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NSC 2011 Commentary: Round 11

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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 11

A frozen starbucks green tea drink with a swirl of whip cream landed on my desk for Chris Cree (Dallas, TX), so I went to find him in the room. There he sat, ata completed board with his lips pressed together in a line. I put the drink down and he didn't even see it. I said, "bad game, huh?", as he pounded into his handheld. He mumbled something about the tiles. I gazed over the board and wrote down some plays: VULGARER, CoUVADES, DUTiABLE, GLOSSAS, and HARMINE. All of a sudden, a voice above me said, "the blanks are O and I. It was Scott Jackson (Minneapolis, MN), who had just won the game. He confessed that he got every single tile and Chris nodded along in agreement. SCRABBLE: Feast or famine, ain't it?

Nawapadol Sayavesa (Thailand) vs. Will Anderson (Croton, NY): DIPTERiL, DEAIRING, ABSEILS, SPOONERY, RETICENT, and UNIRONED. It was Will's win, 469-386. They had a midgame scoring discrepancy that took them a few minutes to iron out and then they shook hands while Will told Nawa about a rack he'd had that worked with everything but an E.

Kenji Matsumoto (Aiea, HI) vs. Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN): GENTLEs, FUNNELS, RETTING, BuOYAGE, SPORTIER, RAIDING, and the fun nonbingo ZAPTIEH played through the T for a nonbingo by Kenji. He said it is boring because it didn't score a lot. I say he's wrong! A 442-350 win for Jim.

Table 1 in division 3 features a game between Mike Lean (Washington, DC) and Paul Hagelstein (Waco, TX). I see the fun YEARNeD and YOUPON on their in-progress board.

Table 2 in division 3: Tracy Bowman (Chicago, IL) vs. Worapol Ratanapitaksuk (Carol Stream, IL). A 521-346 win for the Thai. I see WEAPONeD, TREATER, BUNGLES, and OUTDRAWN.

I finally happen upon Michael Bassett (Port Clinton, OH). He is enormously thankful to Robin Gates, our activities coordinator, for getting him from the hospital and to John Chew for helping him get into his chair and plow through his luggage looking for meds, etc. He said he arrived during the second game today, just a few minutes too late to join in that round. So, he said he sat there, closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the tiles being shaken in their tile bags and he said just the sound made him feel better. I know I speak for us all when I say we're happy to have him back!

Katya Lezin (Charlotte, NC) was given a present by the NSA, a T-shirt they'd had made just for her. It says, "This is one challenge I am going to WIN." The "I" and the "WIN" are tiles. There is a photo in this round's photos: check it out!

Morris Greenberg (Brookline, MA) is happy to report that his blank drought is over and he's now 5-6 and very happy!

Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) just won a game she maybe shouldn't have. She was playing Rod Noland (West Monroe, LA), a man she referred to as lovely. Late in the game, he overdrew, and a blank was among the three tiles she turned over. Back it went into the bag and he wasn't able to pick it out before she got it drawing replacement tiles. She was able to bingo out with UnIONISE for 58 to win the game.

I walk by Travis Carlson (Tucson, AZ) taking a photo of his game with Michael Willis (Midlothian, TX). It is nice to see that I'm not the only weirdo taking photos of boards! He said he should have lost the game, but he lucked out. I see SEEDlIKE and STOOgES, both played by Travis, and Mike's RETRAIN.

Sam Kantimathi (Sacramento, CA) tells me a sob story. There was US on the board, and against Paul Avrin (New York, NY) he played CRUSTATED# for a 9 thorugh that US. Paul challenged it off: it is a Collins word only. After winning their game, Paul thanked Sam as it was his only win today so far! I said, "Sam, why are you playing in division 2? You are an expert." He said, "I can't keep the words straight, I don't belong in a TWL top division anymore." I said, "Well, how does Nigel Richards (Malaysia) do it?" (Dallas Johnson, upon hearing me say this, says, isn't that the question of the moment?). Sam said, "Nigel is not from this planet."

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.



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