came around and observed the board, Chris sarcastically pointed out Ron's great rack balancing, leaving himself WFU on his rack and picking into WAmEFOUS. We all laughed and Ron took the ribbing well. Chris ended up losing, 435-483.

One player suggested we run a contest for phrases to put on the giant SCRABBLE^® board for the next event. I told them I'd put it in the suggestion box!

I walked up to table 34 to discover a game that was declared over after 6 passed plays. I overheard Isaac Apindi Adhero Lang'o (Tanzania) say to his opponent, Ronald Credo (Philippines) , "That was one hell of a game!" The game ended 342-267 in Ronald's favor. From what I can reconstruct, Ronald had a play, but feared playing and picking the Q, so he kept passing. " Issac, who had no play that he could see, kept passing as well. And the rest, as they say, is SCRABBLE^® history.

Jere Mead (United States) faced off against Zev Kaufman (Canada) who is following Sabbath rules most of today. Jere won this game, 384-361. Jere, Zev, and his Sabbath assistant, Craig Rowland, were knee-deep in a post-game analysis as I walked by so I didn't/couldn't interrupt. Craig is doing Zev's writing for him today.

Other points of interest this round, David Webb (England) had a monster win against Taewan Sutthasin (Thailand), 615-271. Big ouch. And, in the GREAT news department, Danny Cotejo (Qatar) had his first win this round! 327-316 against David Delicata (Malta).

Kristen Chew, the virtual putty of the show, filling in where she is most needed at any point in the day, tells me that she is being helped enormously by Wilma Vialle. Wilma is well-known to most as the Tournament Director/Organizer of WSC 1999 which was held in Melbourne, Australia. When her efforts aren't needed, she sits quietly on the side of the room cross stiching a Christmas stocking. She is here with her partner, Rodney Talbot (Australia), who is playing for the Australian team. She says she is enjoying looking at the grand casino and shopping. She says that life is enough of a gamble and she won't be betting any money at the tables. She says, "the mascot kangaroo has helped the Australians today. All four players won their first games of the day." She points out that in the next round, the first Australian matchup will occur with Rod playing Paul Stephen Cleary (Australia).

And, now there are three 9-1 players, Joel Wapnick (World Champion) +722, Brian Cappelletto (United States) +553, and Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) +499.

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