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NSC 2009 Commentary: Round 28

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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 28

His eyes twinkling, Adam Logan (New York, NY) asks me if I can pick out his phoney. Things are looking pretty plausible to me: Chris' DEsTAIN for 84 and HAPLITE for 73. Adam played GREENIE for 73, DOORbELL through the E for 72, and SOMBERER* through the last E for 76. I know a lot of people "somberer" than me, so it sounds plausible! Turns out it did to opponent, Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON), too, as he didn't challenge. Adam's win, 500-360.

I've put great thought into why Winter didn't join us this year and I've decided beyond the siren call of the Eiffel Tower, the fact that there isn't a Starbucks within a 10-mile circle of Dayton might have made him twitch too much! Thank goodness for the little coffee place in the Oregon District next to Thai9, a favorite lunch and dinner haunt.

Jason Idalski (Lansing, MI) played Lisa Odom (St Louis Park, MN) this round and they both exchanged tiles on their first two plays. The game started with Jason getting down ALIENER for 66. Lisa replied with LITERATI for 60. He then played ZEP for 51, TEnORITE through the I for 78, followed by EMANATED through the second E for 72. Adam Logan (New York, NY) had walked over with me to check out this board. He gently suggested a horizontal MANDATE to create a vertical LITERATIM and Jason literally smacked himself in the head, because it hadn't even occured to him. Lisa's next large play was CORNOAE for 83, followed by his DISTEND for 65, and then came her PICKEERS for 98. He held her a good long time, but let it go because he figured he could get her by small, high-scoring plays instead. He was right. VOW for 37, YEA for 44, and OXO for 39 was all it took. Jason's win, 552-451.

Two School SCRABBLE titans squared off this round: Matt Canik (Austin, TX) of past NSSC events vs. Bradley Robbins (Windham, NH) of current NSSC events. Chris is hanging his head low, mock pouting, as if losing to a 12 year old is all that bad! On their boad I see UnSOCIAL for 63, DINnERS for 102, and OUTVIED/XI/HIES. Bradley's scoresheet has someone named "DRYABLE RIBBONS" winning this game, 410-315.

Eric Harshbarger (Auburn, AL) vs. John Viloria (New York, NY). Ah, so clever! Earlier on the game, Eric played PENSIONE and John got down ZIRCON. Toward the endgame, knowing he needed to block an open T in the middle of the left triple lane, John played REVISE. That took care of that, or did it? Aforemetioned clever Eric outbingoed with MULTITOnE through the first T to the last E and won, 368-356!

Wallace Schultz (Las Vegas, NM) won 5 out of 7 games today which is a far cry from day 1 when he only won 1 and lost 6. In his game iwth John Viloria (New York, NY), he had three bingos in a row: ERECTION, PASTRAMI, and BEFOULS. John got down CADGERS for 96, but Wallace bingoed out with ENFACES to win, 442-365.

Before lunch, Wallace played Jason Keller (Highland Park, NJ) who opened their game with BASTARD. Wallace went on to bingo four times: FITTABLE for 102-point double-double; EPISODE for 100-point double-double; ENPLANE; and the outbingo of LATERIZE. Wally wins, 503-379.

In a game with Andy Bohnsack (Madison, WI), Wallace played INDIGENE for 61 one short of a tws. He got down GIRASOLE for 72 and finally got the much-needed S and slapped down SONICATE (through the O), creating INDIGENES for 137 points. Wally's win again, 567-350.

Against Steve Krieger (Cincinnati, OH), Wally played RATIONAL. Trying to take away the triple lane E hook, Steve front hooked the IR for IRRATIONAL and then got down AGENCIES. Wally played OPENNESS, which bought them to a 371-375 tie. When Steve blocked Wally's spot to play ULULATED, he played LASSITUDE through the SI. Wally's win, 340-375.

Lastly, versus Keith Smith (Austin, TX), Keith played CARLINE and TOADIES. Wally got down the dlb-blb MISENROL, CENTIARE, and his penultimate game-winning play of DEASHING for 101. 438-424 in Wallace's favor.

Cheryl Tyler (Lubbock, TX) had a lousy fay 1, going 0-7. Today she went 6-1, so things just seem better all the way around!

Robert Gillis (OXR, AL) tells me about playing gUITGuIT to the final T (it is a bird, of course!) in a game with Ted Rosen (Rochester, NY). Their board also contained CTENIDIA played from the C through the D. Bob won this game.