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NSC 2002 Commentary: Round 22

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 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, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.

Yesterday evening, after the games wrapped up, about 50 of us gathered in Copper Hall to discuss the School SCRABBLE^® Program. Yvonne Gillispie, Cindy McCaffrey, Ben Loiterstein (Somerville, MA), and Christine Economos (New York, NY) (the last two work as Eduational Consultants for the NSA) made presentations about the program and took questions from the interested attendees. The high points were mention of the 2003 School SCRABBLE^® Championship to be held in Boston, MA, next April. Those interested in being part of the volunteer corp should check out the NSA web site and look into joining in all the fun! Two players in this NSC were champions in the School SCRABBLE^® program: Leland Fidler (Waltham, MA) won the past two New England School SCRABBLE^® Championships and Chris Ofstad (Antioch, CA) did the same in the Bay Area Championships. One of our interns, Anne Koza, was a Massachusetts School SCRABBLE^® champion, too! And pretty soon our ranks will be run over with kids who came up through this program.

The first round of each day is easily the best of the day. Everyone starts at the same time, the extraneous talk is down, and players are on a similar schedule. As the games progress, some start earlier than others and napsacks are moved around and sometimes the aisles get more full of belongings. Thanks to the wide spaces between tables, it isn't such a touch obstacle course to get around!

Charles Goldstein has turned up to visit. He came down from the Berkeley area and he's checking out the top players these days. Charles played at the first NSC and he points out that a player here, Emely Weissman (Menlo Park, CA), also played at that 1978 event. She hasn't played in an NSC since! He reminds me that Josh Silber played in that 1978 event, too! A bunch of old timers! We love it. Oh, and eat your heart out Bob Schoenman. We think Charles has to drop out of the non-NSC event.

In division 4, David Stokoe (Toronto ON) put down SCANnED just as I walked by in his game against Barry Katzen (Chatsworth, CA). Barry held, but realized it was a real word.

Toni Douglas (Atlanta, GA), in division 3, just lost again. She said, "the games are going baaaaad, but it's fun!" I think that is what separates most of the players in this room from more casual SCRABBLE^® players. We even enjoy losing as long as we get a chance to play!

In division 3, Betty Burton (Middletown, NY) lost to Dan Unger (Alameda, CA), 419-488. In a tit for tat match, he played AMIABLE for 84 and she responded with OUTLINE for 84. Later in the game, she played EDITIOn for 72 and he responded with cONVERTS hooking the S to make SEDITION for 69. He also got down EASTERN.

A 10-letter-word on a board between Marilyn Gage (Castro Valley, CA) and Lori Gaut (Valencia, CA) in division 3! Marilyn played ZEIN from the triple for 39. Holding DOORIE?, Lori played ODORIZEd through that Z for 69. There was only one D left in the bag and she got it, so on her next play, Lori played DEODORIZEd for 60! No surprise, the 129 in two turns got her the win, 381-327.

The big board reads:

DAY FOUR YOUR WORD AGAINST MINE

The room is set up with divisions separated like this:

  stage 
3       1 
4       2 
6       5

The divisions are separated down the middle by a wide aisle.

This set up permits Bonnie Rudolph, leading divisions 1 and 2, and Mary Rhoads, leading divisions 3 and 4, better access to cover their domains. Wendell Smith is leading division 6 and Bryan Pepper is leading division 5.

Zev Kaufman (Toronto ON) lost a game to Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN), 375-496, in division 1. Jim got down ANOINTED through the T for 62 and SOLVEnT for a 94-point double-double. Jim also played URBANElY through the E for 63 (which got Zev to wondering for a long time about INURBANELY#, which is only good in SOWPODS) and the game-winning ADJACENT from the A for 90. Zev got down BLOATERS for 83.

Paul Epstein (Ann Arbor, MI) defeated Matt Graham (New York, NY), 420-409. Paul played TOLUENES for 70, TRIBUNAL for 74, and TEARIEr for 70. Matt got down VIsORED. As I wander off, they are discussing Paul's opening phoney of MEATA*, which was challenged off.

In News about Nigel: Ira Cohen (Los Angeles, CA) was defeated by Nigel Richards (Malaysia), 356-549, in division 1. A quite guy by nature, I have to wrestle his scoresheet from him, but am successful and see that he played INULASE for 84, CHEVIED for 82, CATBRIeR for 76 (my favorite play of today so far!), and MANATOID for 77. I see Ira's TONSURE for 86 and OVERDEAR for 89.

Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) fell to David Weisberg (Hollywood, FL) in division 1 this round, 427-439. Marlon played rOILIER for 65 and GORSIER for 69. I think Dave's plays were TOTALISE for 78, VINEGARY for 82, and dATIVELY for 92. In the endgame, Marlon discovered he had 8 tiles on his rack. He immediately told Dave about them: NIXRMFSL, and Dave looked at three and threw one in the bag.

It seems like a long time since I've said this, but Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) fell this round to Jakkrit Klaphajone (Thailand), 355-442. Jakkrit got down DRINKERS for 64, AECIDIUM for 76, and IODATES for 72. Joel played NUCLEONS for 72. Interestingly enough, the blanks were both used in non-bingo plays and a phoney came off the board: Joel's MUTERS*.

Ben Loiterstein (Somerville, MA) comes up to tell me about a lovely play Diane Firstman (Brooklyn, NY) made in their game. He played ATONIES and she played SAPPIEST beside it, making SO, AN, PI, pE, and ES. I'm not sure who won!

We just went over 200,000 hits today on the web site! Yeah!