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NSC 2011 Commentary: Round 29

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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 29

After games were over last night, several of us gathered to listen to Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC) talk about Word Freak in the Crystal Ballroom foyer. He started off thanking everyone for taking him into the game, glanced over the standings and read off the names of folks he knew that were playing due to the book. He spoke about meeting Mike Lean (Washington, DC) on Amtrak, hearing from School SCRABBLE kids who play in adult tournaments due to the book, and receiving Facebook messages from casual players everywhere. He read a portion of the new chapter that has been added to this 10th anniversary printing.

Please check out the annotated game for this round. The annotators both thought it was fantastic! Jesse Day (Berkeley, CA) vs. Brian Bowman (Villa Hills, KY).

Jeff Fiszbein (South Lyon, MI) drops by before the games begin and reuminates on how fickle this game can be. Yesterday, he had a series of high-scoring games 564, 650, and 554. After that, it has been a drought and his scores have been almost half that.

John Chew reports that one of his kids asked him this morning, "Daddy, why is this tournament so short?" I daresay he is the only one that finds this tournament short!

Our activities person, Robin Gates, went out and bought the book Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC) wrote after Word Freak because she had heard Brenda Casey (Guilford, CT) say she wanted one. Brenda was able to get Stefan to sign it today and she is super excited!

Jacob Bergmann (Lexington, MA) and Daniel Citron (Chicago, IL) were at the challenge machine. Someone learned that BROWNY is acceptable!

Carl Johnson (Beaverton, OR) vs. Tony Leah (Ajax ON). In the midgame, I see REStYLED, FADEOUt, and SANGRIA.

As I walk by a game between Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) and Charles Reinke (Middleton, WI), I see Charles put down TONAlITY.

On a Margaret Bee (Houston, TX) vs. Bryan Pepper (Bedford, TX) board, I see TWERP and TEXAS. Bryan is once again today eating a bag of 7-11 gummy bears.

Gerianne Abriano (Staten Island, NY) vs. David Postal (Signal Hill, CA). He played ARIdEST/DUCKS for 78 in front of me.

Bradley Whitmarsh (Attleboro, MA) picked a great table today. He was playing with Patricia Barrett (Houston, TX) and sitting beside Cecilia Le (Cambridge, MA) vs. Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON).

Joey Mallick (Cape Elizabeth, ME) is on fire: he's just won his 10th game in a row! Peter Armstrong (Milwaukee, WI) lost, 412-415, but he got to play two 9s: EASTERNER and REAVAILED. He also played the cool INCUBI. I see kELOIDs, ZOWIE, and COHESION, too.

Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) vs. Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ): INDENTED, SENHORAS, YEE?ING, IODATING, and ERUPTING.

Kenji defeated Nigel by 70 points this round. Neither of them had much to say to me about the game.

Jack Overby (Rosemount, MN) vs. Jon Shreve (Denver, CO): ERUCTATE, UNyOKES, SHIVITI, PLEUSTON, JUMPING, RELAXIN, VOYAGER, DEWATER.

Big win for Robert Quigley (New Haven, CT) against Evans Clinchy (Boston, MA), 489-314. Robert played DrEEING and FArNESOL. Also on the board: ORDINALS, SANTERIA, KROONI, and CLOQUE.

Nawapadol Sayavesa (Thailand) vs. David Koenig (Silver Spring, MD): SILICONES, UNFUNNY, GEM?IEST, RESOR?ED, and LENIENT.

I walk up as Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL) and Orry Swift (Houston, TX) shake hands. Orry congratulates Ian on a nice win, 452-381. I see RADIANTS, NASALIZE, DEcEIVED, REpUTED, and SANDIER.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) lost to Jason Keller (Highland Park, NJ), 432-381. Words: FREEDMAN, INVITES, UNHAIRED, ANTISEX, and CHIRPINg.

Matt Canik (Austin, TX) defeated Richard Spence (Tucson, AZ), 360-355 and guarantees himself second place he explains. I then ask if Richard is guaranteed to win and he said, "Not if I beat him twice more!" Richard played RELENTED for 77 and ENTASES for 78 and Matt played SANITIZE for 84.

A thoughtful Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) was looking over his board. He just lost a game to Nigel Peltier (Seattle, WA). Chris explains that he was ahead by twnty when Nigel exchanged 7. Chris knew there were a lot of nice tiles in the bag, but figured that there was no way Nigel could get them all (famous last words). So, Chris debated between CODROVE for a lot (that would put him up by 59 or COED for much less, but that would block this one play Nigel could make IF he got all the right tiles. The only way Nigel could hurt him was to play a bingo with the X in the 5th position and didn't it just happen. rEFIXES nestled in. Painful for Chris who was breathing down the neck of the top 4.

Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Piedmont, CA) vs. Rod MacNeil (Cambridge, MA): Rod played AGoUTIS hanging the A into the triple lane. You know it, Conrad played TRAYFULS through the A for 212 points. Gave him the win, 506-393. Rod just sat there good naturedly. What can you do when the stars fall into alignment like that?

Suhas Rao (Apex, NC) has just won division 3! By defeating Jason Randolph (San Antonio, TX), 390-279, he is now Gibsonized. Hearty congratulations to the 12-year-old champ!

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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