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2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Round 11

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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 11

The first game to finish this round was between (you got it) Gail Wolford (Portland, OR) and Kenji Matsumoto (Aiea, HI). She had a big frown on her face when she walked by and said, "I just lost with a 480!" Kenji, close on her heels, had a 516. Way to go Kenji! Next time, play slower or leave your board up for me to photograph!

My attention is caught by Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL) and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) on their way back from the WordJudge machine. As is often the case, nothing in their expressions or behaviors lets me know what happened, so I walk by and snoop at Dave's scoresheet. It appears that Ian liked Dave's ANThEMIA about as much as I did. Turns out it was good and earned Dave 70 points and an extra turn. In addition, at this point in the game (past halfway), Dave has also played cAROLERS for 74 and UNRAISED for 80. Ian has WHISTLER for 86. I find out later that it was Dave's win. He is 10-1 now.

I snag Rich Baker (Eureka, CA) as he walks by and make him spill the beans. He's won two in a row and one of the victories was against Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA). If there is a down side to being the reigning SCRABBLE^® champion, it is that players enjoy winning games played against you!

At board 1 in division 3, Melissa Routzahn (Crystal Lake, IL) has been handed her second loss of the tournament by Richard Popper (Wilmington, DE), 344-450. As I look over the board, and Richard's plays--ATONIeS for an 85-point double-double, ANTISEX for 91, and ARSINES for 67--I realize all she could do that game was pretty much what she did: keep score. Better tiles after lunch, perhaps!

Diane Firstman (Brooklyn, NY) finds me as she finally has something to say about a game of hers in division 2. She opened against opponent Rich Moyer (Portland, OR) with HEPtOSE for 80. He replied with ROQUE to the E for 34 to which she slapped down SILTIER/ROQUES for 76. Later on GEOMETeR was played through the second E for a 90-point double-double. At this point, it was 183-150, in Diane's favor. A few turns later, holding an S, Diane played VROUW for 38 one short of the right triple lane. The tile gods looked down upon her favorably and she picked well, playing XYST/VROUWS for 78 points, on her very next move. Rich hung in there, playing ARF for 33 and BENNI for 41. After 6 turns each, the scores were 299-199 in Diane's favor. Her last bingo of MENIALS for 84 ensured her the victory, 565-338.

It was a phoney, but in its enormity, it caught my eye and made me gasp. On a division 2 board between Ruth Hamilton (Lake Oswego, OR) and Robert Crowe (Fort Wayne, IN), the play EVOLUtIONAL* was played! It came to life by first being VOLUtION played through the L for 61 by Robert. Two plays later, he added the E and AL for 39 points. Ruth chose not to challenge. Had this game been played elsewhere in the world, it would not have been a phoney! Flashes of brillance ekeing out all over, Robert also played pERSONA for 77 and then JApAN through that blank for 58 more! He also got down PANNIERS throught he E for 70. Ruth opened with REAMERS for 70,but lost the game, 402-449.

While pouring over this last game, I noticed two people standing beside me with name badges that said NE. Nebraska! As luck would have it, of the nearly 700 players, they are the only two here from that fair state. Patrick Caulfield (Omaha, NE) runs the only official SCRABBLE^® club in Nebraska and Ann Anderson (Omaha, NE) plays in that club. The club is two years old now: go Patrick! He is 5-6 now and Ann is 8-3.

Before he headed out to lunch, Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand) defeated Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL), 444-376. Brian played the game's first bingo, VOlANTE for 67. Panupol immediately replied with bIBlISTS through the blank L for 68. Two turns later, Brian got dwn CLEANED for 80 and Panupol replied with CINEASTE for 80. One more bingo for Panupol, PRELUDE for 67, bringing the game bingo total to 5.

We've now got two 10-1 players in division 1, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) and Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand). During lunch, Kristen Chew, who has been annotating Panupol today, gives me some insight. She says, "Sherrie, Panupol is like Adam Logan (the former National and Canadian SCRABBLE^® champion who isn't here this year), after the game is over, he can recite each of his racks from memory!"