CNSC 2011 Commentary: Round 10

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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, Award Ceremony, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3.

Since Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) is always done his games so quickly, I have time to ask him a few questions. This round I asked about The Jimmy Kimmel Live show. He and his winning School SCRABBLE partner, Alex Li, were on the show last month. They filmed on May 4th between 7-8pm and the show aired at about 12 am on the 5th. Jackson and Alex were able to beat Jimmy, 249-158, but each side only played about 5 turns. Jackson says he enjoyed the experience and thought having the National SCRABBLE Association's executive director John D. Williams, Jr., on stage was helpful. He said, "It made it more professional." Jackson is happy to be playing solo this weekend, though, and sees one-on-one SCRABBLE in his future. We are sure happy to have him!

Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) defeated Zev Kaufman (Toronto ON) by a cool 6 points this round, 409-403? The split bingos: Zev's SAXATILE for 80 and STINKEr for 91 and Evan's CAVILLeD for 86 and SLEAZIER for 71. It was, Zev explains, an endgame thing that determined the winner. Evan played POUFFE for 36 and Zev replied with WATAPE to the triple through the P for 36. But when Evan came back with JINGO for 38, Zev couldn't contend and ended up losing. (An aside from Sherrie: I am so used to American SCRABBLE expert, Evans Clinchy, and I had to train myself to type Evans with an S that I now am incapable of just typing Evan and keep typoing poor Evan Berofksy's name!)

Randall Thomas (Calgary AB) vs. Lou Cornelis (Stoney Creek ON) are just finished their game. They are sitting with Marilyn Wilkins (Richmond BC), who is long done her game. And the lot of them are laughing. They keep checking plays that Lou might have made. I see DENTINE, UNDOERs, and GALeATE on their board. Also, the word HOPING. It was played four short of the triple and Lou admits to wanting to play OVERHOPING, which he says was good! Randall's win, 393-359. Of being shushed by nearby players, Marilyn said, "this is why I prefer majong, no one ever shushes!"

In the battle of the Andrews, the one with the shortened name wins, 449-304. I see a cluster of nice Andy Saunders (Guelph ON) plays: NAIVETY for 69, OUTREADS for 72, BRIsANCE (a double-double), and QUASH for 60. Andrew Golding (Verdun QC) did at least one thing right in the game; he blocked Andy's ISOLEAD! Chris adds: Andy is holding ABCENR? with a D in the third position of a triple lane. Nothing fits there but he lays down BRIsANCE through the I for a 94-point 2x2.

Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) pulls out another win, this time against Geoffrey Newman (Brampton ON), 455-357. I see rESALES, NEGATION, and TReNDILY. Chris adds: Robin had AEFLSS?. There's a spot for FALSiES but it's Geoffrey's turn and he blocks it. I see a few turns later Robin got down rESALES. The star play of the game was Robin's TRENDILY for a 94 point 2x2.

Chris writes:

I think Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom (Montreal QC) and Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) took a cue from Zev Kaufman (Toronto ON) — last round he bingoed out with GASTRAEA, and early in this round GASTRAEA is on the board here.

Jim Nanavati (Burlington ON) is playing Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) — and Jackson has made a really nice find — LIBRATINg through IN. In the end it's Jim's win 399-349.

Gab and Joel have AWESOME on their board one short of the triple. The only thing t hat'd be awesomer is if AWESOMER* were a word.

Betty Bergeron (Calgary AB) has picked up that third win; she's met her ratings expectation. It took a bingo out under time trouble to do it — she laid down GAUDIEST against John Dungey (Mitchell ON) after he bingoed late with CLIENTS; Betty by 17-420-403.

I see Mark Edelson (Toronto ON) has played PILOTaGE against Jason Ubeika (Mississauga ON) for 149. Ouch!

Will Nediger (London ON) is playing Steve Ozorio (Mississauga ON), and Steve is holding AEIIIR?, which is great if there's an R or T available for RETIARII, but pretty awful otherwise. There's no R or T, much to Steve's chagrin.

Chris Bonin (Toronto ON) and Ross Brown (Ottawa ON) just finished a game. I guess Ross wasn't tickled by Chris's late-game extension of RETICKLE, and it came off the board. Ross's win 436-344.

Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC) and Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON) are playing, and Shan extended Dielle's HERTZ to GIGAHERTZ for 46. It wasn't enough, though, and Dielle wins 503-340.

The logo for this tournament is a mess of tiles and letters that even the best SCRABBLE playing minds haven't been able to unscramble over the last two days. After days of studying it, Lisa Kessler came up to me to proclaim that she'd finally figured out the trick — it's a tableau map of Canada laying out the provincial abbreviations in geographical order using SCRABBLE tiles. I'll admit, I didn't get it without an explanation, so props to her! What's even more impressive is that Lisa didn't grow up in Canada — she was originally from the US, and moved to Canada and became a citizen later in life. Sherrie adds: John Chew says of this tableaux, "Most SCRABBLE players will want to know first: Why are there four Bs in this set?" Sure enough, one of the first SCRABBLE players to arrive on Friday said just that!

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