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2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 9

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Go to: Anagrams Championship, 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, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, Final Round 4, Final Round 5.

Round 9

Kristen Chew annotated the Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) win over Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) at table 1 in division 1 this round, 457-435. She characterized it as very hard fought until the end. Panupol would bingo and then Joel would come back with a great play, back and forth they waged a battle.

Robert Kahn (Plantation, FL) is feeling a bit redeemed. In his division 1 game against David Pearl (Long Beach, CA) this round, he won with a 585-309. The game had an interesting flow. David opened with RUN, and Robert responded with WINTLED, creating RUNT for 69. Not to be outdone, David then replied with BROIDER hooking to the front of RUNT making BRUNT for 71. From the U in BRUNT, Robert played UNDERWAY to the triple word square for 96. Playing 3 bingos in a row wasn't quite enough for Robert, so on turn 4, he slapped down ECzEMAS for 76. Then the game settled down a bit until later on when he played LONGeST for 69. Even in the trenches of division 1, brilliant play sparkles.

I walk by a completed game between Winter Zxqkj (Houston, TX) and Steve Oliger (Holtwood, PA). I'm sure Winter would have taken my attention at any time other than this game, since he lost, 322-376. The tiles were picked up so quickly, I had no chance to examine it more fully.

Division 3 has an interesting dynamic this morning. The top 4 spots are occupied by woman and then next four spots are taken by men. So, they are doing a fun, sex segretated first few games this morning. I happened by a battle in action between two titans, the undefeated all day yesterday Melissa Routzahn (Crystal Lake, IL) vs. Judy McLean (Vancouver BC). On their board, I see URALITE, RAIDERS, and MANGIEST. As soon as the game is done, they embark on a recount and find two more points for Judy, but she still loses, 400-403.

Toward the other end of division 3, Bill Payne (Calgary AB) and Vince Castellano (Toronto ON) combine to make a nice play on their already picked up board. Bill played EX and Vince extended it to EXORCIZE to the triple for 81. It was Bill's win, 428-388.

Also in division 3, P K Gott (Portland, OR) had a good win over Ember Nelson (Buffalo, NY), 411-353. Ember had some great plays: ELOINeRS for 74, extending MEDIC to MEDICALS to the triple. The game turned on PK's play of TOTtERER through the last E for 64. Ember challenged and the play was good. Then to add salt to the wound, PK played GOODY for 51 and the game was out of reach for Ember.

A SCRABBLE^® nightmare as told by the lovely Karen Merrill (Wilsonville, OR) in division 2. She says, "So, I'm 1-8, looking at the strong possiblity of 2-8. I'm up by 50 points and I play a bingo. So, I'm now up by 120 points and I'm feeling good. Then my opponent, Eugene Murray (Indianapolis, IN), slaps down eNTRIES on the triple, catches me with CDMPQVW on my rack and wins by 11 points." The collective "ouch" expressed by all who heard the retelling was audible from about 7 rows away.

Aaron Jacobs (Brookline, MA) had a monster game this round against, Maureen Morris (Calgary AB), 454-361. This large win was accomplished with him having more than 14 minutes left on his clock! Maureen got down TOdDIES for 86 and Aaron played SEaTRAIN for 74, ARENITES for 70, and OUTRIDES for 63. Ready for the real kicker? This division 5 superstar is 13 years old.