August 15-18, 2003

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Back to SCRABBLE ALL*STARS 2003 Live Coverage

SCRABBLE ALL*STARS 2003 Commentary: Round 10

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, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, Final Round 4, After the Tournament.

Round 10

The news this round: Rita Norr (Danbury, CT) wins her first game! We knew it would happen! She defeated John Luebkemann (Charlotte, NC), 419-246. While she was busy hugging everyone I glanced and her scoresheet and saw that she got down PATTEREd for 80 down the triple from the P (I think) and she also played CERATOID for 61. John, not the tile winner in that game from what I can glean, managed the fun HEYDAY for 32 points.

Rod MacNeil is here from New Hampshire. He's hoping to be here tomorrow, too. He roved around a bit and caught the next two game facts. Thanks Rod.

At table 10 Rod observed in a game between Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) vs. Tim Adamson (Saint Paul, MN) that Marlon held BIIIOTT and there was a C on the board. Tim had just played a word containing a C, which gave Marlon a spot to play the natural (and beautiful might I add) BIOTITIC! Take that! The play was challenged and it is accpetable. Marlon won 452-242.

At table 7, in a showdown between Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) and David Boys (Dorval QC), Robin had five bingos: RUPIAHS, CORTICAL through the T, STRAINS, DIOPTrAL through the D, and CEINtURE from the C (to, as she claimed, block about 7 bingo lines). David got down two of his own: REJOINED from the R and ANEROID to bingo out. A total of 7 bingos! Robin won, 542-435. Robin happened by as we were typing this up and gave us David's bingos to flesh it out!

At table 2, Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) lost to Trey Wright (Beverly Hills, CA), 411-381. Sometimes the players are hot under the collar or anxious to get out, so I didn't get the full story, but I did see Chris not lightly "toss" a C off the board as I aimed to get a photo. When I asked him if it wasn't meant to be on the board, he said, "We both spent the entire game waiting for this C, and he got it, and it turns out that word wasn't even good!" The board had RECTI with a double letter spot at the end and beneath and to the right one column, HAM. Trey played RECTIC* ( which does anagram to CRETIC) and CHAM. And I think someone got stuck with the Q, but I couldn't get further elucidation on that game.

At table 3, Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) lost to Ron Tiekert (Alpharetta, GA), 404-339. Joel went 2:49 over on his clock, losing 30 points off his score (he had 369 before the deduction). It isn't unheard of, but is unusal for a top player to go over by this much, so I guess he was hunting for that perfect play!

I'm not noticing any cameras in the room right now, so I suspect we will get them later on in the day. There are more official looking people toting bags around and whispering, so I think they are getting the lay of the land during these morning rounds.

I spent too much time on round 9 commentary, which gave me less time to focus on this round. Let me get focusing on round 11 so I have more to say!

This round's recorded game matched Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) vs. Ron Tiekert (Alpharetta, GA).