CNSC 2011 Commentary: Final Round 3

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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.

We had a short break and then round 3 was starting. We lost David Jones (Ottawa ON) to his return drive home to Ottawa. He explains that it is slow going with his 1-year-old son, Alex We were lucky enough to see Alex a bit during the championship!

Back to the impressive Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON):

Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) starts with EGHHIOT. We think it'll be EIGHTH/HEIGHT, but he decides to keep the H and play HOGTIE for 28.

ADEERSX for Adam Logan (Ottawa ON). DEX underneath HOGTIE looks nice, but RED(O)XES as a DWS-DWS for 60 is played. Much better.

HOG scores nice for Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC), PIX does the job for Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) and Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) finishes off the sequence with NAUS(E)ATE.

Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) with AIILSST. No 8s available, so TIS/UT/SI/HOGTIES for 22.

MODEM/EN/MA puts Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) in the lead by 57. And now Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) sits on AEILOSV. Eric Tran (Calgary AB) immediately sees SE(M)IOVAL. Let's see what the 3-time champ does. He finds it. Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) holds. No challenge.

And just when the crowd cheers Adam Logan (Ottawa ON)'s comeback, Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) grabs the first blank along with AEKNOR. Evan Berofsky (Thornhill ON) sees the possibility of R(E)AwOKEN, but it might Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) a while to scroll down to the W in his memory banks. Check.

BBEIIOO for Adam Logan (Ottawa ON). Ross Brown (Ottawa ON) lets us know BOOBY is the bird but BOOBIE is an offensive word and therefore can't be played today. And it's BOO(K)IE for 26.

Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) holding BCILLOY. Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) wonders if he'll try (SEMIOVAL)LY* but it's doubtful. And so (N)OBLY for 33 is played. (NOTE: BILLYCOCK and BLOTCHILY are the only 2-letter steals for his rack.)

AFGLNTU for Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) up 21. Sadly, TANGFUL* is not acceptable. (EN)GULF is suggested by Matthew Tunnicliffe (Ottawa ON) since it gets rid of the junk and destroys some open real estate. Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) surprises us all with the lovely A(R)TFUL for 32.

Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) has EEFGILU and the people are clamoring for FUGLE/ER. He complies.

EGINNPR for Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC). PR(U)NING for 18 is suggested but Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) doesn't think this would be the right play. He plays it safe and keeps a decent leave with the simple BIN for 15.

Good news: Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) draws the second blank. Bad news: He also holds AAEEII. Yuck. Should he exchange or play off some tiles? Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) sees there are only 4 vowels left in the remaining tile pool so maybe Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) should keep them all and use a couple of them. And so he plays AI for 11 and now trails by 29.

Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) with only 1 vowel and DGNPRT. After Adam Logan (Ottawa ON)'s last play, Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) asks if he should keep the E. G(R)UNTED for 18 is played. The available tiles look awful.

AEEIJN? for Adam Logan (Ottawa ON). JE(U) seems good since it kills the possibility of ZAR(F) on the top line, which could kill his chances for a comeback. JAI(L) for 19 opens the TWS-TWS lane.

APQRRVW for Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC). There are 2 spots for the Q so maybe he'll hold on and block lines and/or score, but the lead is only 28. W(A)RP for 15 does the former.

EEINRU? for Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) and Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC)'s tiles are AQRVZ. Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) asks whether he should block ZAR(F) for 48. Jackson Smylie (Toronto ON) is figuring out the math of doing such. Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) must've mistracked since he played SI(N) for 3 thinking ZA/UTA was his only Z play.

ZARF for 48 and it looks over since Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) is up by 85. And he plays QI to seal it. Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) mockingly apologizes for having this end early, although we all are honored to have watched this amazing performance from our new champion. Final score: 423-394.

Congratulations to Joel Wapnick for taking his second Canadian trophy!

Sherrie writes:

What a great time we had. Too quick, by far, but Joel just played briliantly and is a well-deserved CNSC Champion!

Thanks to Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) for emceeing brilliantly!

Thanks to Hasbro Canada for sponsoring a fun weekend of SCRABBLE!

Thanks to John Chew for directing yet another great CNSC!

John Chew writes:

Round 3 begins. With Wapnick ahead 2-0 in the best-of-five, each game from here on is a do-or-die for Logan. For the first time today, Logan has the better early tiles. Wapnick opens with HOGTIE (28), inexplicably preferring it to HEIGHT (34). Logan replies with REDOXES (60) double-double keeping A. Wapnick overtakes him on his third turn, with the first bingo of the game, a natural NAUSEATE (60); he is now ahead 119-80. Logan fishes an I and a T from AIILSST for 22 points,

Wapnick scores with MODEM (40) and leads 159-102. Logan thinks for a long time before laying down SEMIOVAL (64) to retake a 166-159 lead; Wapnick holds the play, but correctly accepts. Wapnick has drawn the first blank and could play REAWOKEN (72) leaving the N in the third position of a potential triple-triple, and immediately after Logan's bingo, he has no idea how good or bad Logan's tiles are. He takes the gamble, and it turns out Logan has BBEIIOO and his best comeback is BOOKIE (26). Wapnick 231 Logan 192.

Wapnick tries to balance rack ACDLNTT with CADET (27) but ends up with FLNNTUW; Logan does the same with BCILLOY and NOBLY (33) with similar results: CFGILUY. Wapnick 258 Logan 225, 28 tiles left in the bag. They try again: WINO (26) makes Wapnick's rack AFGLNTU; COY (38) makes Logan's rack EEFGILU. Wapnick 284 Logan 263.

Yet again they try to score points, balance racks and draw that remaining blank. Wapnick ARTFUL (32) from AR- gives him EGINNPR (plays through E or I, but neither available); Logan FUGLE (28) gets him that blank but six vowels to go with it: ?AAEEII. Wapnick 316 Logan 291.

Wapnick plays BIN (15) to open a bingo lane opening in N, now has DEGNPRT; Logan plays AI (11) and draws the JN to make ?AEEIJN. There are 10 tiles left in the bag, of which only 3 are consonants: AIQRRRUVWZ. From Wapnick's point of view, the bag looks balanced, if ugly. Both players will be wondering if the QZ are in the bag or on their opponent's rack, and who is going to score with them.

Wapnick plays GRUNTED (18) to turn over six tiles fishing for a blank, a vowel, or a scoring tile; he gets APQRRVW. Wapnick and Logan are both down to 6:31 on their clocks. The bag has IRUZ; Logan trails 349-302 and has a very difficult position to analyse to maximise his chances of winning regardless of where the Q, U and Z are. He goes with 4a JAIL (19) and is rewarded with ?EEINRU.

Wapnick leads 349-321, has 4:50 on his clock to Logan's 4:32. He sighs heavily. The unseen tiles from his perspective are Logan's ?EEINRU and the unseen Z. He plays WARP (15) to block the J in column A, and leads 364-321 as he draws the Z.

Logan has 4:32, ?EEINRU and knows now that Wapnick has AQRVZ. Can he score enough and stick Wapnick with enough points to continue the series after lunch, or is this it for this year's championship? Logan misses Wapnick's ZARF, and loses in the endgame.

Wapnick wins 423-394 and is the new Champion.

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