Go to: Commentary Games Players Photos Reports Standings

Back to NSC 2009 Live Coverage

NSC 2009 Commentary: Round 18

[ ]

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.

Round 18

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) has gone 4-0 so far today, having just defeated Tony Leah (Ajax ON), 429-388. I see Tony's DOCTRINE through the O for 76 and fILETED down the triple for 82. Jesse's bingos were PRESAGES from the P for 63, SERRANID through the N for 60, and ELaTIVE for 67. However, three smaller plays were part of Jesse's 429-388 win. He played FINIS to the S for 16 and then paralell to that, EXILE to the last E creating EF/XI/IN/LI for 44, and then SH creating EXILES/FINISH for 38. NIcely nestled!

Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL) and Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) waged a battle this round. Ian played CONELRaD early on and then Robin got in BELFRY for 40 and later SEASONED through the A. Ian played ANEURIN and then Robin's PATOoTIE. My favorite two plays were endgame extensions. Robin played ORANGISH to the triple from OR and Ian played HAZMAT from the HA. Robin's win, 456-384.

One of the last games to wrap up this round was between Steve Hartsman (Milwaukee, WI) and Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA). A crowd was gathering to check out WHODUNIT, SAFETIEd, and CISTERNA by Pakron. Steve's plays were MORELlE, TENAILS, GARROTED, and the game-winning ZEE/ZA/ER/ER, 466-418. Known for his thoughtfulness, Pakorn who started strong and was ahead most of the game, said, "Happy beginning, sad ending."

Jeff Fiszbein (South Lyon, MI) played Nigel Richards (MYS) at annotated table 1 this round. Two words were called off by Nigel: NEBULI* and DOTTINGS*. The last may have been a desperation endgame bingo. Check out their game in the annotated section!

We saw a few players not budge from their top perches for all four rounds this morning: div 5's Tristan Vanech (Venice, CA), div 1's Nigel Richards (MYS), and most impressively, div 2's Thomas Reinke (Middleton, WI), who has been at the top of the heap since round 10 and still has only one loss thus far!