Go to: Commentary Games Players Photos Reports Standings

Back to NSC 2010 Live Coverage

NSC 2010 Commentary: Round 23

[ ]

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, 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, After the Tournament.

Round 23

Turns out that Bradley Robbins (Windham, NH) had a big win this round against Carl Solomon (Edmond, OK), winning 527-262. I took a photo of them in last round's shots.

Scott Garner (Memphis, TN) vs. Chris Bonin (Toronto ON). Chris comes to get me to see Scott's play of desperation. Now, it is a phony, but it was an unchallengeable one. The play was DENMASTER* played through from DEN through AS and E. He played only MTR and earned 33 points. Chris was pretty sure it was phony, but by accepting it, he was guaranteed the win, 376-320.

Jason Ubeika (Mississauga ON) played Stephen Sneed (Fort Worth, TX) this round. I see TABORIN for 74,, NESTlIKE from the N for a 94-point double-double, and CENSURE for 82. Stephan played the nice consonant dump of POWTER through the O and E and two late-game bingos: CiTADELS for 86 and OUTDRIVE through the R for 63. These bingo bangos were of slight concern to Jason, but he was able to persevere and win, 442-386.

Yesterday, holding EEENSSS, Jason found and played TERSENESS though the separated T and R for 63, then drew a bingo: OUtFACES for 89. He won that game against Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA), 387-336.

Nathan James (Mount Pleasant, SC) played Mark Fidler (Waltham, MA) this round and he tried to play LAnOLINE through the second L, but he mistakenly called the blank an L and not an N, so Mark called it off. On his next turn, he got down LAmINOSE for 68 and then HuNTEDLY through the L for 185 points. It drew a challenge, too. Nathan's win, 530-427.

Mark Fidler (Waltham, MA) then tells me about playing Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA) yesterday (why is it EVERYONE seems to have an Alan Stern story?!). They only had 11 turns each and Mark lost by 174, but he averaged 37 points per play. He thinks that is a high average play score to then lose with! 579-405.

"He beat the snot out of me." This is how Scott Pianowski (Berkley, MI) described his game yesterday with Jason Ubeika (Mississauga ON). That game's highlight was Jason's play of BROUGHAM. After having four games with no blanks, Scott decided he had to sacrifice a goat or something. He finally got one in the last round and he wants me to apologize if the dead goat scared anyone in the parking lot.

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) is grinning broadly. He's won five games in a row and he now sees himself as having a chance at second place. I want to explain that it is best to aim for first place, but I'm fearful that going for second is a cultural norm of some sort.... That, my friends, is a joke!

John Redding (Dallas, TX), somewhat of a fashion maven, confesses to having about 25 pair of Converse high top sneakers. Yesterday he had brown ones on that matched his brown t-shirt. Today, he's got a white and black guitar T-shirt and his high tops are crossword puzzle themed, so there is a lot of black and white on them, too!

Nancee Mancel (Albuquerque, NM) has taken color coordination to a new high. She is resplendent in turquoise from head to toe! Her shoes match her bag with matches her shirt, which matches her pants.... And well, I stop there!

John Redding (Dallas, TX) would like me to know that he scored the lowest possible score for a 9: TRANSITEd for 59!

Mark Kenas (Madison, WI) tells me about a game from yesterday. He was about 120 points behind and if he could bingo, he would have had enough to win. So, he slaps down rEGEGATOR* which is opponent challenged off. Later, this opponent told him that if he'd made the blank a D, the play would have stayed and he would have won. Ouch!