Go to: Commentary Games Players Photos Profiles Standings Press Merchandise

Back to NSC 2002 Live Coverage

NSC 2002 Commentary: Round 10

Congratulations to our new National Champion, Joel Sherman!

See also: video clip 1 (2 MB), video clip 2 (2 MB). (video courtesy Roger Cullman)

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, 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 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Round 10

Bruce Adams (Worcester, MA) stops by and tells us that he has won one and lost one the whole tournament long. He wants to shake it up and win more games!

Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON) vs Arnie Horowitz (Framingham, MA) in division 1, ended 410-329, in Craig's favor. He got down tROUNCE hooking the T onto UNMIX making UNMIXT. Though it was only a 74-point play, both agree that it was game-winning and a good find on a tight board. He also played SPRINGED through the E and Arnie played POTIONS.

In another division 1 game, it was Baker vs Baker and Rich Baker (Westhampton Beach, NY) was victorious over Michael Baker (Portland, OR), 367-362. Rich played LORINErS from the L on triple for 74 and Mike played StEALERS from the S down the triple for 74. And so it went on tit for tat until Rich traded in at the end (dumping the Q). He got a pretty nice rack, sticking Mike with the consonants, which when Rich went out, gave him the win from the tiles on Mike's rack.

Robert Felt (Atlanta, GA) had a win over Paul Epstein (Ann Arbor, MI) in division 1, 479-329. Paul played EXECUTE and Bob played WOMANISE through the N, AVERSION, BaILOUT, and FArNESOL to the L. Paul felt pretty much not in the game!

Another division 1 game drew me down toward that corner of the room. Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) fell to the mighty Nigel Richards (Malaysia), 363-420. He ended the game with a flourish playing FINISHER on the triple from the F. There she was, sitting with the Q on her rack, thankful that she could at least play QAT. In their game, Robin played EtAGERE and REMOUNTS from the R. Nigel played STaINED and told me he would be embarassed if I reported that not very exciting play (which, of course, had the opposite effect). They both are playful about plays that came up. Nigel played NAWEB* instead of the acceptable NAWAB. And right after that, Robin tried OUTSNEER*, which came off. She acted surprised, thinking it was good and he assured her it wasn't good in "anybody's dictionary."

In division 2, Fern Lindzon (North York ON) defeated Dave Leifer (Alpharetta, GA), 382-377. She played SoRCERY for 93 and FRAILeST through the S and he played SWISHED for 82. But they both concur that it came down to heavy vowels in the endgame and Fern's brilliant find of AUTO that won her the game. Sometimes it just comes down to the small details....

In the confusion department, a contestant saw a word judge's juice drink on a table and thought it was for the contestants and drank it! Then, someone seeing the "Internet Table" came over and sat down at John's machine, thinking it was for them to use to get their e-mail. You know, like at the public library... John came across him and he saw the error of his ways soon enough.