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2004 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 19

[ Congratulations to the new National Champion, Trey Wright, who defeated David Gibson in three straight games, 365-328, 355-344 and 429-328. Please tune in to ESPN to watch the final games at 1 P.M. ET on Sunday, October 3rd, 2004. We welcome your e-mailed corrections to our web site. ]

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, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3.

Round 19

At table 36 in division 3, Roger Cullman (Toronto ON) got to play a word he's wanted to play for a long time: cOTQUEAN for 57 to the triple. QUEAN was on the board, and he extended it! He defeated Su Edwards (Cambridge ON), 490-394, with plays like BaNNERS for 76, and EMERGED for 76.l Su got down SALUTER for 64 and the fun OXLIPS for 48.

Martin Smith, a visiting expert player who isn't playing, has decided to join the volunteer annotating crew! Yeah! He and Pat Lazan will be able to annotate a game while Kristen Chew and Beth Lerman annotate another, giving us a game per round to put up on the web. Thanks so much to Pat and Martin for volunteering!

Division 4's table 14 featured a game between Barbara Puky (St. Lazare QC) and Steve Anstandig (Commerce Township, MI), which she won, 384-357. Being a careful tracker, Barbara took a chance on getting a tile from the bag to give her a bingo. She played off her U, hoping the game's last tile would be a B. It was! So, she was able to play ABSOLVe in one of two openings she'd set up. There was noting her opponent could do to stop her. She opened their game with QAIDS for 50 and got down CLOISTER through the L for 76. Her opponent played PLAINEST through the S for 61.

Division 5's Starlite A. Clark (Seattle, WA) finds me and brings me to her board 32 contest with James P. Smith (Port Clinton, OH). Starlite was excited to tell me that her opponent got down EdITION for 68 and thg triple-triple VINEGaRY through the G for 176! Starlite's big play was AQUA for 36. James had a big win, 544-244. Not many players will go across the room to bring you to their 300-point losing game. Extraordinary sportswomanship!

Daniel Stock (Rocky River, OH) tells me that he just played a remarkable game against Win Inthara (Winter Park, FL). Despite challenging FIVE phoney bingos off the board (that is not a typo), Dan managed to lose the game by 241 points anyway! The "bad" plays were: PINTLER*, rEANNOY*, ANNOYED (with a phoney GRUNTY* hook), ONETIMES*, and GAITERS (with a phoney SCLAMP* hook). Win won, (how I've longed to say this!) 490-249.

I pass by what looks to be a tense game between John Karris (San Jose, CA) and James Kille L. Jr. (Philadelphia, PA). I see what I think is OvARIAL on their board.

At division 2's top board, Fern Lindzon (Toronto ON), now tied for 1st place, played David Pearl (Long Beach, CA). She won, 488-336. I see her PROBATE for 78, HEISTED (a double-double that hooked to make PROBATES) for 106, RAVELINGS for 62, and CENTArE for 68. David got down AGHAS for 39, COzIE for 44. My other notes on their game now look like they were taken by a third grader, so I'll stop now with what seems to be the accurate bits!

An excited Peter Manzolillo (Bellmore, NY) comes over to tell me that he's finally gotten to make his dream front hook, the one he has driven his clubmates crazy with. QUEANS was on the board, and you got it, he added the COT front hook, making COTQUEANS for 40 points. The best part!? The play drew a challenge!