CNSC 2011 Commentary: Round 8

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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.

Adam Logan (Ottawa ON) tells me that he got two blank bingos in his first two turns: PILSNeR and NONRIgID. Matthew also helpfully provided a spot for Adam when he was lurking with OBOVATE. Adam also left a spot open for Matthew at the end because he (Adam) had mistracked and thought that Matthew couldn't use it. But Adam still won 499-403. Matthew played RETAILER and PECTINS. Matthew wrote in his blog about a recent club game with Adam where they battled and Adam won by one point. Later, when Quackling (hey! it is a verb now!) the game, he discovered that Adam had overscored a play by one point and their game was actually a tie. Too little, too late for poor Matthew.

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) vs. Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON): TRITONE, GUESsER, SCANTER, and POITRELS on their board. I hear Jesse correcting Glenn on his score after Glenn makes a high-scoring MOXA play. Glenn bingos with cURATING late in the game, but can't keep up with Jesse's scoring. Jesse wins, 499-414.

Ross Brown (Ottawa ON) vs. Geoffrey Newman (Brampton ON): BILTONGS, OUTEATEN, CHISELER, and EGEsTED.

Jeremy Hildebrand (Ottawa ON) vs. Shan Abbasi (Mississauga ON): BIOTITE, HERNIA, ORGANIC, RECRATED, and these two bingos: PESTING* and CRIPpLED. Of these two plays, Shan put down the first one. Jeremy held him for about 5 minutes (letting him courtesy draw, of course). He shared his reasoning with me. He said he was 60% sure it was bad, but he had CRIPpLED through it and he would still be in the lead if he took it, so he took it. Late in the game, Shan tried FESS/YAHS#, but Jeremy challenged it off. A 455-418 win for Jeremy.

As we've been noticing, this tournament has not been going the way of Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) at all. John Chew always wants her to do well, but if she doesn't, he's more than happy to have her emcee the Finals on Monday. So, he is less broken up about her bad luck.

Andrew Golding (Verdun QC) is outstandingly, vibrantly spring green in his Causeway SCRABBLE shirt today. This round, he's playing Craig Rowland (Mississauga ON), and let's be frank: they are a pleasure to behold! I see DECORAtE, HAYRIDE, and TEnDONS on their board. Event cordirector, Trevor Sealy, sits beside them, quietly watching their game. At first I think he is a player and then I realize it is Trevor! I go to the end of the room to start typing and I hear Mad Palazzo say, "I told Trevor to get up and walk around and now he's sitting near another game!" I think to myself, it was a long day yesterday, he's probably tired, and "director calls" can be heard as well sitting as standing, right?

Allen Pengelly (Waterloo ON) vs. Mark Edelson (Toronto ON): STOMATE, OUTVIES, ENABLErS, TREFOILS, and sTUdLIER.

Shaun Goatcher (Amherstburg ON) vs. John Stardom (Ottawa ON): ORDINATE, OLIVINES, and FOOTAGE. Three bingos for John, again, and a game he loses again. He challenged Shaun's BOLONEY (a 6-tile double-double beauty). Shaun also played DESTINE, AnISOLE, and the fun 60-point NINJA. Shaun's win, 443-382.

Chris writes:

First challenge of the round — John Stardom (Ottawa ON) finds out that when Shaun Goatcher (Amherstburg ON) played BOLONEY, itwas no boloney.

Vera Bigall (Toronto ON) vs John Dungey (Mitchell ON) — I see a nine, CoNCEDINg, apparently through the IN. After the game Johncomes up to me, saying, "You have to see this — my opponent made a great play!" It was Vera's nine,for 95 points. She also had REALTORS with two hooks for 86 in a 452-379 win.

Dielle Saldanha (Richmond BC) vs Deen Hergott (Ottawa ON) — Deen opens with ARANEID. It's a close game, though — as I pass by Dielle isholding PINTLES / PLENIST — aah there goes PLAINEST through an A.

With a satisfying snap, Michael Lancashire (Toronto ON) places a maple-leaf covered blank above to an I, opening abingo lane on an otherwise tightly closed board. "The blank is an A," he announces, circling the letteron the slip. "One point." Then he hits the clock and takes the last tile from the bag as Betty Bergeron (Calgary AB) looks on trying to decide how to deal with this. Michael is holding DEINST? now, and all of the Rs that might hook in front of AI have already been played. Betty plays AE, hooking the E after Michael's blank. Michael looks at the board and mutters, "Need 64 to tie." Betty's play hasn't blocked Michael's outbingo — he lays down TINDErS / SAE for 70 and out and the six-point win. "If you'd played AA, I'd be sunk," Michael said. Tough loss for Betty, who's still holding steady with two wins.

I head over to see how Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) fared in her game with Jim Nanavati (Burlington ON). Jim's clock has elapsed 8:30 for the whole game as Robin lost another blowout 483-348. "I got the S, and a Q, but no Us," she said. "But I don't care because in two weeks I'll be in Europe. I'll be in Rome, having real pizza with a blistered crust." We just finished lunch but now I'm getting hungry.

I see CENSORER* that Deen played in his game with Dielle, which was held but not challenged. Dielle wins anyway, 418-385.

Juraj Pivovarov (Calgary AB) has a nice play in his game against Gabriel Gauthier-Shalom (Montreal QC) — he played VALVE and then extended it to UNIVALVE. His win in a close one 385-381.

Tony Leah (Ajax ON) has a nice bingo WANIgANS against Lou Cornelis (Stoney Creek ON) in a big win, 502-298.

"Director!" comes the cry from Table 1. Ron Hoekstra (Surrey BC) was making his outplay with his clock on 0:00, and hurriedly put down B(IN)T, only the T flew halfway into the square next to where it was intended. John Chew was called over, the situation explained, and he left to double check with the rule book while everyone else sat in suspense. When John returned, he explained, "The current rules do not explicitly cover this situation, although there is a change to the rules that does cover it starting June 16th. In any case, if a tile is more than 50% in a square, it is deemed to have been played in that square, regardless of where it was intended to be played. Therefore, the ruling is that you played BIN and RET and Joel Wapnick (Montreal QC) has the option of successfully challenging off the play." Joel exercised the option, and played out while Ron ate the B and E. It didn't affect the outcome of the game, however.

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